#pigfest at St John Restaurant

  Thank god for twitter. Only a medium like that can bring together some 16 or so girls from all over London for a bit of a ladies night to share their passion of food. And what an offering it promised – a night in St John restaurant eating suckling pig. Well, we soon realised that the food was not the only specialty of the night – the service was quite special in it’s own way as well.

Let’s just say the warnings came early when we waited 50 minutes for a starter on a pre-ordered set menu….

The set menu of the night was the following:

Starter:

Roast Bone Marrow & Parsley Salad

The bone marrow was lovely, with the marrow scooping out with ease. The portion size was perfect, and a very tasty. The parsley salad was a great accompaniment, with the sea salt a great addition.
Alas, we were only allocated around one and a half slices of toast per person, which was certainly not enough. And further requests for more fell on deaf ears.

Whole Crab & Mayonnaise

This was probably the best crab I have tasted since the Sydney fish markets. The meat was tender and not too dry or well done, and the mayonnaise went perfectly with it. If there was any more toast, I would’ve loved to scoop some of that mayo and eat it on it’s own with the bread.
The crab shell openers were in short supply, so us girls had to be patient and wait for one to be free.

Main:

Whole Roast Suckling Pig, Potatoes and Greens

There was plenty of jostling for best camera angle when the pig came out. The amount of flashes from our cameras were more than what Brad and Ange would experience on a red carpet.
When we finally got down to eating it – the suckling pig was as expected – wonderful. The skin was crackly, meat tender and moist. And the stuffing was a pleasure too. I was one of the lucky people to get an ear. I wonder who got the tail?

Dessert:

Eccles Cake & Lancashire Cheese, Spotted Dick & Custard

When the dessert came out, I almost couldn’t be bothered. We had been there since 7:30pm, and this was pushing 11pm. Some people had to catch their trains, so missed out which was a shame and put a dampner on the course.
I’m glad I did perservere though. The spotted dick was wonderful and sweet, and the creme anglaise I could have on it’s own. Eccles cakes I’m not too fond of as a dessert, and I found they didn’t really have that freshness to them.
The cheese was wonderful and creamy, although it would’ve been nicer to serve on multiple smaller plates for the large table, as it was almost missed on my side when it was placed at the opposite end.

Conclusion
So there we have it. If it wasn’t for the wonderful company I think that the poor service would have ruined the night. I can’t wait for the next outing with you all, and a big thank you to Meemalee who organised it