It was a delight to be able to go back to London last week and eat at two of my favorite restaurants: St. JOHN and Brutto.
St. JOHN has been around since 1994, and since first reading about it, I knew that some year I would dine there. Brutto has only been around since 2021, but it also sounded perfect to me. In 2022, I was blessed to dine at both in one week.
They make an odd pair. Unlike St. John’s signature nose‑to‑tail menu of English cookery, Brutto features Florentine style cuisine. The decor differs significantly as well, with one being a minimalist dream of white and black and the other being a maximalist trattoria. Those differences aside, they’re similar in both having Michelin awards, both being in Smithfield, and both having great food, great ambience, and great service.
St. JOHN can make people nervous with some of the offal dishes they serve, but on their menu lurk dishes that are somewhat more traditional, even for fish and chip fans. Likewise there is a wonderful green salad (with something of a horseradish kick) and the warm madeleines at the end are worth the wait, especially with a glass of dessert wine.
Brutto’s menu is more familiar for most people and the difficulty there is settling on a choice. I recommend the fried dough balls to start and the tagliatelle with meat sauce to follow: both are so good. I can’t recommend just one dessert: you’ll have to try several. Should you start off with a small negroni for 5 pounds? I’d say yes.
There’s some restaurants that you can dine at once and be done with them. There are a few restaurants that as soon as you dine there, you dream about when you can dine there again. For me, Brutto and St. JOHN are a part of that set of few restaurants to dream on.
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