Best British Gastropubs
St. John Bar & Restaurant, London
The Place: Housed in a whitewashed old smokehouse near London's Smithfield meat market, St. John is not a true gastropub. But owner Fergus Henderson, who opened this establishment in 1994, is a canonized figure on the revitalized British restaurant scene.
The Story: Vegetarians need not read further. The philosophy concerns meat and nothing but meat. Every part of the animals is utilized, from bone marrow to chitterlings to calf’s liver. The spirit of his “nose to tail” approach—respectful of place and seasons, rigorously unfussy, unapologetically British—hovers over many of the best pub kitchens. The restaurant’s baking operations were so successful that they moved into a private space: First to Spitalfields in 2003, now St. John Bread and Wine, and later to Druid Street in Bermondsey.
