Wednesday 13 April 2011

Breakfast at St John Hotel

After what felt like eating a million noodle or rice dishes in South East Asia, what better contrast than to go breakfasting at the newly opened St John Hotel?

I've been following their progress for a while. From when the scaffolding first went up outside Manzi's on Leicester Square, every day twice a day I've been peering at that facade, willing it to hurry the hell up and open. Don't get me wrong; I'm not some sort of weird restaurant stalker, it's my route to and from work. Honest.

Sadly, our early December booking was cancelled as the hotel was late to open. Similarly our January reservation. And then hooray! Finally, our day had come.

The room is very white and very simply decorated. We walked in at 8:15am, the only patrons, and it remained that way for a good half hour.

The breakfast buns had to be ordered. Served with a gorgeous yellow raspberry jam, we halved each a butter, a cinnamon and a currant bun. They were warm, flaky and incredibly decadent.

I spent a long time uhm-ing and ah-ing over boiled egg and anchovy soldiers, or Arbroath smokie with potato and egg. The latter won out. The smoked fish was worked into smooth and creamy mash, topped with buttery sauce and a perfectly poached egg. It all looked very beige until the egg was burst; rich, intensely orange yolk spilled forth. It was a matter of very few minutes before it was all hoovered up.

We sat back, replete. The menu isn't huge, what with 5 or so main items but what they do have is resolutely British, very in keeping with the St John style. At £25 a head with coffee, juice and (worthwhile) service, it's a luxury breakfast but well worth the money.

I didn't eat again until at least 2pm.

St John Hotel

1 Leicester St
London
WC2H 7BL

Tel: 020 3301 8069

St. John Hotel on Urbanspoon

14 comments:

Mark said...

The reveal of that egg is great! The first picture looks like a bowl of ice cream .. and then, bam! Egg.

BeerBirraBier.

Blonde said...

A properly poached egg = food of the gods. And Arbroath smokies?! Delish. Looks like it's worth a trip, sooner rather than later.

Food For Think said...

Bloomin eck, that just looks delicious. Can't WAIT to try it out! x

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

Oh. Oh. Oh. *drops everything, books ticket to London*

Crikey me. Looks very good indeed. Like you say, a bit spenny, but when it's all as good as that, St John can be forgiven.

Have you managed to get your hands on their custard doughnuts?

PDH said...

I am so very jealous!

Jessica said...

bun eggy bun eggy bun bun bun.

Mrs S said...

The bun looks fantastic. I think you have more restraint that I do because I find I have to take the photos before I take any bites knowing once I start eating something that looks that good, I dont stand a chance with taking another picture.

Greedy Diva said...

Ha - I just drafted a post about my luxury St John breakfast on Sunday! i thought it was good too, although not sure I could justify the expense that often for a simple breakfast. The service was so much friendlier than at the other St Johns - hope that doesn't change.

Ash, London. said...

I miss Manzi's - it was owned by my Godfather Louis Manzi (who sadly passed away a couple of months ago) - I have a lot of happy memories of the place.

I was worried that the place might have been turned into another god-awful, leicester-square horror à la Aberdeen Steak House/Bella Italia/TGI... but it looks like my fears were unfounded!
Can;t wait to give it a try... even if it will be a bit weird, walking in there now!

RIP Manzi's - Long live St John.

Food Urchin said...

25 squids for breakfast is bloody well expensive alright

BUT

That egg does look bloody good.

Hollow Legs said...

Mark - Caramel ice cream!

Blonde - Absolutely. Soul food.

Food for think - I can highly recommend it.

A Forkful - NO! I must seek them out. I'm not a huge fan of doughnuts but I reckon they could convert me.

Pavel - Get down there!

Jessica - Exactly.

London Lady - Their buns are worth returning for alone. I'd like to try their savoury afternoon ones.

GD - The service was great. It was a very simple breakfast but amazing ingredients.

Ash - Ah, so pleased it held true to it's location and not a horrible chain. Do let me know what you think of it.

Ute@HungryinLondon said...

this egg looks absolutely amazing, great promise really for their dinner menu!

Unknown said...

That yolk is phenomenal! I'm going just for that, oh and the yellow raspberry jam, oh and the currant bun, oh and I'll probably have a coffee while I'm there...

Unknown said...

I'm so jealous! I was there on Saturday for lunch and they had run out of breakfast buns. What a great way to start the day - that egg is just perfect, too.