St John or St John Bread & Wine?

[jmlh]

We are visiting London in July and would like to have dinner at St. John or St John Bread &Wine. Is there an advantage of dining at one over the other? All opinions are appreciated.

[Kat]

A related question: how far in advance does St. John take reservations? 30 days? I am trying to make a reservation for the end of July but opentable says that the date is in excess of allowed limits. Thanks!

[Dan G]

I found that it was one month using Open Table, but maybe if you call or email you could get something farther down the road. Our server told me that since getting the michelin star, it had been booking up really quickly.

[Kat]

Good idea, I will call.

[Kat]

To follow up: We had dinner at St. John on 27 July. It was busy, even early on a Monday night. Wonderful meal. The most enjoyable part for me was the roast bone marrow and parsley salad starter. Delectable. Service was quite attentive and they were very nice about finding something for our little boy to eat (sizeable plate of very good ham). I was hoping for the madeleines, but was simply too full to consider them by the end of the meal. Next time.

[jmlh]

Would you believe that we were also at St. John on July 27th! We thought it was a great eating experience. Shared a pate appetizer which was very good. I ordered the smoked eel (just wanted to try something a bit different). It was incredible - wish I could have it again tonight! We did leave room for the madeleines which were just wonderful. Are hoping to return next year.

[Kat]

JMLH - Glad you enjoyed your meal as well!

[ellesters]

Whichever one you go to be sure and have the made-to-order madeleines. You will finally understand what Proust was on about.

[jmlh]

Thanks for your responses. I have also read the original thread. I think we will probably go to St John but both look great. Ellesters, thanks for the madeleines suggestion - can hardly wait!

[abby d]

if you choose st john then b&w is worth a visit for breakfast - their bacon sandwiches are wonderful (and huge!)

[klyeoh]

There's a similar discussion on this subject just a couple of months back:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/609035

St John Bread & Wine is more casual, has longer operating hours, and has an interesting menu in the evening where number of the items on offer keeps incrementing each hour.

[Dan G]

I'm the one who started the earlier thread, and my decision was to do both! Though the food was similar, very different dining experiences. St. J was more formal (well, not really formal...hard to describe), better for a nice dinner with my wife. B&W was perfect for a more casual late-night meal with a larger group.

St.J had more main course selections; B&W more starters, conducive for drinking, nibbling and talking.

Both were great.