St John celebrates 25 years of nose to tail eating

St John restaurant (London) celebrates 25 years

Fergus and Trevor @ their annual fête des vins at
their Boulevard Napoléon winery in La Livinière, Minervois May 2019 

This week we will be briefly in London as very lucky invitees to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the opening of the St John restaurant in Smithfield in 1994. A party that will surely go on into the early hours of the morning. St John is run by Chef Fergus Henderson and restaurateur Trevor Gulliver.

 Fergus puts it on the plate
and Trevor puts it in the glass

Lunch menu 23rd September 2019
Menus change daily

St John celebrates good food and good living serving both existing classics and ones that Fergus Henderson has made into a classic. It doesn't do fashion – if you want dishes with foam or the latest culinary bling you will have to go elsewhere. The impressive wine list, all French, was initially sourced by Trevor but there is now a wine team headed by Victoria Sharples.

Here is a link to an excellent article about Trevor Gulliver, Fergus Henderson and St John, which appeared in Guardian recently, a brief extract from the article:

'Both men are steeped in what you might call the rigour of gastronomic pleasure. The articles of St John’s faith are all about constancy and conviction, doing good things extremely well. When they first opened the restaurant, with its menu of tripes and bone marrow and welsh rarebit and addictive custard, they were accused of being 200 years out of date, which they took as an enormous compliment.

'One of their key beliefs is that a great restaurant should insist on making a human shape to the day, beginning early with the baking of bread, and ending late with a final glass of something special. In an age of working lunches and clean eating, they have held fast to that principle.'

Over the years I have eaten a number of times at St John – it has always been a pleasure, especially a dinner with around 20 friends and family to celebrate one of Carole's special birthdays when we enjoyed a suckling pig. Just not sure why we haven't gone to St John more often!

Since 2016 we have had the good fortune to be invited to join their annual Fête des Vins at their Boulevard Napoléon winery in La Lavinière and this has become a highlight of our year.

2016 Fête des Vins: Fergus and Trevor  

2017 Fête des Vins: the quail 

The brains of the operation: Fête des Vins 2018

Trevor & the quail: Fête des Vins 2018

Fergus and Trevor have established a menu for their Fête des Vins: after the apéros we start with brains on toast, followed by quail, then cheese and cherries. The menu doesn't change – it works so it doesn't need to be tweaked. All this is accompanied by Boulevard Napoléon wines plus others that guests have brought along with them.

Sadly back around 1998 Fergus was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which is now happily controlled since 2006 by deep brain stimulation – a procedure that controls the shakes and tremors. Fergus' continued enjoyment of life and work is an inspiration.

Address: 26 St. John Street, London, EC1M 4AY

2017 Fête des Vins, Boulevard Napoléon, La Livinière, Minervois

 Trevor and Fergus – spud maestros

 Phew it's hot!

 John and Trevor: the quail gatherers

Some photos from yesterday's Fête des Vins @Boulevard Napoléon, La Livinière, Minervois. It was very hot and Fergus, John and Trevor did a sterling job looking after the barbecue despite the intense heat from both the sun and the fire. 

Delicious menu: brains on toast, barbecued quail, Cantal Salers and cherries accompanied by wines from Boulevard Napoléon and some other growers. The Boulevard Napoléon 2014 Grenache Gris and 2014 Bien Autre, the second wine in their red stable, were especially good.     

 Fergus

Fergus + Benji  – a tired and 
emotional part of the event....

Trevor + phone 

Sheathing the tongs

 

Chef John 

Winemakers Benji and Joseph

modelling their regulation blue shirts

 Daniel dealing with a persistent photographer 

... but unable to resist soon relents 

 Kitty – above and below

 Brains on toast

A table (above and below)

 Bob

New York to the Minervois for a weekend 

Trevor and Nicky's neighbours in Homps
(above and below)

 

 The speeches were a tad long this year.......

St John's Fête des Vins – Boulevard Napoleon: eve of fête paella

It was paella evening (Friday) on the eve of Boulevard Napoleon's annual Fête des Vins. Some photos from the event.

John serving up with Trevor as 

Mr Portion Control and i/c parsley

 

John – the paella king

 

Counting to five 

Fergus Henderson

Rebecca

 

Tom 

 Max

 Bob + Lars 

 

 Derek finds the Minervois relaxing

Raising money to combat Parkinson's – Pauillac – La Livinière

Château Lafite (Pauillac): the planned start of our ride

Cru La Lavinière, Minervois 

 Fergus' and Trevor Gulliver's 
vines high in the hills of the Minervois  

It has been three years since Carole Macintyre and I did a charity bike ride, so clearly time to put that right! Back in 2013 Carole rode from John O'Groats to Kinnesswood, the home of her niece who died of a brain tumour aged just 18. Carole rode to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust and I followed the next year riding the entire course of the Lore (over 1000 kilometres) from the source to the Atlantic Ocean. 

This time we will ride across Southern France from one cru – Pauillac in the Médoc – to another – La Lavinière, the top site in the Minervois to raise money for Parkinson's UK. We are very pleased that Max Poynter Hall of St John will be joining us for the stage to Fronton.

We are delighted that our friend Lynda will be supporting us throughout our journey from Pauillac to La Lavinière.

If anyone else fancies the ride from Pauillac to La Lavinière or part of it to raise money for Parkinson's please contact me on budmac@btinternet.com 

Please help us to fight Parkinson's by visiting our fund raising page here.   

Why Parkinson's? 

Fergus Henderson cooking  

at last year's Fête du Vin

 Fergus

Max Poynter Hall (St John)

will be joining us on one of the stages  

Fergus Henderson, co-owner and head chef at St John Restaurant, is the most immediate inspiration for our ride. Fergus has had Parkinson's for a number of years now. Last year Carole and I were invited to Fergus' and Trevor Gulliver's, his business partner's, annual fête du vins in La Lavinière (Minervois) where they have vineyards high up in the hills and a winery in the centre of the village. 

Fergus and Trevor's 2016 fête du vins was memorable, so we decided that we should make an effort to raise some money to help to combat Parkinson's, such a cruel disease. We will start from Pauillac on Monday 12th June and plan to arrive in La Lavinière on Friday 16th June, on the eve of the 2017 Fête.  

We will also be riding in memory of Ivor Morris, keen racing cyclist and founder of the London Fire Brigade Cycling Club. Ivor died in early January 2008 aged 80 having long suffered from Parkinson's.

It was Ivor, whose enthusiasm got us into time trialing in the late 1970's and early 1980s. We met Ivor when he was working as an assistant school keeper during the Fire Brigade strike of November 1977 - January 1978.

A few months before he died Ivor saw the 2007 Tour de France pass through Goudhurst, an early sign that cycling was become a major sport in the UK. Sadly he died before Mark Cavendish's first TDF stage victory and Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome's wins in the Tour. He would have been proud and delighted by this and the explosion of cycling in the London.   

Please help us to fight Parkinson's by visiting our fund raising page here.