Jim's Loire: Fergus Henderson

Showing posts with label Fergus Henderson. Show all posts

Tuesday, 24 September 2019

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with its menu of tripes and bone marrow and welsh rarebit and addictive custard, they were accused of being 200 years out of date, which they took as an enormous compliment.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

Wednesday, 25 October 2017

Parkinson UK charity ride inspired by Fergus Henderson – last few days to donate

Group shot with Fergus @St Johns

Inspired by Fergus Henderson (chef and co-owner of St John restaurant, London) we cycled from Pauillac to La Livinière, Minervois in June (12th-16th) to raise money for Parkinson's UK. Famous for Nose to Tail Eating Fergus has had Parkinson's since 1998. As well as the St John's business he and Trevor Gulliver have a vineyard in the Minervois.

To date we have raised £6423.44 including Gift Aid. We are absolutely delighted. However, you can still donate! Thank you – every bit helps!

Please donate: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/ParkinsonsPedalers

We will be closing the Virgin Giving page very shortly, so this is a last call for donations. Perhaps you intended to make a contribution and, for some reason, it didn't get done.

Jim and CRM at Carcassonne

@start of last stage

Journey's end @Homps, Minervois

Saturday, 24 June 2017

Reflections on Parkinson's fundraising ride from Pauillac to La Livinière (Minverois)

Jim and Carole @the Cité of Carcassonne

A week yesterday Carole and I were riding through quiet, rolling roads through the Minervois towards our final destination – Domaine Ostal Cazes at La Livinière. Fortunately we had the wind behind us as we passed by vineyards interspersed by garrique and other crops.

In direct contrast yesterday afternoon I foolishly decided to go for a ride in London at the time of the afternoon school run and the start of the Friday weekend rush hour. This made riding on most of the roads no fun at all and I cut short my ride. Such a contrast to peaceful rural France whether it is in the Languedoc or the Loire.

Although there are considerate drivers in London, there are still far too many that speed, drive recklessly and dangerously with little thought for other road users whether they are fellow drivers, cyclists or pedestrians.

Riding a bike in London means that you can never relax – always trying to anticipate the next danger or the next impatient idiot.

Much of our five day ride from Pauillac to La Livinière was along the towpath of the Garonne and then the Midi Canals. There was a good tarred track all the way from the western end of the Garonne canal a few miles east of Langon all the way to the western border of the Aude départment. This meant that we could ride our road bikes along by the canal and benefit from the shade and tranquility – no vehicles! Unfortunately in the Aude the track becomes rough so we had to take to the normal roads to avoid punctures.

During our ride we had to negotiate two major cities: Bordeaux and Toulouse. Both proved to be cycle friendly and easy to get through. Toulouse entirely on cycle lanes – some shared with pedestrians, while Bordeaux was easy once we reached the new Pont Jacques Chaban Delmas Bridge. The new bridge includes a dedicated cycle lane which then on the eastern side connects to a pedestrian/cycleway that takes you right through and out to the south of the city. In Toulouse we were able to follow the Garonne Canal until it became the Canal du Midi.

Clearly both Bordeaux and Toulouse a much smaller than London but it was striking, despite the new cycle highways in the centre, London lags far behind these French cities.

Sadiq Khan, the current London Mayor, makes the right sounds about improving conditions for pedestrians and cyclists alike. However, after a little more than a year in power I sense that he has achieved little and that he is better at hot air than taking practical steps.

Khan appointed Will Norman, as his new walking and cycling supremo on a salary of £98,000 a year. A google search on Norman brings up no recently entries, so you have to wonder what is he up to?

We are very pleased that our ride across Southern France has to date raised £5,587.19 including gift aid. Donations continue to be very welcome – please donate here Together we can make a difference to people with Parkinson's. Thanks!

Destination: Ostal Cazes, La Livinière, Minervois

Cycling group@Trevor Gulliver's house in nearby Homps

Sunday, 18 June 2017

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.