Picture of St John Bread And Wine, E1 6LZ

Historical version 16 of St John Bread And Wine, E1 6LZ (view current version)

The Shoreditch branch of St John, EC1M 4AY, specialising in off sales of bread and wine, as well as a St John style traditional British menu, breakfasts and elevenses. The menu changes daily, with some options appearing more often than others.

During the week they open at 9 for breakfast, switch to an elevenses at 11, and have the full menu available from midday, with occasional extra items appearing from 1pm. Bread is cooked on the premises and is available to takeaway.

Breakfast always has a bacon sandwich on the menu, which is definitely worth the £4.50 they charge with big home made bread, lots of good bacon and homemade ketchup. Other options range from £2.50 for bread and honey up to £6ish for kippers, and consist of a variety of traditional breakfast foods including eggy bread and pikelets. Their coffee is Illy and it's all rather good. Service can be a bit slow when they open, but this seems to be due to them cooking everything fresh. Breakfast can fill up, but booking isn't always necessary ” it is possible though.

Similarly, you can normally get a table for lunch, although booking is recommended later in the week. The menu is made up of mainly smaller dishes that they recommend are ordered about two per person. Price start at about £5 per plate, going up to £10-15 for full main dishes and the menu varies each day. The food does follow the normal "Nose to Tail" eating idea, so expect crispy pigs ears and spleens alongside roast fowl, soups and vegetable dishes. They have a fairly big dessert menu, almost always including their famous Eccles cakes served with Lancashire cheese, and have Madeleines available, cooked fresh in about 15 minutes and sold by the 1/2 dozen for £3.60.

As the name suggests, they also do wine and have a good selection, almost all available by the glass. The wine drunk in the restaurant is also available to takeaway at the significantly lower price that you'd expect.

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Last visited by billy, and Dave on September 15th, 2009
OS X co-ord: 533714 OS Y co-ord: 181850 (Latitude: 51.519240 Longitude: -0.072561)
This is version 16 (as of 2010-06-23 20:39:42). View current version. List all versions.