Review: Breakfast at St. John Bread & Wine

I recently spent a day exploring the best food East London has to offer with the East End Food Tour from Eating London Tours and one of the stops was at St. John Bread & Wine for a slap up breakfast treat!

Just across from Spitalfield’s Market, St. John Bread & Wine opened in May 2003 with the idea of finding a home for their bakery operations which had outgrown the original Smithfield venue (which had originally been a bank), offering simple food and wine.

St. John Bread & Wine works to reflects local tastes in combination with the respect for seasonal, indigenous ingredients and “the whole beast”. The restaurants opens for breakfast, lunch and supper seven days a week with a casual manner of dining, with sharing encouraged with a tapas style menu of smaller dishes perfect for a party of friends or family to enjoy.

So what was on the menu? St. John Bread & Wine is well known for it’s Old Spot bacon sandwiches which is what most people choose when visiting, however,  being vegetarian I was offered something a little different: poached quince served with brioche and yoghurt.

I can’t remember ever trying quince before, let alone a poached quince for breakfast! Coming from the same family as apples and pears, the quince is an aromatic fruit which when poached is soft and succulent. The quince was complimented well by the tart plain yoghurt. The dish would have been too squishy if not for the added texture of the toasted brioche which added some crunch to the dish.

All in all I really enjoyed the breakfast at St. John Bread & Wine and would love to return for lunch or dinner to get a better idea of their tapas style of dining. I award St. John Bread & Wine 4 out of 5 stars.

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4stars

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