Classy fun: Marylebone Village Summer Festival

LUCKY locals of Marylebone Village have yet more reasons to celebrate – a summer festival and the new branch of St JOHN.

On Saturday, June 10, and Sunday, June 11, this smart neighbourhood will light up with live music, al fresco film screenings and market stalls serving quality food and drink.

It’s a fine excuse – if you needed one – to visit the new outpost of St JOHN, the legendary restaurant, wine merchant and bakery first established in Spitalfields by chef Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver back in 1994.

If you have never been, their nose-to-tail menus and minimalist aesthetic are the stuff of legend in the food and wine trade.

This was the place to sample crispy pig’s cheek, faggots or braised squirrel with a glass of something French. The waiting staff were invariably charming, good looking and razor sharp.

This new outpost of St JOHN is their first opening in more than a decade.

Step inside and the atmosphere is instantly familiar. The room is stripped right back to bare bones, the walls painted a stark white.

Downstairs is a compact dining room and wine cellar. Upstairs, the space is designed to also flow as an all-day bar and café.

Drop in for coffee and an eccles cake or jam donut, taking a seat at their white marble table top.

Treat yourself to a glass of bubbles or one of their chalked-up specials, which might include a top-flight Chablis or hard-to-find Bordeaux.

We popped in for a quick supper. St JOHN is a restaurant that excels in snacks and dainty morsels.

The deep-fried Welsh rarebit will linger long in our memory: a lozenge-shaped delight fished glistening out of the fryer. Slice in half and it oozes a rich and mustardy cheese sauce.

We loved the sourdough toast topped with flakes of cold skate, the fish mixed with capers and dill to deliver a zingy balance of clean seaside flavours and satisfying crunch.

Less exciting was a larger dish of roast Tamworth pork: slices of the rare breed pig served in a watery sauce with carrots and a piquant aioli.

Be sure to stay for pudding. Our pear and hazelnut pavlova was an ingenious play of textures.

We ended with a plate of warm madeleines and glass of sweet Pineau des Charentes, an obscure but moreish amber dessert wine aged in Cognac barrels.

For the festival itself, check out the open-air film screenings in Paddington Street Gardens on the Saturday.

For the Sunday market, there will be stilt walkers, bubble artists and stalls from local businesses such as The Coach Makers Arms, La Fromagerie, Lina Stores, and Le Vieux Comptoir. Expect classy fun for all the family.

Marylebone Village Summer Festival, June 10 and 11.
www.marylebonevillage.com
@MaryleboneVillage
Tickets for the film screenings of Encanto and Elvis can be purchased on “Design My Night” website.

St JOHN Marylebone
98 Marylebone Lane, W1U
www.stjohnrestaurant.com