Stephen Jackson: 40 not out – A Harry Potter feast for my birthday

Feb 12 2010 By Stephen Jackson

I’M back from a rather lavish weekend in London, celebrating my 40th birthday with friends and family.

Stinking cold apart, I had a whale of a time, was spoiled rotten and ate some terrific meals in some wonderful restaurants.

I thought I’d pass on a few recommendations to you, for the next time you visit the capital.

My first port of call was a new wine bar/bistro called Terroirs which is owned by one of our wine merchants, Les Caves De Pyrène. Our rep had arranged for a tasting and we drank several amazing and intriguing wines from all over Europe to accompany some impeccable food.

Brilliant charcuterie plates loaded with crumbly terrines, smooth rabbit rillettes and fine hams were followed by bowls of clams spiked with sherry and ham. Then came tender squid with fiery aioli and an amazing plate of Cantabrian anchovies to be eaten on crunchy dark toast with butter and shallots.

Main courses draw from fine rustic French cuisine, with cassoulet and chicken cooked with girolles and 40 cloves of garlic. A great cheeseboard, classic puds. A terrific start to the weekend.

My ‘proper’ birthday meal was with lots of good friends at one of my all-time favourite eateries, St John, about which I have already told you much. It is a very sparsely-decorated place, almost more like a refectory, but its lofty position in the San Pellegrino Top 10 World Restaurants list reflects their care and attention with even the most basic ingredient.

We started things with a choice of potted pork and rabbit or the famous bone-marrow and parsley salad. It was a truly heart-warming sight to see over a dozen very good friends chatting away, munching marrow toasts and sipping their wine. I was in heaven. For the main course, several massive pheasant pies were helped onto the table, alongside steaming bowls of mashed potato and iridescent spring greens. The scene, twinned with magnums of my favourite red wine, made the table look like a Harry Potter feast. We ate so well; the pie was magnificent. Puddings of spotted dick and custard or Eccles cake and cheese rounded things off nicely. Of all the places I’d recommend, St John’s is the one. It is so utterly perfect, I find it hard to summon the words. Go, have dinner, change your life.