Well, here it is, the second week of October, and I still have one final meal to tell you about from my London trip, a restaurant I visited all the way back during the second week of August. What’s up with that?

One reason is that the food at St. John Bread and Wine was just that good. The fact life threw so much at me during the past two months that I was delayed in getting to this shouldn’t prevent me from sharing the experience with you.

But the other reason to write this up even after all that time has passed is to once more praise the serendipitous power of Twitter.

Lisa Gemino, whom I’d somehow managed never to meet before even though we both have many years of parallel convention-going, reached out to me on Twitter (my foodie frenzy had caught her eye, I guess) to ask if I wanted to join her and her merry band of eaters for a trip to St. John, the Fergus Henderson restaurant known for its nose-to-tail menu. And I thought … why not?

It’s far too easy in our field to stick with the known, create cliques, insulate ourselves among our friends, and never make new ones. So I’ve often broken bread with total strangers at conventions. Though if we’ve both come to the same place out of our shared love of science fiction or fantasy or horror (depending on the con), are we really strangers?

So the Friday of Loncon3, nine of us headed to St. John Bread and Wine. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get to the originally planned St. John due to a mix-up—that entire restaurant was closed for a private party, and our reservation had been taken in error.

The dish I’d earlier seen on the menu that I was lusting after the most was ox cheek pie—a dish which was unfortunately being crossed out on the chalkboard just as our server reached us, because another party had moments before ordered the last one!

But don’t worry. What we had was amazing.

Whole crab and mayonnaise

Potted pork and pickled cucumber
Silky smooth!

Ox heart, dandelion, and pickled walnut

Duck liver and foie gras toast

Quail and Bramley Jelly
Impressive!

Hake head, white bean, and aioli

Plaice, brown butter, and sea aster

Pigeon, lentils , trotters, and grilled onions

Old spot cheek, chicory, and mustard
Meat candy! My personal favorite of the night.

A dozen freshly baked madeleines
15-minute wait required
The consensus was — the best any of us had ever eaten!

Eccles cake with Lancashire cheese

Chocolate pot and golden syrup biscuits

One dish we ordered is missing from those photos because our group tore into it too quickly — courgettes, white beans, and yoghurt. But rest assured, it was as wonderful as the rest.

Oh, and about that ox cheek pie …

As our dishes began arriving, I noticed that a couple immediately behind me was being delivered that final pie. I turned to them, and with a big smile and as much humor as I could muster, told them how much I’d wanted it and how I hated them for having gotten it.

The man began apologizing profusely, but the woman, eyeing the pie, asked me, “Is this really the last one?”

I assured her that it was.

At which point she pumped her fist and shouted a gleeful “Yes!” So great was her joy I’m surprised she didn’t leap up to do a victory dance.

And then I turned, left them to the ox cheek pie (sniff!), and enjoyed our bounty, and the new friends which Twitter had provided.

Thanks for the invite, Lisa!