Ambitious new restaurant St Barts opens today near Smithfield market, on the edge of the City of London. It is the third venue from three friends who have progressed from pop-ups to the tiny Nest in Hackney and the slightly larger Fenn in Fulham – both of which won rave reviews and high ratings for their food in the 2022 Harden’s guide.

Chef Johnnie Crow (centre above) has worked at the Harwood Arms and Anglo; Toby Neill (left) is the business manager, and Luke Wasserman (right) runs the front of house. If their previous restaurants are any guide, St Barts will offer brilliantly creative British cooking using sustainably farmed and foraged ingredients from small producers, accompanied by an interesting selection of low-intervention wines.

Johnnie says: “Restaurant St. Barts is the restaurant myself, Luke & Toby have always dreamed of opening. Over the last 7 years we’ve met and worked with some of the most incredible suppliers from across the UK, and Restaurant St Barts will be our opportunity to showcase them under the one roof. We want to create an experience that focuses on respect – towards the natural environment, the incredible produce that comes from it and everyone involved in the process.”

Dinner is a 15-course tasting menu priced at £120 a head, reduced to six courses at £60 a head at lunchtime on weekdays. The restaurant is named after the early medieval church whose cloisters it overlooks – St Bartholomew the Great, which celebrates its 900th anniversary next year and is the oldest surviving church in London.