The Peasant, London

The Clerkenwell area is stuffed with great top end places to eat out. From Exmouth market where the fantastic Moro is located, to Clerkenwell road which is home to The Zetter, style hotel and fantastic Italian restaurant.

It also seems to be a place which attrracts great Gastro pubs and this is the category I'd put the Peasant into. The first ever Gastro pub is located on Farringdon Road - The Eagle, then theres The Easton, tucked away just off Exmouth Market and now The Pesant on St Johns Street.

Located at 240 St Johns Street I would say the easiest way to get to the Peasant is via Angel tube station and then walking the 10 minutes to get to this pub/restaurant.

I have eaten there 4 times now with people from work and its a great place to go for something casual but very tasty such as the chargrilled steak cibatta and fries (that I always end up ordering. When something tastes so good its hard to go for a new option)

On entering the Peasant from the road you walk into a large bar with a dark coloured floor and colourfulred walls. There seems to be a rather arty theme running through the Peasant with lots of pieces of original art up on the walls.
The tables are well spaced and there is room for large groups to dine together (10 people easily fitted around one of their larger tables)
There are blackboards dotted around with specials and drinks written on them and its worth a look at what the dish of the day may be.
There is a staircase at the back of the bar leading up to their restaurant, but I wont review that having never eaten up their.

The bar staff are pleasant and will serve you from your table which is unusual for the gastro pubs in the area, this is something I feel that sets the Peasant apart from The Easton. They are happy to bring drinks or take more orders from you when you need them to, and they take your order for food within 10 minutes of you being seated, obviously this is important if you are on a lunch hour and need to get back.

The selection of food on the menu is quite overpowering, from the simple steak cibatta I mentioned, to things like borst, gazpatcho, noodle soups, pint of prawns with crusty white bread, crunchy stirfrys with water chestnuts and chicken, wild boar sausages, all sorts really.
They also seem to be quite big into Tapas and offer several dishes like spanish ham served with olives. As there is a very good spanish food shop just down the road on Exmouth Market -Brindisa which just won an Observer food award, I suspect their supplies may come from there.
The average cost of a lunch here is around £10 including a drink which is reasonable for the area.

They do a very wide selection of bottled beers, if you like to try new ones this is certainly the place to do it - Duvel Bonde, Liefmans Kriefk and Westmalle.

They also serve a variety of good real ales like Watt Tyler on tap.

This pub has a nice atmosphere and appears to be popular with local diners as I have never been there and seen it empty.

If anyone has eaten there in the evening then I'd be interested to hear your review.