Rambunctious, witty StJohn sibling still has a few kinks to be ironed out

GOOD menu-writing is a dance and a tease; a playful back-and-forth where crucial dish information is both generously disclosed and tantalisingly withheld.

- Jimi Famurewa

FORK AND TALK St John Marylebone 98 Marylebone Lane, W1U 2QA; Meal for two plus drinks around £140. Open Monday to Sunday from 8am to 11pm; stjohnrestaurant.com

 At its most successful, it is that moment of pleasant surprise and awed happiness at a restaurant table. But then, at its worst, it can lead to frustration and lurching bewilderment.

I thought of all this as I sat amid the happy, wine-loosened clamour of St John in Marylebone; the venerated British nose-to-tail restaurant's newest outpost (a first proper opening in seven years) and a place where the steps of this old dance can be masterful, comforting and, perhaps, every now and then, a little bamboozling.