Restaurant Salt — Restaurant in Tallinn

It's a restaurant with a legendary reputation and history, which means it has a lot to live up to.

Atmosphere wise, it's been dealt a tough hand. It's in a tiny corner room of the building's basement floor and does not have a lot of space to play with. They have not gone for a super highly thought-out design but instead are going for a cosy, homely vibe. The outside seats are nice in the summer, but the street is suffering from classic Tallinn design and is lacking greenery and is surrounded by a mix of beautiful older buildings and dull or worn newer ones. The constantly passing cars are just making it worse as well.

The service was great! They were super friendly and quick with covering all of the information and sold us on a wonderful desert in expert fashion. Overhearing how they dealt with other tables, they clearly have skill and experience.

Lastly, the food. It was definitely not bad. Our impression was a bit soured by two aspects. Firstly, their online website menu had a few foods that no longer existed on the real menu, and they were out of some of the dishes we wanted that day. We ordered the pheasant and mushroom risotto.

The pheasant was nice! It mostly stood out for how different the texture was on different parts of the meat. Some had soft and delicate fibres like well cooked chicken, some were a bit more toothsome but still good, and lastly, a part was so soft and mushy that it was almost paste or something that disintegrated in your mouth. The flavours were nothing special but not something I regret getting.

The risotto was also nice, but not to our preference. The rice was maybe a tad too toothsome, and we would've preferred it to have been cooked just slightly longer. Also, the taste of wine just overpowered the dish a bit as well, which again was not bad, but we are used to having a more broth forward risotto. Overall, again, we were not impressed but also not disappointed.

Lastly, we had a dessert, which I can't seem to find on their menu, with a lovely fig-nut base. It was delightful, and the server was very correct with their sales pitch to our fig hesitant minds.

On the side, we had water, which was conveniently in a large bottle on the table. Some warm and delicious bread with butter that I think could've benefited from a tiny bit more salt and an automated coffee machine coffee, which was honestly a bit bad.

Rating the restaurant feels tough in conclusion. The food was not bad but nothing special either, and the combination of the dark outside with passing cars and construction made the on-site experience be a bit mediocre, though the desser and service did uplift it. (We chose not to sit inside due to the strong odour of fish). However, the out of date online menu and missing items from the day's menu just left us a tad disappointed, which is why we struggle picking between a strong 3 stars or a weak 4 stars.

I can't blame them for the state of Tallinn's street design, but they should ensure they had a better light setup for the outside tables and maybe some heat lamps under the umbrellas/shades alongside the blankets. I can't blame them for running out of dishes a bit more than an hour before closing, but they should definitely make sure to keep their menu up to date. And I hope their other food is a bit more exciting than what we had, but it definitely was not bad. I can't blame the automated machine for making terrible coffee, and while there is not much space (and possibly human time) to have a proper espresso machine, I've had better automated coffee machine coffee and I think they can definitely improve there. Their service should keep being awesome, however, as that was definitely the highligh of the night!

In conclusion, I've chosen to give this place 3 stars for now due to the lack of maintenance with the online menu and for some mild management mistakes with their coffee, seating, and so on. I hope to return some day again soon, to try some more exciting dishes where the chefs can show off their skills and hopefully have a more...

I've been on the fence about Salt since we went there a few years ago. Back then it had a lot of potential but was low on delivery. Today I think they proved they are well on their way to earning a place among Tallinn's most exciting restaurants. Already by opening up their menu you realize there is more creative power at work here than at most high end earned-their-keep eateries. The menu reads like an adventure, and for the most part, it is one! We started off with some very good quality oysters, accompanied by a selection of vinaigrettes - the jalopeno one being the standout. We moved on to the swordfish sashimi, which was delicate but with enough umami flavour to remain memorable. Unfortunately, the dish we were most anticipating - the spring cabbage steak - never arrived because the waiter misheard our order and brought us regular steak. This was one of the few downsides of the night. The steak itself was expertly cooked, the chimichurri a nice accompaniment, but the salsa I think let the dish down a bit. Also I'd say the proportions were off balance: there needed to be much more of that chimichurri and far less of that salsa on the plate for a true five star dish. All in all it was steak as steak should be - nothing to write home about, but if you want steak then you definitely won't be let down. The pikeperch main with Idaho potatoes, however (one we did, in fact, order), was an absolute standout: beautifully cooked and elevated by a rich deeply flavoured foam-sauce. I'd have that main any day of the week. There was considerable variation when it came to the dessert as well. My dessert: the Yucatan chocolate pleasure with pernod sauce, was a knockout: rich chocolate two ways with a sharp slightly bitter pernod accompaniment. The lime-coconut-pistachio tart was, however, a letdown in contrast to the rest of the night. It was basically a lime and coconut tart, heavy on the lime, easy on the coconut. The pistachio was unfortunately nonexistent in the flavour profile, and if I hadn't read it on the menu I would have assumed the green sprinklings on the tart were simply lime peel. There was nothing wrong with the tart as a lime-coconut tart, but I would not have ordered something like this off the menu, and in comparison to the high quality of our other meals, this just did not match up. It would have been fine as a "cake of the day" at your favourite coffee shop, but it was not restaurant quality.

So that is why I can't give Salt five stars just yet. Slight hiccups on the service, a few dessert items that don't need to be on the menu, but when they get it right, you bloody well won't forget it: and that already places them ahead of some other upscale Tallinn restaurants which simply don't seem to be trying anymore (cough CRU cough).

Atmosphere is very laid back. Hole-in-the-wall vibes for sure. But for such a small place with an open kitchen to boot, I was positively surprised at how well they managed to...

Mu first visit was a bit disoriented. Not much introduction, told to chose the place. Another one came to the table asked if I am there for a lunch. I said yes. The waiter told me there is a fish, i asked for second choice- yes there was. I chose the perch and she left. I kinda felt like not in restaurant but in the factory. Later I learned that there is a lunch menu and also normal menu.

They did not offer nor menu or if I would.like to have anything to drink. They just bring half bottle of water and some bread.

So. I started to write this review while eating the bread and drinking the water.

Now I heared the waiter telling that there is a third option to chose from to the table next to me.

The perch was served on top of steamed vedgetables and mushroom and in generous amount of liquid. It was a bit saltier I would like. But there was a hint of nice spice and perhaps a bit too much oil. Also I was able to find not good cut of the cabbage. I had to cut it off myself. It is not a big thing but the roots of the cabbage catch the dark color which usually indicates not so fresh ingredient. Overall I enjoyed the variation of texture and the taste.

For dessert- the buckthorn cheese cake and coffee.

Cheese cake was nice. With berries and ballsnof buckthorn creme on top. It was not too sweet and not too sour. Quite perfect after the fish. I would say one of the best cheeelse cake I got.

Actually they have larger menu they did not introduce at first. I talked afterwards with one of the waiters and learned about awesome large choice I would personally try on next visit or, if it would have been intruced this time would ordered.

Overall: Staff 6/10 the waiter served my food did not cared much, another one knew much more about their food. And I was slowly forced to have the seabass Taste 7/10 considering the price...