Saltine — Restaurant in London

We were lucky enough to get a lunch reservation for their soft launch week. I’d been watching the progress for weeks so was really curious (aka nosey) as to what they had done inside.

The space is big. At the front they’ve got a counter where they’ll do some drinks and nibbles at night, and during the day, basic pastries.

At the back is a beautiful airy space with bare walls and a skylight which is the dining space.

The menu is different to the restaurants you get in the area so it really stands out. The dishes are designed so you can get a bunch to share, or have your own. There’s nibbles, starters, mains and desserts. There wasn’t much on the menu for non-drinkers (I imagine this might come later) eg non alcoholic cocktails, but there’s a great selection otherwise.

We went for the chicken liver parfait (absolutely delicious - very much hope this is a permanent feature on the menu!), brandade (which I believe is salted cod) served on toast with an egg (my husband found this too fishy for him but I loved it - it especially went well with the curry spices), cured mullet which looks very cerviche-like (my husband was a bit scared of this dish as he’s not a huge raw fish fan but thought it was delicious) and is light and flavoursome, black bream (substantial - looks are deceptive and I found this quite filling) which comes with fried artichokes - I found this quite tricky to know how to eat… how much of the tough outer leaves do you eat? 🤷🏻‍♀️ However, it was still really tasty. My husband had the lamb. We had initially decided to share our dishes but when his lamb arrived he told me I was only allowed a small morsel 😂

We had potatoes with it as a side. It’s on the menu quite vaguely just as ‘potatoes’ which I imagine allows for some creative license. Ours that day were like new potatoes which were crunchy on the outside and squishy on the inside.

Of course we had to have dessert. We discussed sharing one but we couldn’t decide which so we got a sticky toffee apple cake and chocolate mousse. Would quite like a jug of the sticky toffee sauce please…

Both desserts were great. Choc mousse was super thick and quite rich, although the kumquats offset it nicely.

Staff were friendly and professional.

Toilet is a work of art - love the mural inside!

Very happy that this has opened! It’s a lovely place for food with a small group of friends, or date night. And I think when they open the front area for drinks it’ll be a great place to go for chats and nibbles.

PS. Other half really hates it when I take photos hence his slightly...

It’s a lovely space. Cocktails and wine list, fantastic. But really let down by the level of service and some of the food.

Firstly we were a party of 3 sat on too large a table, asked to move to a smaller table (which we easily could’ve done, there were free tables) but was basically told a straight no…to then see a party of 4 sit cramped on the table we asked for. Bit weird.

Starters arrived, they were tasty. The potato sourdough bread is delicious. Best part of the meal.

Mains arrived, one of us ordered a lamb dish that was served with this bed of bland, wheaty gloop and overcooked slithers of carrot and spinach. We ate less than half of it and left the rest. The others needed seasoning with extra salt. Bland and flat were the themes of all 3 of our mains. For upwards of £25-30 a dish, not good enough. There was a side dish that we ordered that also never appeared.

The bill comes, we see the lamb dish on it, and we ask for it to be removed given our feedback.

We were greeted with “it wasn’t an issue with the dish” and “it came out of the kitchen as intended”. No attempt to resolve the situation initially, or apologies for our experience.

With an air of ego and arrogance, and after further complaint, the bill was handed to us eventually with the dish taken off. With very little word from any of the staff.

These issues happen in restaurants, not everyone can like the food, I get it - the difference between a restaurant I’d recommend and one I’d tell people to avoid is how these situations are handled. Other restaurants may have offered to take it off the bill without us arguing so, or compensated us in other ways - waived service charge or the odd drink. But, to get a cold shoulder and to not even have the manger come over and offer any form of apology or listen to our feedback? Really not good enough.

As a local resident, it’s a shame that I won’t be recommending dinner at this restaurant in future. Could’ve been well avoided.

It’s got a lot of things going for it, which is why we booked the table in the first place. Just hope they take this on board for dealing with...

I really can’t find a fault with this place other than it’s always so hard to book because it so damn good.

Fantastic food, a very well thought out and curated atmosphere and very good service. The menu is seasonal and so changes deadly and they do a very good coffee just to top it all off.

Service: Having been quite a few times I am yet to be let down. Staff are always friendly and personable. They are attentive just to the right amount where you’re always looked after but it’s never too much and you never feel rushed. Staff are always happy to give recommendations and this is the same whether you come in for a coffee only, lunch or dinner.

Food: The menu is frequently changing and is seasonal, fresh and always made with high quality produce. I have never been disappointed with a dish and it is great for sharers. The food is best described as quite simple, but very well executed and combines seasonal fresh ingredients to make excellent small and larger sharing plates.

Drinks are also well made with a good selection of cocktails and the staff are very happy to make more traditional cocktails not shown on the menu. The wine list has some good, less well known wines, however lt. would be great if there were some more special well known wines available or a specialist wine menu available, however I understand it’s not the focus of the restaurant.

Atmosphere: very well thought through and very nicely decorated. The lighting is dark and cosy in the evenings and light and airy in the afternoon with the skylight. The whole restaurant has been very well curated and put together along with the food and drink. In summer evenings the restaurant is gorgeous with the skylight filling the back of the restaurant. Similarly, during the summer it’s wonderful to sit near the front and have a coffee.

Overall a fantastic restaurant and simply unfaultable on all fronts. 10/10 and a solid...