Salt Yard

[Mark Donnelly]

Off next Saturday - Thought I'd give it a go. Anyone been?

[battleofthebulge]

Yep, went a few weeks ago for lunch. The main restaurant area is downstairs, with a view into the kitchen. Unfortunately they cram a few too many tables in, and that, combined with the low (basement) ceiling made it very noisy. That's the only downside, though.

The food was very good and reasonably priced. We had the stuffed courgette flowers with honey - very filling! Also the ribs cooked in Pedro Ximinex - not sweet as you'd expect, and a wonderful shiny dark brown sauce. The Gloucester pork belly was also very tasty, but rather small to share between two And a couple of other tapas dishes - can't remember what, but no complaints. The charcuterie plates being delivered to other tables looked pretty good.

With two glasses of an excellent 2001 Rioja the bill was about £45, but we went elsewhere for dessert so we could hear each other talk!

Sarah

[Mark Donnelly]

Many thanks Sarah. I'll report back on experience.

[Mark Donnelly]

Salt Yard is a great tapas bar and restaurant.

I agree with Sarah that tables can be a bit close together, but I seen worse. Most tapas are in the £4-£6 range; and three is more than enough if you also have some bread.

Upstairs is an L-shaped bar with a few tables to accommodate smokers. Avoid the back of this room as you are (i) near a staff entrance and (ii) tucked well out of the way. Bar stools are straight out of Austin Powers (groovy baby). We repaired to the bar after our meal as the chairs are not the most comfortable.

Downstairs is squarish, but eclecticly laid out. A word of caution, SY does try to cram tables into every available space. Hence thereis a four seater literally at the foot of the stairs (intimate!).

We were seated right next to the kitchen, which is visible through two large hatches. Unfortunately one of these also functions as the Pass. Great fun if you are into seeing a real kitchen at work; but could be irritating as the waiting staff traffic by your table to pick up and deliver orders.

It is clear that the whole restaurant has been decorated on a fairly limited budget. But hey, this is a tapas bar.

As a general observation, the tapas are generously sized. We ordered Confit of 'Gloucester Old Spot' Pork Belly with rosemary scented cannelini beans (£5.50). It's hard to go wrong with pork belly, and SY didn't. Very good.

Next up was four large morcilla (black pudding) croquettas (£4.50). Again these were very good.

Next was tiger prawns chargrilled with rosemary and chilli. At £7.00 for five, these were a little on the pricey side. The prawns were skewered on rosemary, which imparted too strong a flavour into the prawns.

Next up, porcini mushrooms with celeriac puree (£6.00). These were very good, although the celeriac was under seasoned.

Our penultimate tapas was slow-roasted Lamb shoulder with farro and herb salad (£5.50). This was generously sized and fab. Farro is an Italian grain that resembles barley. Yum yum.

Finally, we had pumpkin gnudi with brown sage butter. This was perfectly served: crisp on the outside, slghtly wet on the inside.

We had two belinis to start and a bottle of Rioja. We then repaied upstairs to the bar for a couple of glasses of Inurrieta Norte (terrific stuff).

SY is very, very good. It could be great. what shines through is the food. It doesn't pretend to be anything other than hearty tapas.

[battleofthebulge]

Sounds like you had a boozy evening :-)

I've just been to Glas for lunch. If you like tapas, and are partial to a bit of herring, this could be the place for you. It's in Borough Market, opposit Neal's Yard cheeses, and is Swedish tapas. Forgive me if you've already heard about it. We had some great food and the service was fast (not surprising given they only had 5 covers) and chirpy.

I won't write a review here as it's off topic, but do give it a try - they were undeservedly quiet today. Hopefully they pack out evenings and when the market is open.

Cheers!

Sarah

[Matthew Grant]

Salt Yard last night, I really liked the feel of the place, sure the tables are close to gether but this isn't refined eating, its tapas so who cares. Service was efficient if lacking a little knowlege. e.g

"Is the Iberico Jabugo Joselito?"

"Er..No I think its from Iberico, its a place in Spain"

Started with a chopping board of the Iberico Jabugo which was excellent, thinly sliced by hand although I would have liked a few longer strips. Spanish selection was Chorizo, Lomo, Salcichon and another I can't remember, all very good.

Confit sholder of lamb was served with Farro - great lamb, the Farro had mint running through it. Courgette flowers were crispy, stuffed with goats cheese and drizzled with honey. Prawns with Rosemary and Chilli could have done with more chilli (and rosemary for that matter) but were good examples and nicely cooked. Chorizo cooked in Arturian(sp?) cider finished our order. Then we ordered some excellent Prosciutto San Danielle......Then we thought about it a bit more and for dessert ordered another portion of the Jabugo ham. Great night, smashing little place!

Edited February 19, 2006 by Matthew Grant (log)

[SBonner]

Hard to critise from this part of the world but looking at their website I would have expected a much broader selection of wines by the glass. Food sounds interesting and Helen and I will give it a try when we arrive in London in the late summer. What are your feelings on a restaurant like this with tapas/small plates having a small wine by the glass selection? Here in Vancouver when I'm making wine lists it is not uncommon for even a casual cafe to have a minimum of 20 wines by the glass. I'm currently working on a project here in Vancouver which is a wine/cheese/tapas bar with 40+ wines by the glass (not all that uncommon here).

Cheers,

Stephen

Edited February 21, 2006 by SBonner (log)

[Matthew Grant]

This place is small, I'm not sure how they would be able to produce too many wines by the glass. The wine list is good value though, mostly around the £20 - £25 mark with plenty below that.

[Mark Donnelly]

Stephen

Out of curiosity, what do you do with unsold leftover red wine if sold by the glass. I guess either (i) the staff drink it or (ii) you "keep" it for the next day. Say the latter isn't so.

[SBonner]

Stephen

Out of curiosity, what do you do with unsold leftover red wine if sold by the glass.  I guess either (i) the staff drink it or (ii) you "keep" it for the next day.  Say the latter isn't so.

←

We use an Argon gas system that keeps wine fresh roughly 5-7 days. On average a bottle goes alot quicker than that I have never had a glass sent back due to freshness being an issue. An Argon wine preservation system is great value for a restaurant....just alot of work for the bartender/sommelier/chef at the end of the night. One tank last about eight months.

I'm always amazed at London restaurants and their small amount of WBTG options especially with your wine culture unlike here in Vancouver.

Not to digress from this thread, this restaurant sound very interesting, so we give it a try when in London. It's also in one of our favourite parts of London and even bigger bonus.

Stephen

Vancouver

Edited February 21, 2006 by SBonner (log)

[Winot]

Salt Yard looks good from the web site, but I couldn't see any sherries. Shurely shome mishtake?

[Pweaver1984]

I saw a few weeks ago in Restaurant Magazine that Salt Yard is recruiting a new Head and Sous chef to start in June this year. Wonder if this will have any affect?

Hope not as I also had a good meal here recently.