Sets appeal: Set menu at Salon

Reviewing the set meals, tasting menus and special deals available at London's top restaurants 
Salon: Creative cooking in Brixton Market
Ben Norum12 December 2017

For the latest in our Sets Appeal series we try the no-choice set menu — which features four main dishes — at Salon on Brixton’s Market Row.

The kitchen is run by Nicholas Balfe, who was previously head chef at Vauxhall’s Brunswick House before opening this itsy 20-odd seat restaurant at the end of 2012.

The menu is led by the seasons, with items you might not normally pair together making happy plate-fellows — the dishes each described simply as a list of comma separated ingredients.

What’s the deal? The £33 menu offers no choice, but it does give a thorough taste of what Salon is about. It covers four medium-sized plates along with sourdough and some snacks thrown in for good measure. The exact dishes which feature change regularly. Add £25 and you can have a matched wine paired with each dish.

Highlight: Mackerel with gooseberries and mustard

When is it available? Every evening and at weekends in the upstairs dining room.

What’s it like? The dishes may sound simple, but in reality are anything but. A deliciously oily, crispy-skinned fillet of mackerel served with sharp, lightly cooked gooseberries and an ‘egg yolk’ blob of mustard is a highlight. Fresh curd cheese presented with a medley of pickled and fresh stone fruit and a vivid swirl of bitter nasturtium ‘pesto’ is another.

Contrast: Fresh cheese with stone fruit and nasturtium

In both cases, the winning formula is the contrast of bold flavours — sharp, creamy, sweet, bitter — which end up complimenting rather than competing.

Strawberry, black pepper and balsamic, a less unusual combination these days, is a further case in point. A fresh and enlivening end to a meal, even if not a particularly indulgent last stand.

The best food in London

1/17

Verdict Salon is home to clever cooking and genuinely different dishes — intricate fine dining without the pretensions.

The packed atmosphere, open kitchen and ultra-personal service, including from the chef himself, adds to the experience.

For similarly-crafted small plates and even less formality, try the downstairs ‘Store Room’.

Find it 18 Market Row, Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8LD; salonbrixton.co.uk

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