The Salt Yard

There are a good number of decent tapas restaurants in London and then there are those that are a cut above the rest. Salt Yard would like to think it belongs to the latter category but I'm not so sure.

Let's set the scene. It was a Friday night and we were having a reunion of all the Dubai folk who, by some freak of coincidence were in London at the time. Nothing suits a good cath up better than tapas - the sharing of food, a bit of sangria or wine.

First off, I would like to point out that any restaurant that has two sittings on a Friday night is never going to get an unreserved thumbs up from me. Especially when it is a group of ten people. Nothing puts the pressure on a nice, relaxed meal like a waitress reminding you every five minutes of the limited time you have your table for. The moment we sat down, a few minutes later than our 7.30pm booking she was already champing at the bit for us to get ordering and reminding us that we only had the table until 9.30. 9.30? I dont remember the last time I sat down for dinner with a group of nine other people and managed to eat pleasurably in less than 2 hours - but apparently, that is de rigeur at this 'homely' little restaurant.

By the end of the night, I felt like the subject of a precision-planned militiary operation - we were almost shunted out the door by 9.45. I personally am not interested in whether the restaurant wants to maximise their takings, I'm interested in sitting down, enjoying my food and wine and having a nice chat with my friends.



Rant aside, I'm going to put forward an objective view of why Salt Yard really could do better. Some of the dishes were outstanding - cauliflower flowers stuffed with goats cheese encased in the lightest batter were a treat to eat - perfectly seasoned and avoiding the pitfall of blandness we so often find with this dish.

The chorizo with marinated peppers was also something to write home about - not to gristly and with a depth of flavour that had us all reaching over to grab another slice while we thought no one was looking. But congratulating a spanish restaurant on great chorizo feels a bit like congratualating a Japanese restaurant for a tasty piece of sashimi. Its so obvious it's almost farcical.

There were definitely other highlights to the meal the Chargrilled Neck Fillet of Lamb, Crushed Jerusalem Artichokes and Salsa Verde perfectly balanced the melting softness of the lamb with the kick of the salsa and the Roasted Scallops with Caramelised Cauliflower Puree, Hazlenuts and New Season Garlic was a tasty, if utterly predictable take on scallops.

But there were far more disappointing dishes than I reasonably expect to find in a restaurant like this - Confit of 'Gloucester Old Spot' Pork Belly with Rosemary Scented Cannellini Beans offset a delicious pork belly with under-seasoned, nigh on flavourless beans. If one of my perfumes scented me in the same way the rosemary had supposedly scented the cannelini I'd be back in the shop and demanding a refund pretty pronto. The crispy egg with giolles and balsamic was so bland I barely remember tasting it, apart from the balsamic.

All of this would have been easily overlooked were it not for the fact that the service was fairly atrocious. As I mentioned before, there were ten of us, including one vegetarian. We'd asked the waitress to bring a selection of the dishes for us to share, presuming that she would bring out enough of each one for at least most of us to try.

That was, apparently, a presumption too far. Considering that the serving size of each of the tapas plates is paltry at best, I calculated that it would take three of each to ensure that everyone had a piece, so was duly baffled when the waitress kept on turning up with one dish of this and one dish of that.



One dish, four pieces of chorizo that are already fairly miniscule and don't lend themselves to be split into almost invisible portions. Ten people. HOW is this ever going to work?

I'll tell you how, it evolves into a strategic game of guerilla warfare. If you see something you are not overly keen on, you generously pass it down to the other end of the table hoping that next time, when there is something rather irrestible perched in front of you, you can take a piece without feeling guilty. Even then, sometimes you are required to 'fall on your sword' so to speak and pass up.

Ditto for wine, which was always having to be asked for when we'd run out. Nothing major in itself but the little things add up to a bit of a let-down on the service front. Fine if you're in McDonalds, but when I can honestly say I had much better service in La Tasca the week before, I think the Salt Yard has some work to do.

Overall, the night was lots of fun - but it was always going to be - it was old friends some of whom I hadnt seen in yonks. But when I'm presented with a £45 bill for tapas at the end of the night, I expect to have thought it was worth it and I can't honestly say this was the case

Waiting rating: Sloppy
Scoffing potential: Good - some blindingly good, some blindingly bland
Wallet buddy: Expensive for tapas
The crowd: On a Friday - fun, friendly and quite loud
54 Goodge St
London
W1T 4NA

Tel: 020 7637 0657

A slow and smelly (in a good way) Saturday

One of the reasons I love cooking is the process – of course I love tucking into a nice meal at the end of it but it is as much about the actual cooking as it is about the product... Methodical, (mostly) relaxing and intensely therapeutic, it’s pretty much the most calming thing I know how to do.

And there are few things more therapeutic than cooking up a batch of chutneys and pickles on a Saturday afternoon, which is why Natalie and I have decided to put together a batch once a month.

This month’s batch included the ever-popular chilli jam I blogged about in December, a red onion marmalade and something a bit different in the form of an Indian lime pickle. I have to confess I am slightly obsessed with lime pickle and have been known to eat it straight out of the jar with my fingers (the horror), the idea of being able to make several jars of the good stuff rather excited me....

So, Saturday afternoon was once more spent trudging around Croydon gathering the necessary ingredients for the cook off. I’m not going to lie, running around in the bitter cold and both of us nursing a hangover it wasn’t the most enjoyable experience but by the time we settled down with some red wine and got down to the fun stuff later on it might just have been worth it.

First up was the red onion marmalade which involved chopping a prodigious amount of the buggers until both of us were in tears. Tears of laughter aided by my rather rude interpretations of the last doofus I went on a date with – his hot and cold approach could have given Katy Perry a run for her money. So much for a new year and new start, looks like I’ll be regaling you fine folk with my disastrous date tales for a while longer and that’s just fine by me...




Onions chopped and tears duly wiped, we sweated the onions with garlic, thyme leaves, chilli flakes and seasoning for an hour until limp, lifeless and gorgeously sweet before dumping in a bottle of red wine and some golden caster sugar and letting it bubble away for a while.

In the meantime – we were eyeing up the challenge of the lime pickle which started with frying the limes whole before chopping them into slices and trying to dart away from the random spurts of hot lime juice erupting from them in the process.



Making the pickle wasn’t too difficult, the recipe below is a ‘quick’ lime pickle recipe so will only take an hour. I’ve just tucked into some with a few slices of gammon a week later and can tell you it’s only getting better as each day goes by.

Just a hint though, maybe don’t make the same mistake I did and go out dancing after knocking up the pickle. Four hours of sweaty jumping around left me, rather upsettingly, in a fug of fenugreek fumes. It’s not sexy nor is it even particularly pleasant :P

The finished picture


Red Onion Marmalade
Adapted from Good Food Recipe for the same
Ingredients
2kg red onions or regular onions
4 garlic cloves
120g butter
4 tbsp olive oil
140g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
pinch of chilli flakes
85cl bottle red wine
350ml red wine vinegar
50ml balsamic vinegar

Halve and thinly slice the onions, and garlic. Melt the butter with the oil over a high heat. Tip in the onions and garlic and ensure they are covered with butter. Sprinkle over the sugar, thyme leaves, chilli flakes and some salt and pepper. Give everything another really good stir and reduce the heat slightly. Cook uncovered for an hour, stirring occasionally.
Pour in the wine and vinegars and simmer everything, still uncovered, over a high heat for 25-30 minutes, stirring every so often until the liquid has reduced by about two-thirds. Leave the onions to cool in the pan, then scoop into sterilised jars and seal. Can be eaten straight away, but keeps in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Quick lime pickle recipe
Adapted from limepickle.com

500 grams of green chillies (we like ours super hot but if you don’t, use half red and half green chillies)
200 grams chopped fresh ginger
15 chopped garlic cloves
6 chopped fresh curry leaves
4 cups distilled white vinegar
1 tsp turmeric
1 Tbsp salt
3 Tbsp mustard seed
2 Tbsp fenugreek seeds
3 cups vegetable oil (If you have mustard oil, use 2 cups vegetable oil and 1 cup mustard oil)
5 Tbsp vegetable oil
Preparation for this lime pickle recipe
Make sure you have sterilised jars and lids prepared for bottling. They must be thoroughly dried!
The method for the quick lime pickle recipe
Heat 3 Tbsp of oil in a large frying pan until hot.
Sauté the limes turning them over until their skins are a golden brown.
Dry the limes and cut them into about 6 thick slices and then half the slices.
Put 2 Tbsp of oil into a blender, add the chillis, chopped curry leaves, chopped garlic, chopped ginger and curry leaves. Blend to a paste
Heat the rest of the oil in a pan until hot. Add mustard and fenugreek. Heat the seeds until they pop open.
Add the paste, stir and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off heat.
Add the turmeric, pieces of lime and vinegar and stir until thoroughly mixed.
Using a slotted ladle or spoon, put the limes into jars, and pour the remaining fluid over the limes ensuring they are just covered.
Stir to remove any air bubbles and seal jars.