John's A'salt'ing Our Senses...

There's a new restaurant in Islington town and its small-plate menu is winning in every way! Dubbed as a new 'neighbourhood bar, with good beer' John Salt is its name. Formerly Keston Lodge and from the same people behind The Owl & Pussycat in Shoreditch and The Fellow in King's Cross, we were certainly excited to try it out and did so last Saturday. In summary ... OH MY GOD I thought only food in heaven could taste that good!

The main 26-seater restaurant upstairs is booked right through to Feb next year now so we settled on dining at the bar downstairs AKA the chef's table which works on a first come first serve basis. You can either cherry pick from the menu or put your trust in the incredible chefs and hope for the best. We opted for the latter and chose to go with the 6 course taster-menu for £34. A bargain in my opinion and you'll be sure to agree when you hear the feast we were treated to! All was prepared at an open cooking station at the end of our table so every small dish was whipped up live before our very eyes. 

First up ... the greasy chicken skin sandwich. Don't be put off by the 'greasy' part of this sarnie it's pure genius I promise! Ok picture this ... so boring bread was swapped for two wafer thin crisp sheets of chicken skin. Between the sheets sits red onion jam, paprika mayo, sliced cucumber and blow-torched baby gem lettuce. De-lish! 

Next up heavenly pumpkin soup with smoked cream cheese and bread and butter to die for. This was no ordinary soup, not even M&S soup! You have to taste it to believe it! 

A particular favourite of ours was the baguette with buttery mash, BBQ sauce and winter truffle sprinkles. Enough said...

Fried Machiavelli egg was also a firm fav with smoked watermelon, aromatic ketchup & golden crumbs - like a super duper posh fried breakfast...

Last but by all means least, we finished off with the warm chocolate pud or as us girls called it sex in a bowl! Once described you'll be racing on over to Islington to try it out trust me ... rich Original Bean choco mousse sits on top of salty cubes of baked pineapple finished off with a generous dollop of Jersey milk sorbet and a sprinkling of nuts! The chef actually said to us as he plonked our plates down 'I think this is when I get your numbers' if he hadn't have walked away at that point I would have gladly obliged! Seriously out of this world amazing. 

We didn't get to try the famous 'chicken on a brick' which we were intriged by, let me explain more ... a London house brick is taken and smothered in a caramel glaze. Next super-smooth chicken liver mousse is layered on with sweetcorn and lingonberries. All that topped with crispy chicken skin crumbs. Once demolished guests are encourage to, wait for it ... lick the brick! Yes you read correctly, how wonderfully ill-mannered! 

Definitely one for next time...!

131 Upper Street
Islington
London
N1 1QP

020 7704 8955