Salon
BAITING THE TRAP
The day has finally arrived to pack the car up and drop off our daughter in London to begin four years at university. She’s already announced she’ll not come home ‘til Christmas so we’re eager to find out when she’ll let us visit for the first time. We’re not making much headway—she’s treating us mean and keeping us keen.
Then she asks where we’re having lunch. On announcing it’s Salon, she immediately goes onto her phone and I get the desired response of ‘oooh, that looks like my kind of thing’. This is all part of my cunning plan.
Salon is all about food ‘guided by the seasons’ with a weekly changing menu depending on best quality produce available. It’s a stripped back menu for lunch with olives, bread and six options that broadly fall into two small plates, two salads and two mains. We go for five out the six plus bread, passing only on the bavette, fried onion and aioli.
It’s in Market Row, one of Brixton’s indoor markets along with Brixton Village that should be the blueprint for any UK market with its mix of stalls selling everything from textiles to ironmongery; specialist butchers, fishmongers and greengrocers satisfying the needs of cuisines from all around the world, as well as a decent smattering of bars, cafes and restaurants—from start ups through to more established names such as Franco Manca and Salon, who’ve been here since 2016. Whilst it’s not nearly like the size, shape or bustle of Mercado de La Boqueria in Barcelona, it has its own charm in abundance and definitely a destination to visit… especially when hungry.
Upstairs it’s a handsome dining room, oozing retro-chic and open plan kitchen, with downstairs bar and outdoor seating under heat lamps to enjoy the day-to-day market activity. We’re happy outside and it also proves to be a great people watching spot.
Upstairs dining room
First up are the ‘nduja croquettes, perfectly crisp on the outside, filled with parmesan-laden, creamy potato and then the almost molten, crack hit of spicy pork, sat on an aioli base and topped with pickled cucumber. These are mouthfuls of my kind of heaven, with devilish heat in the mix too. A huge plateful of these would be my last meal on Death Row.
‘Nduja croquettes, aioli
The croquettes arrive with glistening, fried peppers sprinkled with flakes of salt very much in the territory of padron peppers—and they may well be—although none of them muster any spiky heat. That said, the pumpkin seed emulsion is a sweet, toasted joy of a dipping accompaniment.
Fried peppers, pumpkin seed
Georgie announces the sourdough as one her top three breads ever… it has the prerequisite of being gorgeously spongy but what elevates it is the depth of the crust; crunchy and chewy in equal measure. I’m not at all convinced the butter is whipped as stated, but for me the bread is purely for mopping duties, so I’ve no real issue there.
The girls have paired up on the salad options, both of which have exquisite flavour and texture combinations at their heart. But having traded a ‘nduja croquette with Katrina I’ve now got a vested interest in them and plan to take full advantage. My first forkful delivers wonderful roasted beetroot earthiness alongside the seductive sweetness of lightly roasted Roscoff onions. As if that’s not enough it’s all accentuated by the light and creamy ricotta, crisp fried sage leaves and then topped with the Parmesan pangrattato providing both crunch and cheesy attitude. My second, greedier forkful confirms my love for it.
Beetroot, Roscoe onion, ricotta
Next up is a Pavarotti-sized ball of burrata oozing its creamy core; perfect for deliciously roasted figs, still with some bite, but also spilling out their own sweet core and peppery watercress too to cut through all the sweetness. I’ve never been a particular fan of figs, but this dish has me now fully converted.
Burrata, roasted figs, watercress
The fresh tagliatelle is perfect on the al dente front and the dish definitely has a firm foot in the cacio e pepe camp; there’s a lovely creamy emulsion with a decent hit of pepper, combining perfectly with the smokiness of bacon cubes. Guanciale croccante would have elevated this to a dream gricia, although it’s still a great plate of food.
Tagliatelle, smoked bacon, parmesan
We’ve washed it all down with plentiful water, oh… and a 500ml carafe of the Le Bon Cote 2019 (well, me mostly) and it’s perfect for lunch—light with ripe red fruit and just a hint of spice.
The bill is £82 including tip and worth every single penny, but most importantly we have a place we can easily lure our daughter to, just ten minutes walk away from her halls. I’m convinced it won’t be too long before she’s ready to respond positively to ‘fancy meeting at Salon for lunch?’
I’ll wager it’ll be no more than a month.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
18 Market Row, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London SW9 8LD
