Restaurants
Salt Wine Bar
Salt Wine Bar on Lower Ossington has had a long struggle to get up and running but that's a story we've all heard many times. What matters is that now, finally, the wine is officially (and legally) flowing at the long awaited restaurant. Focusing on Portuguese and Spanish cuisine, Salt offers a variety of tapas dishes and a decently sized wine list to match. After the space sat unopened, teasing us for so long, and then opened briefly only to close again, there was plenty of time to build up intrigue about what this wine bar has to offer, and so last week I finally make my way to find out.
The front door of Salt is surrounded by a giant curtain creating a makeshift alcove between the freezing cold outdoors and the dining room, and as I step around the curtain I'm immediately struck by the beauty of the place. Dark and cozy, an all wood room is dotted with little candles everywhere, the flames twinkling off of the wine bottles and preserves that stock the floor-to-ceiling shelves. Small wooden tables fill the warm space, and on this cold night there are very few customers other than us.
We begin by examining the somewhat baffling wine list, and the owner comes over to greet us and help with some suggestions. Although the Salt website is now up and includes tasting notes to go with each wine, the menu we receive in the restaurant denotes neither country of origin nor description. When I inquire, the owner explains the wines are mainly Spanish and Portugese, with some Italian. I ask for a specific suggestion as this does little to help us narrow down the selection, and we eventually settle on the full-bodied Alento ($45), a blend of Syrah and Alicante.
With the wine selected we begin the process of deciding what we'd like to order, another difficult task considering the mildly overwhelming number of options. Our knowledgeable server takes the time to describe many of the dishes, offering his favourites and weighing them against the dishes we mention we're curious about. After much deliberation we finally figure it out, and the dishes begin to arrive, soup first and then in no particular order, just sort of when they're ready, which ends up being a nicely paced meal.
Oxtail consomme ($5) is rich, comforting broth with a mild sweetness from the sherry countered by a slight tanginess. The soup is peppered with tiny cubes of carrots and parsnip and thin strips of translucent onion. Some fishing around with the spoon also reveals only a couple tiny hidden gems of tender, delicious oxtail. The other soup, a puree of Jerusalem artichoke and leeks is a smooth, earthy blend with just a subtle aroma from the added truffle. Both are excellent starts, and happily my dining companion favours the latter, leaving me to finish my preferred consomme.
Next comes the Portuguese sardines ($10), served on grilled baguette with smoked tomato jam. Though the thinly sliced bread's toppings cause it to become slightly soggy towards the centre, the sweet and smoky tomato flavour paired with the meaty grilled sardines is a pleasant combination of textures and flavours, the chervil on top adding a nice subtle pop of parsley-like freshness.
When choosing amongst the fried options on the menu, I'm heavily leaning toward the jamon serrano croquettes, but our server insists that the salt cod quenelles ($5), a common Portuguese street food, are the way to go. The quartet of golden quenelles are perfectly fried and crisp, but the filling is somewhat disappointing. The smoothness of the mash potato mixed with the fish contrasts nicely with the crunchy exterior, but the bland, fishy taste is underwhelming. The snappy parsley aioli does help somewhat, but not enough to shake the feeling that I should have gone with my gut and ordered the croquettes.
Braised wagu short ribs ($15) are a definite highlight (though my friend might argue that the sardines were the night's winner). The braised meat is fatty and indulgent, so tender is falls away from the bone with the slightest jab from a fork. Each piece sits on a small mound of warm, silky garlic mashed potatoes, and tiny cubes of lightly pickled vegetables add an extra little bite.
It's extremely hard for me to decline a creme brulee, and in the case of Salt's brown butter version with pecans ($8), I'm glad I didn't attempt such a feat. With the tap of a spoon, the familiar crunchy exterior gives way to a smooth, creamy interior, the odd piece of pecan dotting the rich custard. Chocolate and red wine has long been a favourite pair for me, and so with our bottle not yet empty, the chocolate tart ($8) is another obvious choice. The dense, dark chocolate filling is just enough decadence, and the scoop of gelato full of vanilla flavour is a very nice touch, but had the tart been served at room temperature rather than cold, I have a feeling this dessert would have tasted even better.
Aside from a few mild disappointments, our meal at Salt was quite enjoyable in itself. What made the experience even better however, was the attentive service. Our server not only offered his suggestions, but also seemed genuinely curious what we thought of the dishes, never hovering too often, and also never disappearing for too long. The main attraction at Salt Wine Bar, in my opinion, is the room itself; a space so lovely and inviting that its twinkling candlelit atmosphere alone is almost enough to make the visit worthwhile, and with so many intriguing items on the menu to sample, there might just be an interesting meal to be had as well.
Photos by Taralyn Marshall
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I'm guessing you might live in the neighborhood, in which case, welcome to little Portugal. You're a long way from Yonge and Eglinton Dorothy.
Service was a flop though.
Rumour has it that the owners are the same people who own Chaido so the service thing is a bit of a shock.
I think Salt is highly overrated. Tapas is over, it's over priced, and not very interesting in Salt's case.
Salt has a beautiful room full of life.
Salt has a great chef, always looking to improve on his talents.
Salt has servers that are hired and trained and human.
The restaurant itself is the deliverance of someones idea of what they want for their restaurant, for those with negative comments can attempt to create their own restaurant and see how easy it really is.
I'm thankful for a great restaurant.
Cheers!
i've been twice with my wife and have come out quite content - not overly full and certianly not feeling like I needed to run to the closest fast food joint. The experience was quite wonderful. The staff needed a little more polishing but they were much better the second time around. I'll be there again next week to try the new menu.
We are planning to return.. there are several items on the menu we are looking forward to trying such as the grilled calamari,and lobster bisque, and the selection of house specialty martinis look too good not to try...
Get knowledable before you write.
The diversity of the plates are amazing. Had some out of towners join me and they couldn't get enough of it. Will return again to try some items we missed out on. EXCELLENT
The Food was great and just what we were looking for.
We had Striped and Golden Beet Carpaccio, Butter poached Lobster,Goat cheese crostini, Maple BBQ Lamb Ribs, Charcuteria and Cheese then the Cinnamon Churros with dulce de lech . Everything was great and just the write amount of food for 2 people to share.
The Wine list was incedible. Order a bottle if you can over a glass because the selection is better and you might be a little happier in the end. Hopefully your dining partner likes the same wine as yourself.
This is an established neighborhood. Those families were here long before gentrification settled in ... When you move in to a neighborhood like Little Portugal, Little Italy, or Greektown you should be fully aware of what you are getting. The smells of food, the loud seasonal festivals are all part of the traditions of the cultural group that made that neighborhood what it is. This is something that as Torontonians we should embrace.
If you want to live in a neighborhood without these cultural traditions, move to the suburbs.
Salt is a great looking eatery,is about all i can say that positive about it,staff are more interested in chatting up the female customers and each other...slow and small portions,good luck Salt..it's a long road and i think yours is about to go down a hill.
1. The food, as previously mentioned by many who have commented on this forum, is severely over priced. The portions are small and the food is lacking in culinary quality present in many of the nearby restaurants with substantially lesser price tags.
2. The server was rude and almost borderline insulting because we were attempting to order in several stages as oppose to order all in once, which prompted the server to slap the menus off our tables and angrily walk away.
3. It took a long time for food to be served and the dishes served were not the ones we have ordered. Once again, after bringing this to her attention, she was confrontational and displeased with the fact that she made a mistake.
4. The bill included the food we did order as well as the food that she has mistakenly brought to our table; once again, after this was brought to her attention, it was very obvious that she was perfectly aware of the fact that we were being charged for her mistakes.
There were several other issues that I will not mention. However, we typical tend to sample newly established restaurants around the city and the price tag is irrelevant if the end result is satisfying. Having said that, we will certainly not be back and will not recommend this restaurant to any of our friends and we definitely do not recommend this restaurant to you.