I’m sick of sharing. Somehow “we suggest 6-8 plates for two people” has become the new “and what would you like for your main?”. And I’m not happy about it. I don’t want to compete with my dining partners to get a slice of the best bite! Inevitably, 1-2 of those 6-8 plates are the best ones, and I’ll end up only getting 2-3 bites of each. It’s always obvious before you order which ones will be the best too, the ones that catch everyone’s eyes. The others are ordered as fillers, vaguely enjoyed, but with the last bite somehow always abandoned. But you’re suggested to get more, so you order things you didn’t really want to not get dirty looks from the waitstaff.
My husband argues that sharing plates allow you to try more things, that it’s more fun. But he’s a vacuum cleaner and sharing anything with him raises my heart rate as I rush to get even one taste before he swallows up what we were supposed to be sharing. When eating out with a group of friends as the only veggie, I always end up paying for multiple things I didn’t even get to try and also somehow feeling guilty about it for making my friends order half of the veggie options.
But not at Saltine in Highbury. The new-ish restaurant has the cool feel of so many of these other modern-must-share-plates type of places (I’m looking at you Western’s Laundry/Jolene family), but with the **RaDiCaL** spin of mains meant for one.
We ordered starters to share. I will concede that starters are by nature meant to be shared and always have been. Good bread, good butter and ‘saltine’ crackers with chicken liver parfait, which I heard were good too. And then we all got to order our own mains.
These were proper main courses, with sides that came as part of the dish, perfectly paired without me having to make a decision. We should be leaving it up to the chef to decide what goes well with what! I’m a mere peasant, here to indulge! Don’t let me pretend to be an expert.
My celeriac gratin came with silky chard, cooked in butter. The duck leg came with a mash and sprouting broccoli. I heard it was, and I quote, “melt in your mouth”. Not only does having an included side make everything taste more coherent and satisfying, but it makes your food look better too. Brown + green = good. Brown + brown = bad. Imagine you ordered the broccoli on the side of a duck leg floating alone on a soppy pool of duck juice. Not at Saltine.
The cocktails we had were done well. They had a list of mocktails which were curated and interesting, rather than being an after-thought. Mine with Botivo and ginger was well balanced and refreshing.
I ate my entire gratin and was perfectly satiated, but still felt there was room for my very own dessert. In fact, we all did. That’s not to say that the mains weren’t filling. Rather, we hadn’t over-ordered and over-eaten a bunch of filler dishes. Instead we got to indulge in what all actually liked.
The sticky toffee apple cake was one of the best stickies I’ve had in a while. Actually sticky and gooey. A good ratio of toffee to keep things sweet and, dare I say it… moist. Warm and spicy, more of a loaf than some of the cakes you get at the pub. The pistachio chocolate torte was well executed. Above par. The pistachios as the crust added a twist that worked well and felt fresh.
An after-dinner espresso, especially the decaf ones I usually order, are never something to remember. But not at Saltine. I have never, even at Michelin star restaurants, gotten a remarkable espresso. Usually they are… fine. Pretty bad coffee, but I accept that the focus is the food. I don’t know who made the double espresso I drank at Saltine, but they are a coffee god/goddess. I would probably go back just for a coffee tbh.
The service was a little awkward. Not bad!(!) Everyone was nice. It felt a little weird at times though, where we were expected to lead the experience rather than the server, which confused us. We were asked multiple times by different people about drinks. It wasn’t for lack of care or attention. More just a lack of confidence or lack of coherence across the serving team. Everyone was really nice and personable. Relaxed and casual. But… slightly awkward.
There’s some two-tops at the front if you want to pop in to share some nibbles and drinks, and in the back are the tables for people like me who don’t want to share. The space is modern, minimalist, yet somehow warm and welcoming. The noise level was remarkably low, which I think is under-appreciated as one of the most important aspects of a good restaurant experience.
Long story short, go to Saltine. I hope places like this become the new norm. Kill the sharing plates!!!!
It's not you, co. 