I am a huge fan of Jackson Boxer, as I think his food is modern in that it possesses the right mix of craft, creativity and cool. His link to this restaurant is through Levan’s owner, Nicholas Balfe, who was once upon a time his right hand man over at the inimitable Brunswick House in Vauxhall, and with whom I see some shared heritage in their respective cuisines.
I have never been to Salon, but have caught up with his storied path to success, though I did not know that he had spent time with the Young Turks over at the Ten Bells residency. I was a huge fan of Upstairs, and their Swiss-Italian Chef who Isaac put in charge – Giorgio Ravelli. It was a mere six years ago, but in the London restaurant bubble, it sure feels like a lifetime ago. So all this has led him and his crew to this second bricks and mortar Peckham restaurant in 2018 (which as you have rightly guessed is) named after Larry Levan.
It is the very picture of a neighbourhood restaurant, it aspires to be a locavore, dairy and meat sourced from neighbhours, meanwhile the wine list is a natural wine lover’s wet dream, specifically if you like Jura. Yeah, I am a fan of Philippe Bornard’s stuff, especially Le Ginglet… but just for the record, I generally hate natural wine.
The food leans toward French bistronomy, with a few borrowed Japanese elements and it very much reminds me of Paris cool whips, of which there are so many to name, Septime, Clown bar, Clamato, Dersou, Dauphin/Le Chat, Servan, Abri …and so goes the list.
So yes, the background appeals to me, and off I went to Peckham in search of London’s next greatest hit. The menu is generously priced, and I mean that in a genuine way, where you can have a more orthodox meal here if you wanted to (i.e. have a mains all to yourself). It is quite unlike its sneaky peers which flog very trendy (very London) and very small plates that offer too little for the money. In fact, for £41pp, they’ll do a 5 plate carte blanche , so you know that’s how much they are looking at per head.
The meal starts off with a bang, a few simple snacks/starters but beautifully assembled fresh flavours, the kind of thing you look for in a local restaurant. The best dish for me was the monkfish crudo supercharged with a simple but effective ponzu sauce with just a few slices of chilli – enlivening on the palate. This dish wouldn’t be out of place in the Paris bistronomy crowd.
Mid-way through the meal, I was thoroughly convinced about the food, though the wheels came off a little when the croque monsieur landed. They had forgotten the egg, rather than make me a new sandwich, they went away and fried the egg. Took a fair few minutes, by then my sandwich had gone cold. A little service malfunction. As for the sandwich, I thought it was lacking in filling – could have done with a few more slices of ham and cheese.
The wheels then came off entirely when the boudin noir dish rolled up. The blood pudding itself was a good product, however the sickly sweet miso sauce was diabolical. I don’t mind white chefs borrowing from the East, after all, we had two other dishes at this meal which had Japanese elements, and they were good. But this one does seemed to appeal to trend, rather than be designed for the eating experience. I would avoid this dish when you visit.
Finally for pudding, we finished on a tart tatin – a solid effort, though far from the best I’ve ever had. I think it is because they pre-cook it, so the tart is cold, and the puff all but lost its flaky glory. Still, it’s hard to complain as they send a half for £6.50.
The couple of low points in the meal did not dent the overall experience. In the end, I still came away with a good impression of this cute spot with positive energy. The ambiance is superb, the menu is well-priced, portions are decent and given the bottomline, there definitely is some ambition in the cuisine here.
Pictures and more descriptions below.
Clockwise: House cured sardines (£7.5); Burrata, pear, mustard seeds, crispy Jerusalem chokes (£8.5); Comte fries with saffron aioli (£6.5)
The comte fries, in essence a panisse, were simple and satisfying. Favourite of the trio was the burrata, a mini miracle of creamy, sweet, acid, root – banging dish.
Monkfish crudo, ponzu and pickled chilli, £10.5
Expert level stuff. The ponzu sauce was full of vitality, akin to a turbo charged fish sauce, sharp, salty, tempered by the chilli and in perfect harmony with the scallop-like clumps of meaty monkfish. Ace dish, best of the meal.
Pure comfort ravvers, the dashi butter sauce was spot on, taking the edge off the deep earthy flavours of the celeriac purée filling.
Foreground: Boudin noir, cured yolk, red endive and caramelised white endive, £.7.5
Background: Surrey Belted Galloway short rib, carrot & miso puree, pickled shiitake, £16.5
Quality blood pud from nearby butchers @flockandherd, with a classic pairing of egg yolk, and I generally think the SJBW less is more approach to black pudding is peak delicious and hard to beat.
The thickened miso/mirin sauce was cloying sweet, plus the natural bitter of the chicory, it pushed the richness over the edge. It’d be a much better without it. About the only dish I didn’t like, in an otherwise good meal here.
Tarte tatin, Creme fraiche. £6.5
Drank this with a Jura Cremant from Tissot – one of many wines from the french region on this list.
To begin with, bramleys, an interesting choice for tatin, caramelised well, and fully jammed, though the pale sugars would have benefited from a touch higher heat, as the sweetness was a little too one dimensional for me, and I suspect a pinch of salt which only further accentuated it.
The apples appear to be a little too wet, as the pastry in the middle is effective undercooked. No need to wait around for this, as it is pre-cooked as opposed to la minute, but this meant moist rather than crispy puff. Am afraid there are better tatin in town, but still, i applaud the effort, more chefs should go back to classic roots like this – tatin may be simple to attempt but it takes obsession, tinkering and a little craft to make a perfect one.
Nevertheless, this is a valiant take on the king of pudding, especially this late in the season, but alas it had held back the eating. I would most definitely come back in the fall to see how they’ve progressed their tatin though. Also crazy value for money, £6.50 for a half pie, it is (nearly) impossible to complain.
I am a huge fan of Jackson Boxer, as I think his food is modern in that it possesses the right mix of craft, creativity and cool. His link to this restaurant is through Levan’s owner, Nicholas Balfe, who was once upon a time his right hand man over at the inimitable Brunswick House in Vauxhall, and with whom I see some shared heritage in their respective cuisines.
I have never been to Salon, but have caught up with his storied path to success, though I did not know that he had spent time with the Young Turks over at the Ten Bells residency. I was a huge fan of Upstairs, and their Swiss-Italian Chef who Isaac put in charge – Giorgio Ravelli. It was a mere six years ago, but in the London restaurant bubble, it sure feels like a lifetime ago. So all this has led him and his crew to this second bricks and mortar Peckham restaurant in 2018 (which as you have rightly guessed is) named after Larry Levan.
It is the very picture of a neighbourhood restaurant, it aspires to be a locavore, dairy and meat sourced from neighbhours, meanwhile the wine list is a natural wine lover’s wet dream, specifically if you like Jura. Yeah, I am a fan of Philippe Bornard’s stuff, especially Le Ginglet… but just for the record, I generally hate natural wine.
The food leans toward French bistronomy, with a few borrowed Japanese elements and it very much reminds me of Paris cool whips, of which there are so many to name, Septime, Clown bar, Clamato, Dersou, Dauphin/Le Chat, Servan, Abri …and so goes the list.
So yes, the background appeals to me, and off I went to Peckham in search of London’s next greatest hit. The menu is generously priced, and I mean that in a genuine way, where you can have a more orthodox meal here if you wanted to (i.e. have a mains all to yourself). It is quite unlike its sneaky peers which flog very trendy (very London) and very small plates that offer too little for the money. In fact, for £41pp, they’ll do a 5 plate carte blanche , so you know that’s how much they are looking at per head.
The meal starts off with a bang, a few simple snacks/starters but beautifully assembled fresh flavours, the kind of thing you look for in a local restaurant. The best dish for me was the monkfish crudo supercharged with a simple but effective ponzu sauce with just a few slices of chilli – enlivening on the palate. This dish wouldn’t be out of place in the Paris bistronomy crowd.
Mid-way through the meal, I was thoroughly convinced about the food, though the wheels came off a little when the croque monsieur landed. They had forgotten the egg, rather than make me a new sandwich, they went away and fried the egg. Took a fair few minutes, by then my sandwich had gone cold. A little service malfunction. As for the sandwich, I thought it was lacking in filling – could have done with a few more slices of ham and cheese.
The wheels then came off entirely when the boudin noir dish rolled up. The blood pudding itself was a good product, however the sickly sweet miso sauce was diabolical. I don’t mind white chefs borrowing from the East, after all, we had two other dishes at this meal which had Japanese elements, and they were good. But this one does seemed to appeal to trend, rather than be designed for the eating experience. I would avoid this dish when you visit.
Finally for pudding, we finished on a tart tatin – a solid effort, though far from the best I’ve ever had. I think it is because they pre-cook it, so the tart is cold, and the puff all but lost its flaky glory. Still, it’s hard to complain as they send a half for £6.50.
The couple of low points in the meal did not dent the overall experience. In the end, I still came away with a good impression of this cute spot with positive energy. The ambiance is superb, the menu is well-priced, portions are decent and given the bottomline, there definitely is some ambition in the cuisine here.
Pictures and more descriptions below.
Clockwise: House cured sardines (£7.5); Burrata, pear, mustard seeds, crispy Jerusalem chokes (£8.5); Comte fries with saffron aioli (£6.5)
The comte fries, in essence a panisse, were simple and satisfying. Favourite of the trio was the burrata, a mini miracle of creamy, sweet, acid, root – banging dish.
Monkfish crudo, ponzu and pickled chilli, £10.5
Expert level stuff. The ponzu sauce was full of vitality, akin to a turbo charged fish sauce, sharp, salty, tempered by the chilli and in perfect harmony with the scallop-like clumps of meaty monkfish. Ace dish, best of the meal.
Caramelised celeriac ravioli, dashi butter sauce, nips and seaweed crisps, £12.5
Pure comfort ravvers, the dashi butter sauce was spot on, taking the edge off the deep earthy flavours of the celeriac purée filling.
Foreground: Boudin noir, cured yolk, red endive and caramelised white endive, £.7.5
Background: Surrey Belted Galloway short rib, carrot & miso puree, pickled shiitake, £16.5
Quality blood pud from nearby butchers @flockandherd, with a classic pairing of egg yolk, and I generally think the SJBW less is more approach to black pudding is peak delicious and hard to beat.
The thickened miso/mirin sauce was cloying sweet, plus the natural bitter of the chicory, it pushed the richness over the edge. It’d be a much better without it. About the only dish I didn’t like, in an otherwise good meal here.
Tarte tatin, Creme fraiche. £6.5
Drank this with a Jura Cremant from Tissot – one of many wines from the french region on this list.
To begin with, bramleys, an interesting choice for tatin, caramelised well, and fully jammed, though the pale sugars would have benefited from a touch higher heat, as the sweetness was a little too one dimensional for me, and I suspect a pinch of salt which only further accentuated it.
The apples appear to be a little too wet, as the pastry in the middle is effective undercooked. No need to wait around for this, as it is pre-cooked as opposed to la minute, but this meant moist rather than crispy puff. Am afraid there are better tatin in town, but still, i applaud the effort, more chefs should go back to classic roots like this – tatin may be simple to attempt but it takes obsession, tinkering and a little craft to make a perfect one.
Nevertheless, this is a valiant take on the king of pudding, especially this late in the season, but alas it had held back the eating. I would most definitely come back in the fall to see how they’ve progressed their tatin though. Also crazy value for money, £6.50 for a half pie, it is (nearly) impossible to complain.
restaurant details website • instagram