I’d never been to Brighton. Considering it’s only an hour from London by train, I should have gone sooner. The Salt Room is situated right on the beachfront with a simply phenomenal view of Brighton's historic West Pier ruin, and is a perfect spot for a glass of something chilled and a civilised seafood lunch.
We started with the mackerel nduja, which is probably worth the train ride in itself. A delicious terracotta quenelle of coarse mackerel pâté, packed to the gills (pardon the pun) with garlic, chilli and paprika. Served with hunks of griddled sourdough bread, pickled onions and a cooling ricotta cheese. The pâté was a great consistency to smear with aplomb on top of the crisp sourdough. The heat of the chilli was pleasant without overpowering ferocity. The ricotta wasn’t strictly necessary, but did temper the heat for those with chilli phobias. The pickled onions did their thing in cutting the oiliness of the fish. I wanted to order another immediately!
Our next course was The Salt Room Surfboard - a nice selection of prawns, mussels, langoustine, and fried calamari served with salad, aioli and fries. This smorgasbord of local marine morsels looked fairly generous for £60, but I would have loved to see a few more grilled prawns on the plate.
The mussels were lovely and plump, with a healthy orange glow, and deliciously sweet. The langoustine lacked the punch I expected, sadly tasting slightly washed out, even when slurping up the insides of the head (if you don't do this when presented with shell-ons, you are seriously missing the best bit). The prawns, by comparison, were much better - even if they were few and far between.
The calamari was the most disappointing part of the meal. A little chewy in texture and without a satisfying batter shell - instead, a thin film of breadcrumbs. All was forgiven, though, with the aioli. Rich, velvet smooth, and gargantuanly garlicky. Infinitely moreish. They should bottle and sell it.
I really enjoyed my trip to Brighton and will absolutely be back - with a return trip to The Salt Room to try their other fabulous-looking dishes top of my agenda! Prices are reasonable, so you can order that second bottle of rosé and happily dunk your fries in the aioli while basking in the sun. The only thing left to do is ask yourself: when nduja want to go?
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