Address: 18 Market Row, Brixton, London SW9 8LD

Website: http://salonbrixton.co.uk/

Phone: 020 7501 9152

Opening hours:
Tuesday – Friday 12:00 – 15:00 & 18:00 – 23:30
Saturday 10:00 – 15:00 & 18:00 – 23:30
Sunday 10:00 – 15:00

Salon is now a long-standing presence in Market Row and is one of the places in Brixton that takes food seriously. We have reviewed Salon before in its present incarnation here and here. But we like to catch-up, especially when this restaurant is a past winner of our @eatinbrixton public vote for Brixton’s favourite. It hasn’t changed much except that there are a few more seats and the tables don’t wobble.We had booked but the place wasn’t full for most of the time we were there.Although the decor hasn’t changed, the menu does and in the evening, there is a choice of a tasting menu or à la carte. We chose the extended tasting menu and extravagantly chose the wine accompaniment. It was a bit daunting with eight courses and a choice of main (beef or courgettes) but it meant we could carry on chatting and not have to discuss what we each might want.

First came the snacks, Njuda croquettes with radishes, which made a great start to the meal. Soft croquettes and crispy radishes.

Next came the sour dough and the gazpacho. We had just returned from Spain and this soup was definitely up there with the best – not too much tomato or too much of anything really – it was a great balance.

Then came what was described as Dorset Crab, peach and almond. the almond was the creamy base, the peaches a little tart and then the crab flakes. It all again married well  – but in my portion I had quite a bit of shell

Then  our favourite course arrived – unprepossessing sounding and looking – coco beans, girolles and tarragon. This had the most delightful – yeah delightful – sauce and we all wiped up our plates.

We then had fish which we can’t remember and dont have a photo of so rather than make it up we left it off.

For the main course we chose the vegetarian option – courgettes, stuffed courgette flower and goat’s curd. (There was an Angus sirloin option but with a £6 supplement.) The tomato sauce was the strongest flavour but it was offset by the goat’s curd. Not my favourite but as veggie dishes go this was more exciting than most and the plates were taken away empty.

Brown bread ice cream with little bits of caramelised sour dough made a good break but this wasn’t the only dessert

We also had Fig leaf custard with blackcurrant sorbet – refreshing and it really did taste of figs (we need that recipe)

We also had the wine for every couple of plates which was very different from the usual accompaniments. We roamed through Germany, Spain and France and ended up with a Pedro Ximenez, which is usually very sweet but this one wasn’t.

This is not a restaurant for a quick stop – it is an investment for a special occasion. The bill was eye watering for any meal, particularly one midweek but we were meeting an old friend so it was special. For three people the bill was £289.13, including 12.5% service charge – the extended menu was £52 and the wine £33. It was worth it for the excellence of the food and interesting wines, so we would definitely go again. But perhaps when our bank balance feels a little healthier.