Restaurant review: Casa Salt Shaker, Buenos Aires
Posted on April 1, 2008 - Filed Under Food |
edit: Dan has posted more about the recipes over at his blog, if you want to know more about the ingredients…
So with about a week left in BA we suddenly realised we had to get moving on our wishlist of restaurants and places to go, otherwise we would miss out. I emailed Casa Salt Shaker to see if they had room this weekend, and managed to get in that night (Sunday) for a Catalan Vegetarian Feast. Casa Salt Shaker is one of a new breed of restaurants operating from the host’s home (thus the secrecy - I cannot reveal the location except to say it is somewhere in Recoleta). The name here is restaurant de puertas cerradas, or closed door restaurant (no published address, and attendance by reservation only). They are only open 2 or 3 nights a week, which I guess is enough to keep your hand in if you’re a chef and indulge in your passion.
After a surprisingly uneventful bus journey (we’re getting better at this) we arrived at the apartment to be greeted by the chef, Dan. His blog is worth checking out, especially if you’re looking for reviews of BA restaurants or just like drooling at pictures of food.
We were the first of the 10 dinner guests to arrive but were quickly joined in the garden apartment (with mezzanine level) by the 2 American Katies and their partners, Mike and Chris, a Canadian couple, Jaime and Peter and 2 German guys whose names I didn’t pick up as I was at the other end of the table. We started with a cocktail, which most of us guessed to be pisco and grapefruit, but were wrong. It was gin, raspberry and lemon - so completely wrong.
All this travelling has made me pretty immune to worrying about talking to complete strangers (we were all seated around one large table) and within a couple of courses we were putting the world to rights, discussing everything from sustainability (of course) to “what 3 books define your country of origin”. Apparently reading 75 books in a year is either just about right or insane, depending on your point of reference…
Now, this blog entry wouldn’t be complete without piccies and notes on the food itself. Bizarrely, none of us were actually vegetarian. We were attracted to the restaurant rather than the menu, although for those of us who had been in BA for a while, the idea of some vegetables was very welcome. The dishes did not rely on dairy (cheese) at all and I suspect were fairly close to vegan.
First up was Roasted Vegetables with Romescu Sauce. I had a substitution for the sauce as the Romescu had peppers in and I suspect from the raving of everyone else, it may have been the highlight of the dish. I did enjoy the aubergine, but wasn’t bowled away. I also need to work on my food photography as this is far too dark to see…
Up next was Chickpeas with Tomatoes & Almonds, although on the night I’m fairly certain it was hazlenut rather than almonds. This went down a storm and several guests felt they ate too much of this and it limited what they could eat later. The dish sizes were considerably larger than I would normally expect for a tasting menu.
Then came my personal favourite of the night - Rovellon Mushroom Soup. Maybe it’s because I’ve had neither mushrooms nor soup since being in BA, but this was delicious. Hearty and tasty.
The main dish was Sauteed Polenta & Butter Beans with spinach and diced peppers. Luckily, I could pick my way around the peppers. The wine pairing with this was a delicious Lariviere-Yturbe Cuatro Estaciones, a very nice blend of four grapes, the varietals of which I forgot to write down. I’m a big fan of polenta although I can never get it right myself. Others at the table were maybe less impressed, although they admitted to overdoing the chickpeas and not having much room left.
We finished with Crema Catalan, which was a kind of custardy, souffley, flanny pudding. I’m not a great fan of sweet puddings but not much was left of this one.
Afterwards, the bill was dealt with fairly unobtrusively and we decamped to one of the bars in Recoleta (where we stayed till 4am - aye yae yae!) . The only criticism I would have of the night is that because Dan was doing the cooking, he didn’t have enough time to do his full sommelier and food spiel, which I would have liked to see more of (particularly on the wines). Our first experience of a ’secret’ restaurant was deemed a success.
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great post, I definitely want to try that pudding..it looks really tasteful!