Smoke & Salt is the offspring of chefs Remi Williams and Aaron Webster, who met while working at The Shed in Notting Hill.
It started life as a series of supper clubs but Williams and Webster have now set up shop above a bar in Islington, London, "harnessing the curative powers of smoking and salting to create a six-course fixed menu", says Fay Maschler in the London Evening Standard.
This being a year-long residency, not a permanent restaurant, the influence the two chefs have over the setting is minimal. But "what has been achieved is a fairly blank canvas against which to let the food shine", says the Standard's Ben Norum.
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From Guinness-glazed pretzels to chickpea fritters, the food confirms "these boys can certainly bake", says Time Out. But for Maschler, "tough grilled lamb with arthritic Jerusalem artichokes" is nothing to rave about, although the coddled eggs served in their shells in a scrap of egg box add "a beguiling touch".
"There's no smoke without fire and Smoke & Salt will soon be a red hot ticket." – the London Evening Standard
There's just one problem: while early publicity priced the set menu at £25, "which would have been about right for the content", Maschler says, at £38 a head the final bill is "rather shocking".
Smoke & Salt is above The Chapel Bar, 29 Penton Street, London N1