I've been dying to dine out at new local restaurant Saltine. Formerly a chicken shop, which of course I was also a customer at, Saltine is an elegant modern European eatery not out of place at Highbury Park. The menu is subject to change depending on the seasonality of ingredients and the cookery is exemplary. Plus for the sober diner, they have Botivo on the menu. Beautiful!
We started with wild nettle suppli, an ancient precursor to arancini. The fried coating encased a delicious verdant risotto filling tinged with iron savouriness.
I had the special for starter - tenderstem broccoli, preserved lemons and fried goats cheese - whilst my Mr Sober AF opted for Jersey Royals, charred leeks, ailoi and jamon. Both dishes were lip-smackingly good.
Main course choice was swayed by trying something new - roast hogget, barley and radishes. The meat had a more mature, slightly game taste compared with lamb. Happily, my husband went for my second choice: Wigmore and potato pie with morel sauce. This isn't just any cheese and potato pie, this is the cheese and potato pie. The pastry was as short as you like with a dark finish and the creamy mushroom sauce perfectly complemented the punchy Wigmore.
We usually choose different dishes so we can sample one another's plates but when it came to dessert, neither of us felt like sharing and for good reason. We both went for the sticky toffee cake with apples. This is my husband's favourite dessert, so I waited for his eyes to widen and a smile spread across his face with the first spoonful. The toffee sauce was sweet, deep and dark on the verge of bitter. The cake had an amazing crust around it like it had been brushed with molasses and put back into the oven. The unsweetened baked apples brought contrast and whole thing was finished with a generous dollop of clotted cream.
The experience at Saltine was so good we made a reservation for my forthcoming birthday before we left that night.
SALTINE, 11 Highbury Park, London, N5 1QJ