Salt Room

The story

How Salt Room came to be

Salt Room opened in 2019 in a warehouse where ropes and ship chandlery were once sold. The first thing we built was the bar: nine metres of dark oak, because Isabel Ortiga believed a seafood room should always have somewhere to stand with a drink and a dozen oysters.

Rosalind Imrie, who has cooked here since the opening week, buys fish by the whole boat load wherever she can. That means a menu that changes with the landings: halibut one week, gurnard the next, and a lot of crab, mussels, langoustine and scallop from the east coast. Anything that does not suit the menu goes into the staff meal, the fish pie or the stock, and nothing is thrown away that a good cook could use.

The bar is run by Priya Menon, who makes the house cordials from sea buckthorn and gorse flower and keeps a list of small, dry wines that suit shellfish. Come for oysters at the bar before dinner, or sit down properly and take your time over the menu.

Upstairs, the Harbour Room looks over the water and is hired for private dinners most weekends.