Black Salt is the sister of Dastaan and has become a regular haunt for me. See earlier reviews for more detail on the background, head chef etc.
At this latest meal I tried one dish that was new to me, the “chicken chop”, which uses thigh meat and is in the style of a tandoori lamb chop, but with chicken. This was an impressive dish, the spicy marinade having permeated the chicken, the meat avoiding dryness and being very tender, the complex set of spices in the marinade working very well together (16/20). The lamb chop is lovely here too, the lamb is cooked quite lightly compared to many versions of this dish, the marinade is vibrant and spicy, with the garlic chutney on the side a fitting foil for the meat (16/20). Onion, spinach, potato and kale bhajias at Black Salt are a real delight. Here the bhajias are crisp and light and bursting with spicy flavour, the little vegetable balls cooked with gram flour laced with coriander seeds and carrom seeds (16/20). This dish is a world apart from the onion bhajias we have all eaten at our local tandoori restaurant.
Methi chicken is also handled very well here, with fresh fenugreek leaves and cashew nut paste with fresh spices transforming this dish into an altogether better creature than is normal with this classic curry (16/20). Mustard potatoes were also good, a slightly tweaked recipe that has just been adjusted and delivering new potatoes with firm texture and lively spices. This was a step up from the previous version here, and shows that the kitchen is constantly trying to improve (15/20). Paratha was fine, though the bread is perhaps the most obvious area where Black Salt lags behind Dastaan (13/20).
Service was friendly and the bill came to £40 a head with beer to drink. This is great value given the genuinely high standard of cooking here. Hardly anywhere in central London can match the quality of dishes here, even places at twice the price and boasting Michelin stars, Black Salt has become a firm favourite of mine. If you have not yet tried it then do yourself a favour and make the journey to East Sheen. You will not regret it.
Further reviews: 14th Jul 2024 | 03rd Apr 2024 | 31st Oct 2023 | 10th Aug 2023 | 29th Jun 2022 | 23rd Apr 2022 | 26th Jan 2022 | 27th Nov 2021
Tesi
I visited Black Salt yesterday and saw randomly your post on Facebook and hour before our dinner which made me even more looking forward to try out Black Salt. The atmosphere and staff was brilliant. Welcoming and friendly! However the food was not great if I'm honest. The curry was below average and tasted a bit like a massed produced and reheated curry overpowered by spice. Maybe we just had bad luck but I had not a great culinary experience.