A taste of the season: Sustainable cuisine at Salon Brixton

To find Salon restaurant you’d have to know where to find it. Tucked away behind jostling Brixton market on the higgledy-piggeldy Market Row, it is not where you would expect to find a restaurant that is creating so much buzz on the foodie scene – but this is part of its lure.

Though fish heads are hacked off just a street away, and garish colours, awnings and peeling paint characterise the surrounding area, Salon itself is pleasingly quiet. Inside, teal-painted floors and wooden furniture are humble and provide a minimal backdrop allowing the cooking to take centre stage. Split over two levels, each floor presents a different offering. In the evening, upstairs extends a set menu, while downstairs offers a choice of sharing and snacking dishes. When we visit we take a pew downstairs opting for a more relaxed affair and order up a storm.

First comes a pink-hued beetroot hummus. Richly spiced with cumin and topped with dill and black sesame seeds, it comes with golden brown shards of thin linseed bread for dipping. Next, warm ’Ndaju croquettes with house-pickled cucumber pack a bit of a punch but are mellowed with a blob of creamy aioli. A dish of spelt mushroom risotto in undoubtedly star of the show, perfectly al dente it is indulgent with truffle oil and Parmesan, but lifted from being too heavy by the addition of seasonal chard. This is prize cooking. Though slithers of melt-in-the-mouth lamb belly with unctuous celeriac purée that are served with roasted parsnips and carrots, and offset by rainbow chard running with juices come a close second.

Savouring every last morsel sadly means we have no room for pudding, but options include chocolate mousse with mushroom ice cream, or pear with spelt and rosemary drizzled with honey.  

Concentrating on delicious, sustainable and seasonal food, dishes often change but are continually inventive and of high quality. A real interest in wine supports the menu, and the reasonably priced wine list features everything from Sauvignon Blanc to a more notable orange Chenin Blanc as well as sherrys and sweet wines from Italy and Spain. Providing even more of a pull, its next-door wine shop stocks a range of low intervention, artisanal and natural wines (priced from £23.50) from the new and old world that will delight all oenophiles.

For more details, or to make a booking, visit salonbrixton.co.uk