SALT
Lavender Kombucha, Violet, Verjus
Chamomile Kombucha, White Peach
Bouquet of herbs – yeast, carp milt, black currant wood-oil
Asparagus – nettle, ants
Celeriac – smoked sterlet, bergamot, broccoli
Greasy bread – pancetta, smoked eel
Cauliflower – walnut, lemon verbena
Yellow curd cheese – smoked pork heart, horseradish, fig leaf oil
Chicken of the woods mushroom – corn miso
Strawberry, Bay leaf, Lime
“Gin & Tonic” – Apple, Salted Plum, Juniper
“Suhintott” soup – caraway seed, fermented egg yolk
Bread, “pecsi” – foie gras, duck heart, chicken skin, fat, seasonal vegetables from our garden
Trout – gooseberry, salted black currants
Potato – kefir, potato miso, duck fat
Mangalica spare ribs – dead-nettles, salad, elderflower vinegar
Sheep cheese – chestnut honey, pine cone
Rice pudding with chamomile
Rose “matcha”
Petit four – apricot, prune, quince, chocolate
Opened in 2019 SALT is considered by many to be Budapest’s best Restaurant, its location in a boutique hotel called RUM featuring warm wood tones surrounding an open kitchen with most plates finished at a pass in front.
Led by Chef Szilárd Tóth and Manager Máté Boldizsár with service comparable to the world’s best, many dishes telling a tale of Hungarian heritage, SALT relies on ideas akin to “new Nordic” fare with foraging and fermentation at the forefront while Beverages look to local or natural Wines plus Juices made to pair.
A “story-teller’s” tasting, fifteen courses plus additions on both ends delivered at an appropriate pace, it is with Kombucha that guests are invited to taste a bundle of Herbs dragged through Carp Milt plus Celeriac and Fish in a Tuile before moving on to blanched White Asparagus lent acidity by a Dip of Nettles and Ants.
Plated Scandinavian but distinctly Hungarian in terms of terroir, one-bite “Greasy bread” hearty but balanced with Eel instead of Jowl Bacon, Cauliflower comes charred next to Walnut Cream that leads well into Cheese topped with micro-planed Pork Heart.
Contemporary with roots in local ingredients and rural dishes, the casual environment adding to the sense of dining at a friend’s house, Tóth’s “Chicken of the Woods Mushroom” comes in aromatic Corn Miso prior to a refreshing “Gin & Tonic” Bite composed in the kitchen.
Choosing another Juice going forward, Lime and Strawberry accented by Bay Leaf holding up to Soup and Bread made for dipping, a second plate in the same vein references a peasant dish from Pécs rethought with Foie Gras and Duck Heart in hearty Broth.
Pumping the breaks with raw local Trout in an ice bowl, acidic like Aguachiles but lacking Chiles, Potatoes in Duck Fat proves to be an elegant setup for sticky Pork Ribs intended to be eaten as a Lettuce Wrap topped in fermented foraged Greens.
Outpacing the single Michelin Star received in 2021, a Cheese course adjacent Chestnut Honey and Pine transitioning to sweet, SALT’s Rice Pudding with Chamomile is an exercise in restraint that fully engages the palate before finishing with floral Matcha and a quartet of Petit Four.
www.saltbudapest.com