My love for Warsaw is unconditional. It has always been my city and will stay this way. Streets that mean so much to me, thousands of memories and stills of my beloved city which I will always defend as well as chasing out strangers who come hre only to complain.
Even if I leave at some point, I will know that this is my place on earth. And I will keep returning. I had my worst and best moments in life here. I never had doubts that that’s the place where I can pursue a successful career, make my dreams come true and live the dream. You can develop yourself and your passions. I know that it’s hard in small cities and in the countryside, that sometimes the money runs out before the 1st of the next month, that there is no work. But there’s my Warsaw, Wrocław, Poznań, Cracow or Gdańsk. Possibilities and opportunities. Big cities where anything can happen….
That’s what I used to believe and in most cases stayed faithful to. However, lately I’ve been thinking more and more about certain branches in which it isn’t that easy to make you dreams come true in Poland. There are areas where the sole fact that you operate in Warsaw, Cracow or Gdańsk makes you worse. Worse than Paris, London, Barcelona or Rome. Even worse than a small town somewhere in Northern France or in the mountains of South Tyrol. That’s what happens when you’re a chef and you’re dreaming of a Michelin star. You start cooking in Paris or in Barcelona and your chances of getting a Michelin start are automatically higher. You start cooking in Poland on the same or even higher level and your chances shrink regardless of how hard you try. Because your restaurant is located in Warsaw, Poznań or Gdańsk and Poland is not a particularly profitable region for the ‘Main Cities of Europe’ guide, the most prestigious restaurant ranking in Europe. And even though you think you deserve it and we know it too, there’s no star. So everyone who loves cooking is very happy with a Michelin star for Atelier Amaro. We’re happy too but it’s far from enough. There’s more places in Warsaw that deserve a star.
that’s how best restaurants start
And so when we visit foreign restaurants with one or two stars and see that they’re not so good, we get super-pissed off. We don’t like to be underrated or discriminated. But we feel this way a little bit and I guess some of the chefs get this feeling too. Of course, they say that they don’t cook for stars but for their customers, however such star would be a pleasant reward for their accomplishments. Hopefully they don’t run away because of that.
When speaking about Michelin stars, financial matters are often emphasised – the culture of eating out in Poland is still young, there’s not that many people who are willing to spend a lot in restaurants, the target group who may develop interest in the guide is too small etc. All this seems reasonable but then you go to Salto and wonder how in a world is it possible that this place has no star !!!!??!!
scallops / ginger gel / burned coriander oil
We visited Salto for our sixth anniversary. It’s an exceptional place, reserved for special occasions. We take a tasting menu that consists of 6-7 meals. I decide to skip the meat dishes in the very last moment – no problem with that: few minutes later I get a new menu from the staff.
I won’t describe each and every meal because there are descriptions below the pictures. I just say one thing: I can’t remember the last time I had such edible wonders that tasted so good. The chef – Martin Gimenez Castro from Argentina enchanted us completely starting with the pre-starter and ending with the dessert.
It was beautiful with some hocus pocus and most of all ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS. At Salto the looks and the flavours go together unlike in many places where the looks play the leading role. The meals are sometimes surprising, sometimes pleasanly numbing. Our favourites? Definitely a melt-in-your-mouth eel with caramelised onion, leek chips, fish espuma and sweetish beetroot powder. It melted in our mouths amazingly and the flavour was perfect. From the very beginning I was intrigued by ‘crispy rocks’ served with the octopus! These were potatoes that actually looked like rocks and were a nice side for an amazingly soft octopus which was first baked and ten boiled – haven’t encountered an octopus served this way before. Duck served with Malbec wine ice cream served on a frozen rock was a great idea as well,
eel smoked on the spot with caramelised onion, leek chips, fish espuma and beetroot powder
slow cooked and then grilled octopus with potatoes imposing rocks and beetroot sauce
slow cooked duck fillet, sweet potato puree, turnip leaves and malbec ice cream
For main courses, I enjoyed fish while Łukasz had fish and an Argentine sirloin steak. Most of the fish and seafood at Salto comes from Fish Lovers so you can relax as for the freshness and quality. First a drum fillet served with chick peas, pumpkin and topinambour puree. The fish is just perfect, yet the next one – monkfish with bagna cauda sauce made from garlic and anchovies is also amazing. Łukasz complains about his steak a little bit – it’s a bit too salty.
drum fillet with chick peas and butter, pumpkin and topinambour puree
monkfish, artichoke puree, bagna cauda sauce, beans
And of course, the desserts. At first it didn’t sound all that interesting: Deconstructed apple pie and Mojito, but both were absolutely surprising thanks to an artificial lime made from milk chocolate or apple made from sugar (looks like glass, doesn’t it?) filled with apple sorbet. Surprise and awe!
deconstructed apple pie – amazing!
mojito i and lime made from chocolate
Going to Salto for a tasting menu, we decided to take advantage of wine pairing – another tasting menu made from wines paired with the meals by a Sommelier. I have to admit that we rarely give it a try since we prefer getting a bottle of our favourite wine but it was a special occasion, a special place and we wanted to make it even more special! The Sommelier was absolutely superb and we loved his stories -he told us not only about the wine, its flavour, origin and food pairing but also about the vineyard and its owners. Fascinating stories that gave soul to every single glass – just print the wine list with the Sommelier’s descriptions 🙂 Perfect for everyone who wants to learn a little bit more about the wine! Apart from wine, we also ordered a cocktail made from pisco – a type of liquor similar to grappa popular in Chile and Peru. Served with a tiny orange macaron – a small tapa left us in awe again!
pisco sour and a macaron
After enchanting meals and the professionalism of wine pairing we also got enchanted by the chef – Martin Gimenez Castro. Friendly, smiling, not arrogant or proud which is a popular chef’s characteristic. Also, he came to Poland after is Polish wife who he met working in Florida. He speaks perfect Polish too. Give this guy a round of applause and keep your fingers crossed for him 🙂 Keep it as delicious and get the star!
PS. How expensive are such wonders you must be asking. Yes, they are expensive but also worth the price. The tasting menu costs PLN 280 per person – this includes approx. 8 meals with pre-starters and intermissions. A reasonable price if you look at the restaurant from a different point of view. Going to a place like Salto is not a regular lunch or dinner or an occasion to fill yourself up, talk or meet for wine. It’s a spectacle, art and something that does not happen every day. Sometimes it’s worth having such time instead of buying concert tickets, going to a theatre, buying new dress or… a bottle of vodka in the club:) It’s worth it.
PS2. Jeśli jednak nie chcecie za bardzo finansowo poszaleć, nie decydujcie się na wine pairing, bo znacznie podwyższa cenę – szczegółowo możecie to zobaczyć na rachunku poniżej:)
If you don’t want to go too far moneywise, don’t go for wine pairing as it raises the overall price considerably – see on the bill for yourself 🙂
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
ul. Wilcza 73
opening hours:
daily 12.00-22.30
tasting menu for 2 with wine pairing
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