SALT is a classy modern Indian restaurant that first opened in Chennai and then announced it’s arrival in Bangalore with 2 outlets; VR Mall Whitefield and Forum Mall Koramangala. The restaurant inculcates the idea of having Indian food and not feeling the pinch of high calories! All the dishes are true to its roots, but still manage to bring a sophisticated touch to it.

DECOR

The decor here is modern and classy. As you enter you’d see the bar on your left and a few tables with sofas on the right. The bar is beautiful with the glasses hanging and neatly placed liquor bottles on the back.

Their no-nonsense wooden furniture is elegant and does a good job with keeping things simple! There’s a candle light on a table overlooking the pleasant(or not so pleasant) traffic on the Forum Main Road, if you’re looking to have a special evening with your loved one.

On one end you see a bricked wall with a few writing pad doubling up as frames for quotes. You might know it all, but not everyday do you get to see quotes at a restaurant. So, take a step back, relax for a minute and read these lovely quotes 🙂

There’s a black board with a few specials of the day neatly drawn with a chalk on it.

As we sat waiting for the Chef to join us for the evening, there were a few fryums placed on the table for us to munch on! It sure does take us back in time, when we’d head to our nearest local store to get those long yellow fryums, also called Boti!

There’s a generous portion of three chutneys to dip those fryums in. The chutneys are beet, mint, south indian special!

I like how their branding is done on the plates!

Beverages

The restaurant has a full bar and also serves some cocktails with an Indian touch to them 🙂 Instead of picking the classic cocktails, we went with the SALT’s Signature Cocktails. We had Desi Paan, Elaneer, Dilkush and Chaitini. Each of these cocktails were pretty good.

Desi Paan is basically a Paan martini. It’s got Betel nuts, Gulkand, vodka muddle that’s shaken. It has a very mild betel nut flavor. It sure is a very refreshing drink! I felt the Abv was high and it was then tweaked to make it easier to consume!

Elaneer is tender coconut water with vodka. Another refreshing drink. This was a beautifully prepared drink!

Dilkush is a vodka based drink which has baileys irish creme and vanilla icecream. To take creativity to the next level, it’s served with a kulfi! Tip: Have the kulfi before it melts as wasting time clicking even a single pic would mean you lose out on the goodness of the yummy kulfi. Lesson learnt!

Chaitini is yet another vodka based drink with a masala tea concoction, baileys irish creme and a cinnamon syrup.

SALAD

I started with a very healthy Roasted paneer, broccoli & fruits salad, which had a nice house spice dressing. I do have salads for dinner and to start off my meal with one was just another way of feeling at home!

Appetizers

The appetizers at <SALT are undoubtedly one of the best I’ve had in a long long time! The presentation is impeccable, taste delicious and choices vast.
You’re sure to be amazed with any dish you’d order, but ask for Chef recommended dishes to be on the safer side!

Vegetarian Appetizers

We had Olive Masala Paniyaram, Dahi Tawa Kebab and Subzi Kur-Kure.

Olive Masala Paniyaram, a south indian rice delicacy usually had for breakfast. What they did to this was very creative; added olives, cottage cheese and peppers as filling.

Dahi Tawa Kebab is a blend of hung curd with some cottage cheese. It is easily the most favorite of my vegetarian appetizers! This was one soft and tasted out of this world.

Subzi Kur-Kure is a deep fried roomali roti stuffed with cumin spiced veggies. It also has some dry fruits in it. As you bite, you would love the crunch and the flavorful filling. You would be found wanting for more 🙂

Non-Vegetarian Appetizers

We had Parda Jhinga Kebab, Galouti Kabab and Saffron Chicken Tikka.

Pardha Jhinga Kebab is a king prawn in a lemon,mustard marinade. What’s unique and the only time I’ve seen it is that it’s wrapped in a roomali roti, hence the name Parda! The roomali roti is actually a bit sticky when you bite into this dish. Nonetheless, the taste of the dish is quite good, you’d not mind that 🙂

Galouti Kabab is a very popular lamb minced kabab from the land of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. It’s served on a roti bread and a yogurt dip!

Saffron Chicken Tikka is chicken malai kabab, char grilled in a marinade of saffron, cheese and some secret spices! This was a succulent piece of chicken thigh that I had and I loved it 🙂

Between your appetizers and Main course, they serve a berry slush. Believe me you, this was the best thing I had that evening!

Main Course

We tried a few curries with breads and biriyani.
Vilayti Subzi Jalfrezi, House Black Dal, CCC( Chennai Chicken Curry and Ras Bhare Matar were the curries we had.

We picked the special bread basket which had an assortment of olive, Sun dried tomatoes and basil.

The black dal had a superb presentation. The word Salt was written with cream! It’s simmered for over 24 hours to have deeper flavors.

The curries were not that divine as the starters and I thought the taste could have been better. May be because we chose poorly. The only dish that saved the day for me was the chennai chicken curry!

There’s no way I would have walked out of here without having desserts! But before desserts, Biriyani 🙂 The dum biriyani was aromatic, served in a fancy pot and a raita to go with it.

Desserts

We had three desserts ; Spiced chocolate cake, Salt’s Eclair and Elaneer Payasam.

Salt’s Eclair is SALT’s take on the classic eclair. It’s got cashew praline and vanilla bean ice-cream. I thought they did a fabulous job with this!
Spiced chocolate cake is made with light custard creme and chocolate.
Elaneer Payasam is something I tried first at BonSouth. Huge fan! I liked their take on that, here as well.

Butter Theory’s take on SALT

The appetizers here were just spectacular 🙂 The desserts were very unique again. It’s done a great job of replacing the Sahib Singh Sultan restaurant in the Forum mall, which is where we dined today!! All in all, its a restaurant that will amaze you with all the little things it does differently. The pricing is as you’d expect from a fine dine restaurant. The next time you’re at the Forum mall, Koramangala, please do yourselves a favor and don’t go to the food court for a meal, but dine here 🙂