The Salt Room – a modern fish and seafood restaurant - will open in the site of the former Bar 106 at the Hilton Brighton Metropole hotel next month.
The venue has undergone a complete refurbishment and the new restaurant will offer a total of 164-covers across a bar, main dining area and large outdoor terrace.
“We have had a lot of success with the Coal Shed and we got to the point that we were turning people away so we started looking around for another site,” Helalat told BigHospitality.
“The Hilton approached us to open up a restaurant, and the site has probably the best terrace in Brighton – overlooking the West pier and the new i360 tower – so it was a complete no brainer.”
The Salt Room menu will centre around British fish and seafood such as cuttlefish, oysters, sea bass, bouillabaisse and lobster, but the restaurant will also serve some meat dishes.
“The Salt Room is going to be the Coal Shed’s sister restaurant – where the Coal Shed focuses on grilled meats, with some fish dishes, the Salt Room will focus on sustainable fish and seafood, with some meat dishes,” said Helalat.
“There will be an emphasis on sharing plates and platters, and we are looking at using the Josper grill for the grilled fish.”
Helalat has assembled a crack team to launch the new restaurant, including head chef Dave Mothersill – who is currently joint head chef at the Coal Shed and previously worked for The Ginger Pig, Havana, Hotel du Vin and The Real Eating Company.
Dariush Tamadon Nejad, previously group general manager at Mark Hix Restaurants, has been appointed acting general manager, while Alex Palumbo, who has worked at Hakkasan Group and Zumba, will take control of the bar and cocktail menus.
“We are going to have a great cocktail list, with around 40 cocktails including a bloody mary section and a gin and tonic section – we want to pay real attention to the little details like garnishes and glasses to make sure what we offer is a cut above the rest,” Helalat explained.
The Salt Room will originally open from lunch through to dinner, but Helalat said he hopes to start serving brunch on the weekends when the weather gets warmer.