What: Located on Winchester Walk, this is tapas bar and restaurant operator Salt Yard Group’s fifth restaurant and the second in quick succession, following on from the opening of a site in Westfield White City this spring.
Who: Salt Yard started life in 2005 when founder Simon Mullins launched it in Fitzrovia but the brand is now in the custody of Urban Pubs & Bars, which bought the group in 2018. As well as Salt Yard, other brands in the group include Dehesa, Opera Tavern, and Ember Yard. Urban Pubs & Bars, meanwhile, was established in 2014 by Nick Pring and Malc Heap and has 36 venues in its portfolio.
The food: Salt Yard’s Mediterranean menu has a good fit with the Borough Market crowd with a small plates menu that chimes well with the picky nature of the market’s food stalls and vendors. Dishes include lamb pintxo, smoked ricotta, tarragon and caper pesto; wild seabass crudo, coriander aguachile, brown crab and avocado; coal roasted cauliflower with romanesco and pickled sultanas; alongside more traditional tapas-style offerings including patatas bravas with aioli and spicy tomato; prawns ‘pil pil’ with grilled guindilla chilli and roasted garlic; and courgette flower with goat’s cheese and fermented honey. A selection of charcuterie, breads, cheeses and bar snacks is also available.
To drink: The restaurant’s Italian and Spanish wine list is divided into ‘full’, ‘medium’ and ‘light’ sections to help with the pairing of food. There’s also a small selection of orange wines, dessert wines and sparklers predominantly from Italy – there is no prosecco or cava listed. A seven-strong sherry list comprises five dry sherries and two sweet options.
The vibe: The group describes its Borough Market restaurant as ‘transporting guests to the intimate tapas bars and restaurants of Spain and Italy’ with a design that features exposed brick and tapas bar style high tables, but this almost undersells the slick feel of the restaurant that has a more modern and upmarket feel than many of its Spanish and Italian contemporaries from which it is borrowing. The large light and bright interior has the feel of an all-day bar with exposed ductwork, brass, and green velvet banquettes, with Urban Pubs & Bars playing to its strengths.
New Hibernia House, Winchester Walk, London, SE1 9AG
With new owners and bolder restaurant openings, the rejuvenated Salt Yard brand looks fit to take on its larger rivals, writes Stefan Chomka.
While it certainly can’t be described as a sleeping giant, Salt Yard Group has nonetheless been a dormant brand at a time when the space in which it occupies, namely small plates of Mediterranean food, has continued to grow. This is now finally changing under its new (ish) ownership with Urban Pubs & Bars demonstrating why it decided to buy the restaurants back at the end of 2018.
Since then, its new owner has taken its time with the brand rejuvenating what it has already got, but this has changed this year with two restaurants in quick succession, the first at Westfield White City, which opened in May this year, and now this site in Borough Market.
In Salt Yard’s original incarnation, the group tended to open small and medium sized sites, with the original Goodge Street venue a fairly intimate restaurant and Opera Tavern in Covent Garden also quite small. However, the latest two openings are larger statements of intent with more covers and a more striking interior design - the Westfield White City restaurant has an enclosed terrace in which a large olive tree takes centre stage. Given the level of competition both at Westfield, where it is up against the original Tapas Revolution and a Comptoir Libonais, and at Borough, where Harts Group recently opened a Parrillan and Barrafina at the new Borough Yards development, and where Brindisa has long been established, this approach would seem necessary.
While some of the shine inevitably came off Salt Yard when long-time chef director Ben Tish left the company after 11 years in 2017 the brand has kept a loyal following. It has also retained some of its character by holding on to its Dehesa, Opera Tavern and Ember Yard siblings with Urban Pubs & Bars resisting the temptation to bring them together under the same format as has happened with other multi-format concepts, not least Polpo and more recently Temper. The advantage here is that while these brands have their own individual personality, they haven't strayed too far from the original vision.
As the hero brand, Salt Yard is once again on the march, and it appears to be in good shape.