Saturday, September 07, 2013

Salmontini Le Resto — A Taste Of An Age-Old Tradition

By Raheel Al Hanafi / Jeddah

Salmontini is an international fine dining restaurant that serves different dishes and focuses on high quality Scottish salmon. After the success of Salmontini Dubai and Beirut, the restaurant opened its first branch in the Kingdom and chose Jeddah as a first flagship restaurant and boutique for it.

Salmontini is located on Mahmoud Farsi Street on Cornieche Al Hamra. The restaurant’s exterior is shaped like a like a loft, with dark wooden and brick walls with large glass displayed windows over viewing the beautiful Jeddah Cornieche.
As soon as you step inside you find a wooden stairs that lead you to the second floor of the restaurant and in front of you is a big fridge that displays different kinds of Scottish smoked salmon and there you will be leaded to your table by one of the hosts dressed in a black suit. Walking in the dinning area you will find a simple and elegant design with hard wood floors wide glass windows over looking the outside area. The white walls are decorated with simple lights and huge canvas paintings of orchid flowers. You can choose between sofas and chairs, they are colored in beautiful warm pastel velvet fabric those seats up to 250 diners at once.

When your seated in your table, the waiter instantly delivers an in house baked breadbasket with a side of butter and grilled salmon puree mixed with cream cheese. The menu is very appetizing and you might get lost from the big variety of dishes, it is great to find the restaurant does not only offer seafood as you might expect from the name, there is also a selection of steaks and chicken.

For warm appetizers try the Calamaro “a la Proveniale” is recommended, it is a traditional recipe from South France made with fried calamari in a tomatoes zesty sauce. As for the signature salmon platters, try The Plate platter which gives you the opportunity to discover different kinds of salmon made in different smoking temperatures from the traditional smoked salmon, marinated salmon to the traditional Norwegian salmon and salmon tartar.

As for the salad, I loved both the Warm Goat Cheese salad made with fresh goat cheese on a bed of herb bread and dry tomatoes with a mix of fresh greens. The other salad is mozzarella tomato perso sauce salad made with a mix of lettuce, tomato and fresh Mozzarella seasoned with homemade pesto.

The restaurant just introduced its diners with an interesting sushi menu that comes in different tastes. I highly recommend the Dragon Roll that comes in a beautiful presentation imitating a green dragon with eight pieces of shrimp tempura rolled in sticky rice and topped with fresh avocado and drizzled with spicy mayo sauce. It even sounds appetizing doesn’t it?
If you are a salmon lover like me you will be very happy with the main course selection, I tried the salmon wild rice made with grilled salmon pave served with wild rice and herb sauce. The Salmon Couscous is a very interesting choice for those who are looking for an oriental taste; it is made with Salmon Pave with couscous, vegetables and garnish with harissa spicy sauce. I also recommend the Salmon Unilatera dish made with lightly grilled skin side salmon pave with creamy wasabi sauce.

For those looking for other choices the beef tenderloin comes highly recommended by many, it is made with grilled Black Angus Beef Pave, garnished with potato and broccoli and served with a choice of mustard, pepper or the chef’s secret sauce.

As for drinks, I would recommend you ask your waiter to match your dish for this restaurant has a unique concept that gives you the opportunity to match your drink with food to enable you to experience different tastes in each bite. I fell in love with two drinks; the Raspberry Bellini made with soda and raspberry juice and comes with a stick of fresh raspberries. The other one is Apple Cinnamon made with apple soda and cinnamon and served with fresh green apple, it tastes fresh and summery.

The best part of the meal comes at the end, the desert. I recommend the crème brulee come in three small plates with different flavors French vanilla, pistachio and salted caramel. I would also recommend the raspberry macaron that comes with a side of ice cream.