John Salt

This restaurant is a remix of a night lounge meets an afternoon café. The vibe is very chill. I seated myself at the bar and ordered the Old Fashioned cocktail. The drink was ok. there were orange slices to add to the drink flavour. My favourite cocktail of the night was the mint julep… it goes down very smooth.
I ordered the John Salt burger and waited no longer than 20 minutes for my dish. The server was very courteous. My burger was delicious and the fries were plenty too!

Very impressive trendy and chic restaurant/​bar in the middle of Upper Street, Islington definitely worth stopping by for a meal or a drink.
Positives:
— The atmosphere of the venue is very nice. Bright and colourful atmosphere with a good range of songs that are of the indie genre. The layout of the venue is predominantly open plan with general benches if that’s your preferred choice of seat as well as the other choice of seating I had that evening which was on the sofa which proved very comfortable.
— The price of a pint is of the standard London bar price. I purchased 2 pints which equated to £9.20. Couldn’t complain.
Negative:
— A slow and not really bothered type of customer service. Bar woman was friendly enough, but you could just tell she did not want to be there
***Although I have not tested the food yet, my general outlook of this venue is that it is a trendy chic bar on Upper Street that provides a well lit and indie based atmosphere that anyone can nestle a drink or food and not even realise the time flying past***

First impressions… Phenomenal vibe with a rocking indie drama music vibe. The nachos are humorously bad though.

I haven’t had the food here recently, but I’ve heard that it’s gone slightly downhill and depends who is at the helm in the kitchen, really.
This place is well located on Upper St, making it a tempting stop if you’re walking from one end to the other. The décor is a little bit try-​too-​hard, but it’s comfortable inside so we’ll let it pass. The beer selection is alright. Everything is alright. I’d come back and try the food, but the prices make me wonder why people don’t just walk a few extra blocks and go to Pig & Butcher. It’s a solid three star place. Nothing really special, for me.

Upstairs Bar Review. (didn’t eat)
Chili upstairs at the bar was awesome. Great attitude, great bartender and fun. We sat upstairs and had a few drinks and chatted with a local couple. Great atmosphere here: lively, hip, natural light.
Don’t half step. Not the sort of place to come for a quiet night.

My friends have been asking me for bar recommendations around Islington, and this is a place I’ve heard of a few times. We finally went on a Saturday night on our way home, and it was packed downstairs but we made it upstairs where there was no queue for the bar. I got a raspberry mojito and sat down on the couches with my friend where you can see all the action downstairs without getting pushed around in the crowd. There is a long table upstairs too which can be booked out for parties, as it looked like most of the other people upstairs were just enjoying drinks after their meal.

I can’t review the food because we walked out. It started with incompetence during first contact — got in-​touch a few days before to book and were told that they don’t take bookings and that we should ‘just turn up’. After doing as instructed, we arrived (early –around 6pm) to find most tables reserved. After that less than auspicious start, went on to find the poor staff training continued and to cut this story short we left (as mentioned can’t comment on the food).
It may be worth noting that the place also plays pretty loud music … so it won’t be a quiet meal (which is quite cool depending on the evening being planned). I would struggle to bother trying again based on that service.

Continuing the same impression as previous visits. Loving the service, space and coffee.
I had a super tasty moist veggie burger; My friend’s choice wasn’t so lucky. She had an average salmon (fairly bland really) and really extremely salty kale. So I guess, the food is hit’n’miss.
Free wi-​fi spot is a definite plus.

Last time I was here it was the Keston Lodge bar. In the makeover to John Salt they managed to keep all the positives of the Keston Lodge atmosphere and feel but added an upstairs restaurant. We took advantage of the pre-​7pm 2 for 1 cocktail offer. Decent cocktails so off to a good start. Dinner was upstairs. A smallish dining area with music from the bar downstairs, the volume gradually increasing as the evening progressed.
The menu is short, really appealing and inventive. We got the usual pitch about the dishes coming as they are ready and two reminders (in the confirmation call and also from the waiter) about the table being needed at 9.15 or something, ‘yeah, yeah, whatever… fine’.
Crab with green peppercorns and grilled sourdough.
Two large thick slabs of sourdough generously slathered with brown crab which had a Thai flavour in my mind and was very good with the green peppercorns adding texture and popping open on eating. This dish worked well.
Chicken fried whitebait with harissa dressing was nice enough but nothing special. Breadcrumbed, fried whitebait, a tad on the dry side. The dressing was more mayo with siracha sauce stirred in.
Jerk pork with charred pineapple and cornbread sounded great. It was a ‘deconstructed’ dish with the blackened pork tossed with torn shards of corn bread. The pineapple really worked well with the combo and the pork was tender.
Chipotle rubbed lamb shoulder, mint yoghurt and crispy pita wasn’t as exciting with plenty of pulled, tender lamb and was also deconstructed but a bit bland and couldn’t really taste a chipotle flavour. The ratio of meat to sauce and pita was a bit too high so translated to a slightly heavy, blandish dish.
New potatoes with charcoal butter and confit garlic with sorrel just didn’t work for me. The potatoes were sliced and fridge cold with a charcoal taste that wasn’t pleasant and only a small amount of butter, garlic and tiny granish of sorrel.
Dessert however was a real highlight.
Sticky apricots with caramel, yoghurt cake and salty almond brittle (also deconstructed) was perfect. Flavours and textures that worked and balance of sweetness.
Maybe it was our choice of dishes but the meal was really substantial which is usually a good thing in my book but it was a bit heavy. The crab was great but much more substantial than I expected. The lamb and pork it needed some more balance with lighter flavours and perhaps more veg based options and our one veg dish was the least successful.
At the same time I love the inventiveness and taking some risks means that some things will be successful and others not and the pricing was fair and service and ambience good so it’s really about 3.5 stars for me, round up to 4.

Slightly disappointing for the awesome space and the cred of Pitt Cue which is my personal sanctuary in London.
We had mediocre service including waiting 20 minutes for a glass of wine!!!
I had the pork hash – I just couldn’t get excited about it. And my waitress raved about the cod with foie gras sauce but couldn’t understand why she though it was amazing.
I thought the fries were going to rock my world, but they were just average and had fat dripped into a corner – I was kind of confused.
My friend had the green chili poussin which was essentially a chicken with sweet and sour sauce with some green chilies on top for décor.
Maybe it was just an off night.
I did like the vibe… might give it a second shot.

It’s a food-​spotters and bloggers menu if ever there was one. Devised dishes described in a mash-​up two-​word list of current food trends. Raw this and that, ‘Kimchi’ here, ‘chicken skin’ there, ‘pulled pork’ everywhere… Check, check and mate, mate. That there’s a pervading whiff of BBQ will come as little surprise to anyone who knows that chef Neil Rankin has hotfooted it over here from iconic meat Mecca Pitt Que, following a unfortunate turn of events between the owners and original kitchen prodigy Ben ‘Roganic’ Spalding. But of course if you’re just a humble punter, you will neither know, nor care about this back story.
For the rest of you, the civilians still radiating bafflement at the one-​word menu and the breathy introduction? Banish the gloom and forget about the ‘nu-​restaurant’ wankery, you’re in for a treat.
There’s a seemingly more comfortable dining space upstairs, though we’re relegated to slightly cramped and uncomfortable rough-​hewn communal tables at the front, slotted in next to a mixed bag of trendy locals and slathering food spotters. Not ideal for a quiet date, and not something that they make a recommendation on when you book which feels odd. I’m also surprised that it’s not as busy as the Twitterati would have you imagine. There’s definitely room for walk ups, certainly in the loud downstairs bar space which serves a limited version of the same innovative menu.
And the food? Thankfully it’s superb. Absolutely superb.
We go for (scratch that, I go for) a selection of the starter plates, topped off with a ‘Red Flannel Hash’. Only on discussion with the serving dude do we realise that’s a type of beetroot, roasted to perfection with floury roast potatoes and delicate peas and corn, topped with a panko-​coated soft-​boiled egg. Perfect comfort food, if irritatingly undecipherable from the menu alone.
Those burnt leeks were a smokey revelation, the flavour of the BBQ subtle but pervasive, mellowed out by creamy rich yolk. Tiny and delicately tempura’ed oysters were gone in a heartbeat, much like a large fresh dose of buttery crab with a wallop of fresh sea served on a slice of deep fried puffed-​up pig skin more akin to a prawn cracker. Simple flavours combined well and packing a real punch. Genuine food that puts a smile on your face.
The best for me was a simple salad of raw beef and apple, with a hit of chilli oil and a nutty sweetness from scattered sesame. A perfect small plate and bargainous at a fiver. For the same price we also enjoyed a riff on Canadian monstrosity poutine, here made with hunks of fleshy pork belly and softly warming kimchi. The couple packed in next to us were overheard contemplating a second portion of this, I wholeheartedly agreed with their ambition and would have done likewise if I hadn’t known the reaction my suggestion would get from my guest.
And that Bacon Panna Cotta to finish with was designed to

There are times when misfortune and chance bring about a quite wonderful experience.
I had originally booked a large table here as I’d heard Ben Spalding was doing a residency, a residency that within a few days had November and December booked out. My only option to try this upcoming star’s cooking was a speculative punt at the end of January.
The year turned and the chef left only to be replaced by Neil Rankin, the ex head chef of the awesome Pitt Cue. In addition they gave us 50% all food as a goodwill gesture.
So yes bribery does work plus they have a happy (4) hour (s) of BOGOF cocktails between 5 and 9. Though guess who had the bright idea of being dry for the month…
If your’e a fan of kimchi the place seems to have dishes covered in it (no bad thing)
I’d never been to the old place that they replaced however they have made a half bar half casual dining experience that could easily accommodate our group of 8 on one table. The service was great with the only complaint being that the mains did take some time.
The food itself was frankly excellent. The starters were small but perfectly balanced starting with mixed tastes of octopus and iberico ham then going on to a soft and fluffy sole with bone sauce and finishing with a divine bacon panna cotta. All wonderful though the star of the show were the pulled pork chips with cheese and kimchi. Smothered heaven!
The prices were pretty good with a three course meal and drinks coming to about £40 per head pre discount
All in all a great place a short walk from Highbury and Islington station. As I’m moving there soon I shall certainly be returning especially to try the Sunday Roast that Tristan loves.

Sunday roast at the John Salt:
Beef £17 — amazing. Loads of meat, a variety of cuts from the joint, all delicious. Some rare, some not so rare. Delicious! 5 stars. Lots of roast potatoes, root veg and a big flat yorkshire
Chicken £14 — although D would give this 5 star this as well, I would hold back a little. I’m not a fan of small chickens as I’m not one of those ‘strip the meat off the bones with teeth’ kinda people but if you are then that’s what you get here. A whole chicken-​little on your plate with a soft boiled egg in breadcrumbs — instead of stuffing perhaps, plus all the rest of the veg, yorkshire etc. I wasn’t too keen on the chicken being smoked, to be fair it did say this on the menu, but I wasn’t expecting SUCH a smoky flavour. But if that’s your thing then you’ll love this.
All in all, this is a great place for a Sunday Roast with a difference. Some seating options are a bit snug with your neighbours but it wasn’t too busy at 1pm so we just asked to be moved along.
Good.