Выкладываю свою домашку на Скайенге. В этот раз нужно было написать эссе про еду, и я решил рассказать о своем посещении Гастробара Соль в Калининграде.
В первую очедерь, это домашнее задание, поэтому буду рад вашим рекомендациям и предложениям по исправлениям. Оставляйте их в комментариях.
I’m deeply convinced that I have to try as many tastes and flavors as possible. It doesn’t matter if they are delicious or disgusting. Why should I do that? Any dish is a valuable part of its cuisine. My particular tastes are too insignificant compared to the culture which contains this cuisine. So, I believe that tasting different dishes is one of the means to embrace the world.
Honestly, I don’t have much experience in exotic dishes tasting, but I’d like to tell you about visiting a restaurant that has impressed me more than others. I still haven’t been to any place better. (But I know such places, and I have a desire to do this.) The name of that restaurant is “Salt” Gastro bar. It's located in the Kaliningrad. I visited it last summer. I’ve already told you that I was surprised by the culinary culture in the Kaliningrad region. Possibly it’s influenced by closeness to Europe. I don’t know. But the Salt made my impressions of that trip.
Initially, our team didn’t have any specific expectations of this place. We just moved there to have dinner. But we didn’t even manage to take a table there. We were told that all tables had been booked for the current and the next day. And also we learned that we had to book it several days before. Ok, sounds curious for such a small village like Kaliningrad. We had to select another place to have dinner that evening. But we decided to try to book a table at the Salt the next day. We thought we could manage to do this if somebody cancels a booking. The next day we gave a call there and succeeded. So, we tried to visit this place twice and It elevated our expectations.
The Visit
The visit to this place wasn’t just a regular visit. It was a performance. At first, we were told the history and the conception of this place. Then we were introduced to a menu and suggested selecting a wine accompaniment for our dinner. We tried several kinds of wine and selected one. The menu contained separate positions, and also it included sets. Some of us decided to order the first options, but my buddy and I decided to try one of the sets. I think I faced the best variant of service because a waiter “officially” suggested everybody sharing our dishes with the rest of the team to allow everybody to try more tastes.
As we had selected a set, the performance started.
My set consisted of six dishes, one candy, and a dessert. Many of them were linked to specific ingredients produced in Russia. Each part of the set was followed with the story of its creation, its idea, and its cooking method. After you’ve dealt with a dish, they will bring you the next one.
- Fresh salmon ceviche with passion fruit sauce. An ingredient that impressed me more than others is a green cilantro sauce! I’ve already told you that I hate cilantro, but this sauce was amazing! It didn’t have any patterns of this herb. Instead of that, it was very fresh and juicy.
- Beef tartare with miso sauce, cheddar mousse, and a smoked Baltic eel. I love all kinds of roar beef and fish, so it was my match. The dish was accompanied by a toast with several drops of truffle oil. This oil has a very intensive bright taste. So the toast was suitable here.
- Crispy eggplant pieces with tomatoes and goat cream cheese. These eggplants were incredible. I don’t know how they achieved such a structure, but I’d never tasted something like that before. The vegetables were crispy. A chief managed to keep its volume and texture but removed the taste of the plant!
- Grilled scallop with pieces of cauliflower and some truffle oil drops. The scallop was delicate. It was well combined with vegetables. The cauliflower pieces made the taste of this dish complete.
- A ball made of a thin Belgian chocolate shell filled with lime-lemongrass juice. The candy had an amazing well-balanced flavor. The shell was very delicate. So when I got it into my mouth, the candy had melted immediately away, and I felt a bright and fresh juice taste.
- Black dim sums stuffed with langoustine, covered with king crab meat and black caviar. It was interesting that the plate with that dish had two levels. On the first level, they put some pieces of dry ice, and only the second level contained food.
- Filet mignon with foie gras, a baked asparagus stick, pepper sauce, and mashed potato with Crimean truffle. It’s a single dish that didn’t satisfy my expectations. I prefer rare roasted beef, but at that time, they didn’t ask which grade of roasting I wanted. So they made it medium. But in other aspects, it was pretty good.
- A passion fruit and mango ice cream. The ice cream is being cooked in front of guests. It is being frozen by adding liquid nitrogen.
Finally, I was convinced it was the best restaurant I had ever visited before! So, if you visit Kaliningrad, you should definitely add this place to your list.
