Saltine
Modern European restaurant · Highbury
11 Highbury Park, London N5 1QJ, United Kingdom
Highlights
Contemporary European dishes, crab on toast, sticky toffee apple cake
Contemporary European dishes, crab on toast, sticky toffee apple cake
"Saltine is a light-filled, gallery-feeling space from the people behind Fink’s, where you’re likely to drink pét nat and eat crab on toast as your friend absent-mindedly rocks their newborn. The front bar-cum-coffee shop is there and waiting for pop-ins after a wander across Highbury Fields, while the back dining room is best used for lazy lunches and midweek date nights forking at elegant European-ish dishes." - rachel rumbol
"Half-price glasses in the bar from 5pm to 7pm, Wednesday to Sunday You know it’ll be less Sex On The Beach and more grüner veltliner when the Happy Hour is called, ‘Cinq à Sept’, a.k.a. an afternoon tryst. Saltine is a friendly neighbourhood spot in Highbury with a menu of delicious British-European plates. And drinking a whiffy pét-nat and eating lush crab on toast feels like a classy way to round off the day. The cafe-cum-bar up front is where you’ll want to position yourself as you work through half-price chenin blancs." - heidi lauth beasley, sinead cranna
"With its exposed brick walls, mid-century chairs, and alumni chef, Saltine in Highbury could be mistaken for just another small plates restaurant. In some ways, it is. You can drink whiffy pét nat and eat lush crab on toast, and the bathrooms have a whole hand-painted Matisse-ish thing going on. Only Saltine isn’t just trendy, it’s friendly too. You’ll see babies being bopped, as well as chips and gravy being mopped up. Sure, there are imperfections, but few cool London restaurants feel as warm as this one. Run by the team behind , this gallery-feeling space is an aesthete’s dream for dates and anyone open to a bit of afternoon daydreaming. There’s a cafe-cum-bar up front—as good for a pastry first thing as it is for bits on toast with a glass of something later on. And the light-filled dining room is a comfortable haven whether you’re planning to eat crispy potato cakes with a buggy, or splitting langoustines and béarnaise with your best pal. Come dinner, it’s a bit of a low-lit EVOO and clog convention, but a lovely one at that. You can have pickled mussels and an elegant pumpkin salad, fantastic chunky chips or a satisfying (but sadly not spectacular) osso bucco on risotto Milanese. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s just fine. Sometimes what you’re missing is closer to home than you think. In Saltine’s case, it’s bolder seasoning. Back when it was Famous Chicken N Pizza, you might trudge in here post-match to bemoan Arsenal over a few hot wings. Now, wheelchairs can roll easily, big families take the open booths, and the sticky toffee apple cake is a unanimous plate-licker. Saltine isn’t unimprovable, but it’s got the makings to be a brilliant neighbourhood restaurant for Highbury. " - Jake Missing
"Brought to you from the people behind Fink’s, Saltine is a new restaurant in Highbury serving ‘contemporary cooking’ which basically means things like radicchio salad, Sussex lamb with carrots, and malted chocolate mousse for dessert. We checked out Saltine and added it to the Hit List." - Team Infatuation
"Pumpkin scapece with roast hazelnuts & ricotta salata “On a perfect autumn day, pretty much any food can fit. Bright sun and crisp air suit a buttery gratin just as much as a crunching salad, and Saltine had both. The new Highbury spot is an elegant neighbourhood restaurant that could seamlessly host a gallery opening just as well as an Islington newborn’s first bite of croquette. And its food, kind of seasonal, European bits and bobs, is also pretty artful. This salad, which mixed surprisingly flavourful pumpkin with a few classics (bitter radicchio, walnuts, and shaved ricotta salata) was fantastic. Colourful, nutty, and delicious—I’m going to try and recreate it at home.” - JM" - Jake Oliver, Rianne Shlebak, Sinead Cranna
