I would like to thank you for a wonderful evening we spent recently at you restaurant. My partner and I were made to feel so welcome by the management and wait staff.

Stian who found us a superb table so we could enjoy the dramatic sunset (what an amazing view) and Maria who led us through the menu and wine pairings with total confidence, are both a credit to, I am sure the enduring success of the restaurant.

We both had no problem in our menu selection, though we did find the portion size larger than we expected. All this and a seemingly unending selection of all our favourite wines.

We are sure to be returning.
John Sagar.

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Two reviews from Natalie Becker in Audio format. Use the Dinig-OUT.co.za drop-down menu to listen to both reviews:

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I have recently completed my assignment for Fodor’s South Africa 5th edition, available for sale in December this year.
Good, Better, Best, First published in 48 Hours, July 9, 2009.

Salt, at the Ambassador Hotel, also a Newmark Hotels property, benefits equally from location, but this time overlooking the rocks and Atlantic Ocean of Bantry Bay. If you’re seated at a window table, and the weather is fine, there’s nothing between you and the sea, as the seamless glass windows peel back to near nothingness. The global influences at OYO are also evident at Salt where the menu is based on the countries visited by the chef. Unexpectedly, it was a vegetarian dish that defined the experience for me. An urid dahl (R95) (lentil) curry with butternut and cauliflower, served with an oven-baked pilaf rice and coriander yoghurt topped with a poppadom, took top honours. This dish wins points for colour, texture and spice that warms without burning. A meatier option that straddles the cuisines of France and Italy is the venison loin (R130) with a heady blue-cheese polenta and luscious red-wine jus. A right turn takes you to the Orient. Duck leg gets a Chinese five-spice treatment during slow braising. An orange glaze adds shine and sweetness before being set on egg noodles and bok choi.

A wide range of salads makes Salt a hit with ladies that lunch and the sexed-up bar (excellent tapas menu) with everybody else.

A chorus of Hallelujah’s for Salt! The loudest of those for the very welcome decision to offer every wine on an excellent wine list by the glass. I’m so excited by this I’m almost tempted to write the sentence again. I’ve written before of how seldom restaurants in superb settings deliver food of matching quality. “Don’t worry too much about what’s on the plate, what’s outside the window will keep their attention occupied” is a sadly prevailing philosophy. It’s different at Salt. The first mouthful of every dish that arrived at our window table concentrated our attention fully on the plate until it had comprehensively cleared. Then it was back to the view…

Friends visiting from overseas prompted us to book a table at a new and interesting restaurant in the week before Christmas – one which we definitely can recommend. Peter Goffe-Wood put the adventurous menu together and the chef carries it out to perfection.

I’m smitten with Salt. There’s not much point in trying to deny it: I’m smitten. Completely, hopelessly head over heels. And it’s not just looks that have me so enamoured, dreaming of nothing else. No, it’s the whole package: the jaw-dropping view, the décor, the majestic winelist, and a menu that’s as much art as it is cooking.

As a graduate of Hotel Management who worked in London & Europe for 6 years and who created his own private hotel in Cape Town in 1995, I feel I am permitted to write to you as a qualified customer who, as an invited guest of a friend, enjoyed dinner at Salt Restaurant & Bar last night.

All five of us thought the food of the very highest standard and the service the best we had ever experienced.

Hi Joanne and Heinrich

I’ve been meaning to send this mail ever since the wedding but unfortunately real life has taken over since our fairytale day, and I’m only getting around to it now…

Joanne, I think Sean mentioned to you last Tuesday how absolutely blown away we were by everything to do with Salt on our wedding day? And this email is just a big THANK YOU to all involved for the unbelievable service, food, venue, attention to detail and everything else that you and your team was responsible for. You and Stian went out of your way to make sure everything was set up as we’d agreed and you were both amazing when it came to helping us with all our little – probably annoying – requests when we were arranging the flowers on Saturday morning.

Nicholas deserves an extra special mention for not only going beyond the call of duty in terms of service excellence and keeping the team ship shape on the night, but also for being so friendly and personal about it all. He is clearly an asset to your team a born organiser!

And last but not least, thank you Heinrich for your fabulous service from beginning to end. You were patient and courteous even when I bordered on being Bridezilla and every single one of our requests was catered for and sorted out timeously and efficiently.

You truly are a dream team and I’ve gone out of my way to recommend your venue for anything from a business lunch to functions. Infact, I’ll be seeing you next Thursday for a small Nedbank lunch that I’ve arranged – I simply can’t keep away for long…

Looking forward to seeing you then – and thanks so much once again.

Dear Anita,

I just wanted to thank you and the team at Salt for hosting us for such a lovely lunch.

Thulani, our waiter, was marvelous and looked after us very well in both an efficient but discreet manner. We enjoyed the menu that was prepared for us too.

I know that many of the ladies at the lunch have added Salt onto their list of places to visit again in the near future.

Regards,
Nwabisa

Hi Anita,
I would just like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your efforts in arranging our yearend function dinner with one of our biggest clients last night. You did an excellent job in ensuring that everything runs smoothly. It was a flawless evening which everyone enjoyed.
An extra thank you for being able to squeeze a few last minute favors in, for keeping me up to date with all the arrangements, setting up the menus (vegetarian and halaal included) and dealing with all the other hundreds of requirements I had.

I would definitely recommend you to anyone needing assistance in arranging a function at your restaurant.

Congratulations on a job well done!

Kind regards,
Elzanne Koegelenberg