You may have heard of Salt as it’s the new chain opening restaurants and cocktail bars across Leeds and Yorkshire. They most recently opened a new venue in Oakwood, so we just had to check it out.
Salt, which began as a brewery, also serves food in Leeds city centre, Granary Wharf (in conjunction with Falafel Guys), Boston Spa and Sheffield. Their venues not only offer a selection of burgers, chicken wings and loaded fried – they also offer their own draught cocktails and beers on tap.
Their newest venue is located in the former Stew and Oyster building, opposite Oakwood Clock, on Roundhay Road and it opened on November 11. We visited during the following day, during their first Saturday night operating, and there was a real buzz and excitement surrounding the North Leeds venue, a stone's throw away from Roundhay Park.
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The place was utterly packed with more eager customers frequently filing in – which was slightly alarming as it was hard to find a seat inside. The place looked spectacular, there was pop art all over the venue which was basked in an orange shimmer from the vibrant neon lights, complimenting the rustic brick interior walls.
The bar also looked really spectacular with its contrasting tiles which feeds into Salt founder Jamie Lawson’s ethos of delivering “the total experience – so drinking the best beer in the best environment”. He’s certainly delivered in Oakwood.
Lawson founded the brewery in Saltair. He named it after the man who built the village, Sir Titus Salt (1803-187), from Morley, who was a progressive pioneer of the textile industry and of worker’s rights. Sir Titus originally built Salts Mill (now a shopping centre and art gallery), in 1853, along with the village for his workers to live in. Lawson was inspired by Sir Titus as he wanted to adopt a progressive approach to brewing.
“We created a brewery which literally brews with no limits,” said co-owner Lawson in a documentary featurette about his business. He seems to be proving that with his extremely wide variety of cocktails on draught – more on that momentarily.
We ended up sharing one of the many long tables with some strangers which added a nice social aspect to the evening. To order, you go to the bar and they give you a buzzer – which goes wild once the food is ready and you then have to collect the food on the first floor.
The bar and kitchen staff were all very friendly and seemed to be having a good time working there. Although, I did feel quite sympathetic towards the bartender who was talking me through each of draught cocktail options – there were so many to choose from!
Apparently Salt will be regularly rotating the cocktails so there will be even more on offer in the future. Anyway, we got there in the end. There was a deal on: two draught cocktails for £12 - so naturally I ordered four to share between myself and my dinner companion.
We ordered the Strawberry and Rhubarb Cosmo, the Blood Orange Margarita, the Bramble Berry Gin and the Rum Punch. By all accounts, the Cosmo had a piquant edge with fruity fresh strawberry flavours – “simply delicious”. The Rum Punch made them feel like they were "in the Cayman Islands on a boat" which sounds like a delightful and imaginative experience.
I had the Blood Orange Margarita which was something really special, such a strong taste of tequila as well – Lawson and his team certainly didn’t skimp on the concoction (if I recall correctly, the cocktails have a 10 per cent ABV). The drink had an overwhelmingly rich citrus flavour - fantastic. The Bramble Berry Gin certainly lived up to its core ingredients. Very sweet drink. If you have a sweet tooth, I’d recommend it.
Right onto the food, for starters we each ordered a portion of buffalo chicken wings. The huge chunks of chicken wings came in really generous portion sizes, plus there were tastefully garnished with chillies, spring onions and sesame seeds.
My friend, who seems to love buffalo sauce with a passion, said they could tell the wings had been cooked and coated with hot sauce in the pan, giving the flavour some real depth, plus they picked up on notes of vinegar, so chilli flavour had a “triple punch”. The batter coating on the wings was so firm, it appeared it had been triple fried, giving them a really crispy texture.
These set up nicely for our main course – burgers. I ordered a simple Dinky Burger, featuring a single smashed patty.
The beef was so delicate and rich with flavour and a good helping of gherkins – like a posh McDonalds. I wish I had been more adventurous with choice, the don’ner burger had been really tempting. Nevertheless, my burger was sublime.
My friend had the buffalo chicken burger which I have to admit made me quite jealous and almost green with envy when I saw the whopping size of the chicken patty – which looked like almost a whole chicken breast covered in a crunchy buttermilk breading. Apparently, it was “packed full of flavour and buffalo sauce” – yeah, make sure not to choke on it! I really should have ordered that burger, it looked phenomenal.
I can’t fault Salt in any way. What a fantastic all-round experience. Buzzing atmosphere, friendly staff, great food and drink and happy customers. A good spot to stop off before hitting town.
The bill
- Strawberry and Rhubarb Cosmo, the Blood Orange Margarita, the Bramble Berry Gin and the Rum Punch - £24
- Buffalo chicken wings (x2) - £9.90 (£4.95 each)
- Dinky burger - £7.45
- Buffalo chicken burger - £10.45
- Total: £51.80
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