Salt Beef Bar

I met Roxanne in Golders Green one weekend and we spent the day exploring the Jewish bakeries and shops along Golders Green Road and Finchley Road. My particular favourites were the Kosher Kingdom supermarket (where I stocked up on hummus and uh…pickle relish) and Carmelli Bakery where I bought a fantastic chocolate yeast bread to take home to Blai. It wasn’t all about buying groceries though – when we meet, we also dine and this time, we were going to sit down to lunch. Roxanne had done her salt beef research beforehand and from her list, we selected the closest to us – Salt Beef Bar on Finchley Road.

We didn’t refer much to the menu, preferring to look at what was available in their counter and, of course, ordering their namesake sandwich. Our chopped liver sandwich (£3.90) was rich and unctuous and pretty darn tasty. I enjoyed the caraway seeds in the sandwich bread.

A side of pickle was necessary to cut the richness of the chopped liver. These had a good sweet-sour flavour and a good crunch too.

The salt beef sandwich (£5.80) was very good – all soft slices of salt beef and optional nasal-clearing mustard and again, that caraway seed bread. Again, I’d recommend a pickle alongside.

To eat with our sandwiches, fantastically hot, fat, and crispy potato latkes…

…and cold, fried gefilte fish. The fish was fine but I can never get over the fact that it’s cold and I would choose the latke over it any day. Big fan of latkes, I am, and this was the fattest variant I’ve seen.

We were the only customers there for a while as a downpour started just when we sat down. The old couple who ran the place were a hoot while we were there, cracking jokes and revealing that they’d been together for 40 years before finally settling down to a meal of omelettes and chips! After the rain, there was a steady stream of customers coming in to buy sliced salt beef by the kilo, always a good sign. Others came in just for a salt beef sandwich. Whatever you’re ordering, the tiny place is absolutely charming and well worth a trip!

Salt Beef Bar
2 Finchley Rd
Monkville Parade
Golders Green
London NW11 0AL

 

Salt Beef at Selfridges

Last weekend, I had to go to Oxford Street to pick up a new toy (an Asus EEE – perfect for blogging on the go) and decided to combine the short trip with lunch. I took the chance to drop into Selfridges and try their classic salt beef sandwich with mustard on rye bread (£6.50).

The beef was extremely tender. No, tender isn’t the right word for it; the meat was extremely soft and required almost no chewing at all. The meat disintegrates on the tongue and you can feel the muscle fibres separating in your mouth. Is this what salt beef is supposed to be like? Anyone reading this with great salt beef experience? I expected something with a bit more of a bite and with a more beefy flavour, if that’s possible. The flavour was quite mild and well, it was a bit difficult to link this soft sponge to the meat that you find in a juicy beefsteak. The mustard on top, which was like a mild English mustard, gave enough of a bite that went well with the soft beef.

The rye bread had caraway seeds scattered throughout and was thinly sliced. It was soft and perhaps a thicker slice would have been more appropriate here. The proferred gherkin costs extra (50p) – but I didn’t know this until after I’d agreed and it was on my plate. The sign for this is on the other side from where you order your salt beef sandwich.

I had this all with a Coke and the total came to £8.10. Not too bad for what felt was a filling lunch at Selfridges but not ok for everyday. I liked my sandwich but I’m not sure it’s my kind of thing. I’m a little jaded by sandwiches in general and only very spectacular ones (like bánh mì!) get me excited – perhaps I should try their pastrami next time. Or does anyone have another recommendation in London? Like the salt beef beigel at the Brick Lane Beigel Bake?

The Brass Rail – Salt Beef Bar
Selfridges
400 Oxford St
London W1A 1AB