Contemporary Fine Dining

Salt Restaurant opened late last year and I'd read good reviews about it.

But I didn't get to try the restaurant until tonight and it's definitely a place to either impress people or a reasonably-priced dining establishment for a moderate splash out on the wallet.

It's located behind the Holiday Inn Lido, diagonally across from the Rosedale Hotel.

And we were impressed to see practically all of Beijing's most beautiful people all converging at this restaurant; almost every table featured a very handsome man, or attractive woman. So this is where all the cool people eat.

The restaurant has a minimalist decor with a gray colour scheme. While that's fine, the interior still feels a bit cold and needs a few paintings on the wall, or at least something dramatic as a focal point.

But perhaps the restaurant wanted to put the focus on the open kitchen, where staff where uniforms topped with orange scarves on their heads.

The menu is decidedly Western and great for those craving good fine dining but at decent prices.

Diners can either choose from a two course meal for 168RMB ($24.63), or three for 188RMB ($27.57). We chose the latter. And we weren't disappointed.

I had the rare tuna salad, which featured thin slices of tuna crusted with black pepper, and accompanied by greens. My friend had the roasted leek foam, a thick soup that was creamy and delicious.

For mains the seabass was just a tad overcooked, but still very good, accompanied by roasted new potatoes, white and green asparagus and finely diced mango.

The sirloin steak almost melted in the mouth and was also great with the mashed potatoes and roasted tomatoes.

And finally for dessert, I had the dark chocolate cube with raspberry filling. Except it wasn't a cube, but really a cylinder of think chocolate with dark chocolate mousse inside, topped with a raspberry sauce.

My friend had the to-die-for molten chocolate cake, the dark chocolate oozing out of it.

We also had fantastic drinks -- Lemongrass Tom Collins, which is lemongrass-infused gin with lemon and lime. Very refreshing and you hardly notice the gin!

The dishes were all artfully presented and overall service was attentive and easy to flag down.

The dinner for two, along with a glass of white wine came to 517RMB ($75.81).

Salt
2/F, Trio Building
9 Jiangtai Xilu
6437 8457