Everything served in the restaurant is made on-site; the dry-aged meats, the charcuterie, even the sourdough bread and the butter served with it. The expert team at Salazón produces vinegars, tomato sauces and relishes, chili sauces, ice cream and pastries.
Executive Chef Paul Lewis plans his menu well ahead with the dry-aging and pickling processes being different in length and process for cold cuts through to duck, fish, pigeon, chicken, pork and beef.
Spanish mackerel is dry-aged for 9 days, with a subtle and delicious result lacking any strong fishy flavor. Favorite dishes include the Chopped Tuna – dry-aged loin, cheek and belly, which are then smoked and served with tattie scone and sea urchin; dry-aged Beef Tartare – 4 different cuts of beef, infused with cured beef fat, salt, pepper, chives and then served with eggplant crème, pickles and seaweed crackers; the Chorizo Sanga – 30-day dry-aged chorizo, brioche, homemade tomato sauce and fennel relish; or the ever-popular suckling pig. Everything from starters through to desserts can be shared or enjoyed solo.
All produce, apart from the beef, is locally sourced, including local lamb. For the pork, Chef Paul has established a relationship with an organic pork producer in Bedugul and a seafood suppliers, who contact him directly about what fresh seafood they get in on any given day.
“My heritage is Scottish but I am a second generation Australian and it is the long tradition of dry-aging, smoking and grilling in these countries that has inspired Salazón,” said Executive Chef Paul Lewis.
“When people think wood-fire, they tend to think of pizza, but we take the process to the next level making it intrinsic to almost everything in the restaurant– even our cocktails have smoky tones. For me it’s pure, old-school cooking without modern equipment, using traditional aging, smoking and pickling processes. It’s back to basics, like my grandmother would have done.”
Designed by Ushers by Design, the interiors are spellbinding. The restaurant is a large, long space so the design deliberately creates an amazing vista for guests as they walk in. The eye is drawn to the far reaches of the space across teak and ceramic tiled floors, where the wine and dry-aging rooms are located, generating a definite sense of intrigue as guests cross the threshold.
