The Salt Room has been a permanent fixture on Brighton seafront for two years now. It’s a successful second endeavour from the team behind The Coal Shed, highly esteemed steak restaurant on Boyce’s St. Unlike its sister restaurant, The Salt Room has a heavy focus on seafood, so their take on afternoon tea was bound to be a unique one. We stopped by yesterday afternoon to give it a try, here’s what went down.

Upon entering the restaurant we were greeted by a delightfully sunny member of the front of house staff who checked our coats, told us how amazing everybody thinks the afternoon tea is and led us to our table (naturally lit with a sea view, an Instagrammer’s wet dream). A waiter soon appeared to offer us water, then let us get settled before returning to explain how the menu works. You can find a copy of the menu here. Essentially, the only two choices you’re making is which of the savoury options to omit (there are 5 and you’re allotted 4 – this is a choice you have to make collectively between the two of you) and what you’d like to drink. The price per head is based on said drink decision, Tom went for the champagne (£34.95) and I opted for G&T (£29.95).

It’s quite something, isn’t it. People were literally staring as it made our way over to us, and I don’t blame them one bit. The waitress who brought it to our table recommended that we start from the bottom and work our way up, and helpfully pointed out which items were hot so that we didn’t leave them ’til last and let them get cold. So, shall we start with the savoury..

Top left is my favourite of the whole three tiered masterpiece, the truffled grilled cheese. So crispy, so flavoursome, so oozing with gorgeous cheese. We both took our first bite and just looked at each other in disbelief, it’s that good. Top right is the salmon & squid ink bun, the salmon was perfect and the salad leaves added a welcome crunch, but I find squid ink buns – while aesthetically stunning – to be a little cakey for my liking. That said, I do think it’s worth it to have something so visually striking on the plate. Bottom left is the crab scotch egg, well seasoned crab meat (the classic for crab ginger and chilli, if I’m not mistaken, and just enough of each) encasing a yolk-porn-worthy egg. Bottom right, last and most unusual of the four, aged beef tartare & egg yolk jam sandwich. A little messy to eat, the tartare spilled out of the pastry with each crunch, but it tasted so good that it was worth each undignified scoop off the plate with a teaspoon to make sure I didn’t miss any.

Next up, two miniature scones served with clotted cream and strawberry elderflower jam, neither portions are stingy. The scones were baked well and the elderflower in the jam was subtle but detectable.

Top left, orange & yuzu posset. I had no idea what yuzu was until I Googled it just now, but by the looks of things it’s a Korean lemon. Good to know. The posset was lush, a wonderful custard consistency, served in an edible meringue bowl. Top right, pistachio and raspberry battenberg. I must admit, I didn’t get a hint of pistachio, but it’s possible that it was masked by the level of sweetness you’d expect from battenburg. Bottom left are chocolate pebbles, presumably a clever nod to Brighton seafront, very pretty on the outside and the smoothest most luxurious chocolate ganache lies within, these are a real winner. Bottom right, rhubarb and custard macarons, the most delicate, dainty and delicious of mouthfuls, although admittedly we were more excited about the dehydrated and/or caramelised strips of rhubarb that decorated them.

Last but most certainly not least, we devoured the candy floss that topped the three tiers.

I cannot recommend this experience enough. The quality of service, surroundings, and most importantly, food, are more than worth the price tag. Get yourself down there, dare I suggest, for Mother’s Day.

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I was invited to review this experience free of charge (I know, please don’t hate me, I’m the luckiest girl in the world) but all thoughts on it are of course, as always, my own.