Tiny Urban Kitchen

Exploring Food from Boston to Hong Kong and Beyond

  • About Me
  • Travel
  • Recipes
  • Michelin
  • Subscribe
  • Taiwanese
menu icon
go to homepage
  • About Me
  • Travel
  • Recipes
  • Michelin
  • Subscribe
  • Taiwanese
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • About Me
    • Travel
    • Recipes
    • Michelin
    • Subscribe
    • Taiwanese
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ×
    • Godenya Hong Kong
      Godenya Hong Kong (revisited)
    • The Chairman Hong Kong
      The Chairman Hong Kong (1 Michelin Star)
    • Hanu Wan Chai Hong Kong
      Hanu (Korean Beef) Wan Chai
    • Always Joy Hong Kong
      Always Joy Hong Kong
    • Michael Chiarelli Ottimo Yountville California
      Bottega + Ottimo Yountville
    • Ciccio Yountville California
      Ciccio Yountville
    • Charter Oak St. Helena Napa Valley California
      Charter Oak St. Helena Napa Valley California
    • Cole’s Chop House Napa California
      Cole's Chop House Napa California
    • Compline Restaurant Napa California
      Compline Restaurant + Wine Shop Napa
    • Napa, California
      Thomas Keller's La Calenda: A Tribute {Now Closed}
    • Ad Hoc Thomas Keller Brunch Yountville California
      Thomas Keller Ad Hoc + Addendum + Bouchon Bakery
    • Mandalay San Francisco
      Mandalay San Francisco (Burmese Food)
    Home » US Travel » Boston » Cambridge » Central Square

    Salts

    Published: Jul 15, 2009 · Modified: Oct 9, 2023 by Jennifer Che

    Salts is a cozy little restaurant between Central and Harvard Square in Cambridge. It sits in a funny area near MIT surrounded by Royal East, Bertucci's, Craigie on Main, and Toscanini's. I had yet to try Salts since they came under new ownership about 5 years ago. The restaurant has been highly acclaimed locally, so we decided to try it out on Friday night. Surprisingly, it was easy to get a table at 7:45PM on Friday night. Is it the recession? Bottom line? The food is excellent, especially their signature dish, "duck for two," which is worthy of its accolades. The ambiance is cozy, warm, and relaxing. The waitstaff is very friendly and they really put you at ease. We had a very enjoyable time there.

    Amuse bouch - chilled tomato soup with crumbled eggs, fresh herbs, and croutons.

    This soup was a gift from the kitchen, and it was very good. The soup was clean, bright, and tasted like fresh tomatoes from the garden. The touch of cream or something cut out any acidity that may have been there. In all, the soup tasted light, bright, and simple. Very nice.

    "7 Minute" farm Egg with foraged mushroom escabeche, shaved asparagus, toasted hazelnuts, and Idiazabal cheese ($15).

    This appetizer was excellent, probably my favorite item of the entire evening. The slightly cooked egg yolk spread throughout the rest of the salad, covering the farm foraged mushrooms and everything else. The dish tasted rustic, flavorful, and very balanced. The cheese and the egg added a nice counterpoint to the mushrooms and asparagus. The toasted hazelnuts gave the salad a nice crunch, adding to the interesting and complex texture of the entire dish. Very enjoyable.

    Consomme with rabbit, raspberries, Salts farm borage flowers. I did not try this dish, but Bryan assures me that it was delicious

    Spiced breast of slow roasted Squab with grilled local strawberries, red ribbon sorrel, and long pepper custard ($17).

    I ordered the seared yellowfin tuna with roasted farm fresh vegetables in a creme-fraiche dill-cucumber sauce. This was probably the biggest disappointment of the evening for me. Although it was good, I thought that the fish was a little over-cooked (see how thick the cooked part of the fish is). The flavor of the fish, however, was fresh and balanced. Nevertheless, I was not wowed, and thought it was not worth the $34 price tag.

    The Signature Dish: Lavender honey glazed whole roasted boneless Duck for Two with spring onions, heirloom carrots, and petit farm turnips ($65).

    My friend, guest blogger Peter, has this to say about the duck:

    Salts is famous for its duck for two and that fame is well deserved. The bird is the size of a small turkey and can feed four comfortably. Do not be fooled by its conservative billing as a meal for two.

    The first thing that strikes you about the dish is the plumpness of the duck's breast which are literally fat enough to be carved like a turkey. The duck is prepared Thanksgiving dinner style with a simple bread stuffing surrounded by fresh vegetables. There are no fancy gravies, gastriques, gelees, or foams. The skin is broiled to a crisp and the meat is cooked to perfection. The breast meat is on par in tenderness with well-prepared confited dark meat.

    I enjoyed the dark meat the next day as a leftover meal and it was still super moist and delicious even after being microwaved. I have had my share of duck (as it is my favorite meat), but the duck at Salts has no parallel.

    I totally agree. This dish was incredible, and totally worthy of its reputation. The skin on the outside was crispy while the meat on the inside, even the breast meat, was incredible soft and juicy. It's highly recommended that you reserve the duck beforehand. They only have a limited number of ducks per day, and they usually sell out. We actually reserved ours about 20 minutes before heading out to the restaurant, and it turned out that we had gotten the last duck of the day!

    This is what the duck looked like after it was cut up and served to each individual.

     Peter also has this comment about the wine we had:

    We also had a chance to enjoy a bottle of Ojai Syrah Santa Barbara County 2006 (WS 87). I fell in love with the vineyard ever since I had a fantastic bottle of Ojai Pinot Noir Pisoni (WS 93) at Craftsteak New York. When I saw this reasonably-priced syrah, I jumped at the chance to try a different offering. It did not disappoint. While lacking in depth and complexity of its more expensive cousin, it was a still a very solid table wine. It had the spiciness that is characteristic of syrahs but it did not overwhelm. You can taste concentrated notes of blackberry and plum. Definitely a solid addition to the meal.

    Over all, this is definitely a great restaurant worthy of a visit. The desserts are supposedly really good, but we had no room after stuffing ourselves with the duck, and therefore passed. The duck is definitely worth trying. However, even if you forget to reserve it beforehand, the restaurant is still worth visiting because of all their other interesting and innovative dishes.

    Salts
    798 Main St
    Cambridge, MA 01239

    More Cambridge

    • Jen's Top Restaurants to visit in Boston - 2023 Update
    • Farewell Bergamot
    • Urban Hearth Cambridge - Cafe by day, Supper Club by night
    • (Partial) Solar Eclipse Fun! Solar Eclipse 2017

    Recent Posts

    • Godenya Hong Kong (revisited) June 12, 2025
    • The Chairman Hong Kong (1 Michelin Star) June 6, 2025
    • Hanu (Korean Beef) Wan Chai June 2, 2025
    • Always Joy Hong Kong May 29, 2025
    • Bottega + Ottimo Yountville May 14, 2025
    • Ciccio Yountville May 11, 2025
    • Charter Oak St. Helena Napa Valley California May 8, 2025
    • Cole's Chop House Napa California May 5, 2025
    Jennifer Che Tiny Urban Kitchen

    Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am an expat who moved from Boston to Hong Kong 5 years ago. Born and raised in Ohio to Taiwanese immigrant parents, I am a chemistry nerd, patent attorney by day, blogger by night, church musician on weekends, and food enthusiast always. Feel free to explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!

    More about me →

    logo
    Food Advertisements by

    Explore

    • Recipe
    • Restaurant
    • US Travel
    • World Travel

    Popular Posts

    • Boulettes Larder Ferry Building San Francisco
      Boulette Larder (Ferry Building) San Francisco
    • Bodega SF California (Vietnamese)
      Bodega SF (Modern Vietnamese)
    • Tselog Daly City California
      Tselogs (Filipino food) Daly City California
    • Mesa by José Avillez Macau
      Mesa by José Avillez Macau

    Recipes

    • Appetizer
    • Snacks
    • Meat
    • Vegetables
    • Soup
    • Salad
    • Seafood
    • Noodles

    Recently Traveled

    • Hong Kong
    • France
    • Belgium
    • Boston
    • California
    • United Kingdom
    • Germany
    • Spain

    Support Us

    Support Tiny Urban Kitchen by making purchases on Amazon through our affiliate link:

    Recognition


    Featured on the front page
    of the FOOD Section: 2015

    Best Food Blog Awards:
    Restaurant & Dining 2012

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About Me
    • My Equipment
    • In the Press
    • Project Food Blog
    • Privacy Policy

    Eating Guides!

    Eating & Travel Guides
    Trip Reports
    "Kawaii" (Cute Foods)
    Around the World

    • Pinterest
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube
    • Mail
    • RSS Feed

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Shop at Amazon

    Copyright © 2024 Tiny Urban Kitchen