Last week I was invited to pass by the new seafood restaurant at the Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel called Salt. I personally think the hotel is the nicest one we have in Kuwait right now so I was pretty interested to try this new place out. One thing I really hate about the hotel though is you’ve got two options for parking, either (a) you give your car to valet or (b) you park in the sand lot across the street. Since I don’t trust valets with my car I have to use the sand lot and it’s never a great start to dinner when you have to spend the first few minutes cleaning the dust off my new fancy sneakers.
If you’ve been to Messilah before then you probably know that most of their restaurants are located in the lower level of the main lobby. Salt is located there as well and they’ve taken up the whole left side area. Once we walked into the restaurant we could immediately tell that they wanted to be the most luxurious seafood restaurant in Kuwait and at the moment they probably are. The restaurant is long and not very wide with two kinds of seating areas, on one side they have curved couches going along the wall and it’s nicely lit. On the opposite side is a much brighter open floor layout with beautiful chandeliers. So far the experience was very fancy until the menu arrived and I opened it up to reveal bright yellow text on a dark blue background which looked really tacky layout (take a look). If I could change one thing in the place it would have to be the menu thats for sure.
Because this is a high end restaurant, everything has to be top notch especially the service which in this specific case I found difficult to judge for a number of reasons. First is the fact I was invited and so they knew who I was, and secondly they had barely been open for a week. Still, if I did compare it to other hotels and restaurants in Kuwait I would say the service was in the top 10 but not top 5. In other restaurants where the service is in the top 5, the staff have been working there long enough to see me grow old while Salt has just opened.
Since we were two we ended up ordering the following items from the menu:
Acqua Morelli Sparking Water (x2) KD7.000
Baked Chermoula Prawns KD7.500
Pan Fried Scallops KD7.250
Lobster Bisque (x2) KD9.500
Whole Lobster (Medium) KD28.000
Whole Sea Bass KD15.000
Pearl of the Ocean drink KD3.350
Messilah Journey (mixed dessert) KD5.750
From the two starters we ordered I was expecting the Baked Chermoula Prawns to be my favorite since it was prawns stuffed with scallops. But to my surprise I ended up preferring the Pan Fried Scallops instead. That’s because the scallops dish had so many different flavors from the scallops itself to the stuffed calamari, squid ink risotto and even the puree which were all delicious. Once we were done with the starters they brought over a soup plate which large chunks of lobster inside but no soup. I started thinking to myself maybe this was their interpretation of the lobster bisque? Just as I was thinking that the waiter came over and started pouring the soup over my large lobster chunks. Presentation was an easy 10/10 and from everything we ordered I would also have to say the Lobster Bisque was by far my favorite dish.
The main courses were served once we were done with everything else and this is where I think we could have ordered differently. We had their two specials, the Whole Lobster and the Whole Sea Bass. In hindsight I don’t think we should have ordered the lobster since it was the safest option on the menu and probably the least exciting dish. It was cooked perfectly and the presentation was fantastic but there really wasn’t anything to make it stick out from fresh lobster dishes anywhere else. The Whole Sea Bass on the other hand was the one that I thought had a lot of potential but ended up being the most disappointing. The sea bass is cooked in a salt dough and they bring it over to your table still in the dough which looks like a piece of bread in the shape of the sea bass. They then cut open the dough to reveal your juicy fish before the waiter debones it for you. The presentation again was an easy 10/10 but I think my issue with this dish was the lobster tarragon sauce on the side. I think the sauce overpowered the flavor of the fish and I didn’t like the sauce much but since I had already poured it all over the fish it was too late.
I really like the hotel and Salt has the potential to be a great seafood place. Personally I wouldn’t pay KD3.500 for water or KD28 for a lobster but I would definitely go back for their lobster bisque. Nearly all their main seafood dishes cost under KD10 which is very reasonable and looking back at the menu now there are a couple of dishes I would want to go back and try. But, I would do two things differently the next time around. First I’d sit in the dimmer lit areas off to the side which actually look a lot more comfortable, and secondly I’ll make sure to drink a lot of water ahead of time. The opening times of Salt are 7PM to midnight and for reservations you can call them on 22269666.
45 replies on “Salt Seafood Restaurant at the Messilah Beach Hotel”
This place is beyond stupid. Insane prices, tiny portions, and mostly tasteless food. Nokhaza will blow it out of the water (no pun intended).
Seriously, how can they price things like that? How?!?!
Agree! Why would people dish out so much money just for some fancy looking atmosphere – it baffles me. Sounds like a complete ripoff (especially the water).
There are many other good seafood options in Kuwait where you get pretty decent seafood at a decent price.
Because they can afford it maybe? It isn’t that baffling.
Almost anyone can afford paying KD 3.5 for water, but most people would not. Your reasoning is stupid.
What’s with your aggression? Meh has a point.
Some people enjoy going to a fancy restaurant to have a nice experience. It really doesn’t take much to figure that out. You wouldn’t spend that much, which is your decision and good on you. Others would, and they enjoy these fancy restaurants. Who are you to judge?
They are missing a lot of the “experience” part without a bottle of wine.
Whatever you want to think of me is fine, it still doesn’t change the fact that you were being aggressive because someone disagreed with you.
no
By your not stupid reasoning, people should not travel business/first class, buy expensive cars, buy high end products. They can just travel economy, buy a Kia, and use a 20KD Nokia.
Kia is a good car 😀
patrick – sumsang called your reasoning stupid. that’s not the same as calling YOU stupid and it wasn’t aggrerssive
But that’s always been the difference between high end restaurants, fast food joints, hole in the walls, casual diners etc.. You have differences in service, ingredient quality, preparation etc. it’s like saying why would anyone go to Asha for Indian food when you can have it for a lot cheap anywhere else. And then you look at asha on a weekend and there is a waiting list.
Mark, I completely agree with that statement. However, this is not a high end restaurant. Its ever so slightly fancier than Nokhaza, which is about 1/10th the price.
It seems that they are just trying to put themselves in the category of Michelin star restaurants by upping the prices. That’s all they are doing really.
Out of curiosity, how have you concluded they are not a high end restaurant? jumeirah first of all is a lot more fancier than crown plaza to start with and secondly I never considered noukhaza or any of their restaurants as fancy. Fancy restaurants usually don’t have eat all you can eat buffets or happy hours. I also don’t recall seeing any dish at noukhaza which costs KD1 or under KD5 for that matter so your 1/10th of the price is off. Main dishes at Salt cost on average around 8 or 9kd which when compared to the not very fancy fish market restaurant near my home which I think is over priced, salt seems like a bargain.
I didn’t say Nokhaza is high end. I don’t know Fish Market, nor do I know their prices. The 28KD lobster, and 3.5KD bottle of water and 5KD lobster bisque are insanely priced. You get lobster and lobster bisque as part of the buffet in Nokhaza, and their lobster bisque is to die for.
You can also get lobster at red lobster for cheaper and bisque as well. But if you read my post you would know the KD28 lobster I wrote about is a whole live lobster which sells starting at around KD18 at sultan center and more at the fish market next to kuwait towers.
This place is beyond stupid. Insane prices, tiny portions, and mostly tasteless food. Nokhaza will blow it out of the water (no pun intended).
Seriously, how can they price things like that? How?!?!
You’re not even Kuwaiti… lol
Aren’t you Saudi?
With 80 KD I’d rather book a ticket to Beirut.. Nothing that this restaurant would offer could be better than one cold Almaza with a handful of nuts 😉
How about the sparkling water for 3.5KD a pop? was it worth the price?
I would not mind going there and spending 50+ KD if it were a special occassion; like to remember the day I shot my self in the foot and sold my self in to slavery.. aka my wedding anniversary. Or the happiest day of my life aka my mother in laws death anniversary 🙂
Sorry Kate… You know I love you ..lol 🙂
thumbs up times 10
i went to the restaurant oppisite called “pepper” i paid nearly 50kd for 2 and i wasnt filled up, super tiny portions
so i had 2 shawarmas on the way back home
I traditionally have McDonald’s after Michelin star dinners. No joke.
The hotel is a logistical nightmare – especially on the weekends.
Sorry, Mark, but did you really wear (upscale or not) athletic shoes to a restaurant like that? Assez inapproprie, non?
I’m not into this nouveau-Kuwaiti-cuisine these days. It looks like a pretty (poser) restaurant, but I don’t care where it is – I’m not paying those types of prices in Kuwait until I can have a (legal) bottle of wine with it. Just not worth it (to pay for someone else’s rent/re-design).
Luckily, there is a Burger King right beside the hotel…. For what you paid (as an individual diner) at Salt, you could have fed yourself and 3-4 friends at Zaphere or Housney (Salmiya).
Just wondering, but paid advertisement by any chance?
Not sure why you think sneakers are inappropriate unless you’re the kind of person who dresses up to have dinner.
And no I wasn’t paid for my post and the fact you even brought that up after reading my post makes me assume u didn’t read my post, unless you think I got paid by salt to criticize them?
Maybe you should stick to your racists a comments instead?
I shamefully admit to reading her blog daily – i find her pretentiousness quite amusing – totally willing to bet that when she types, she hears Sarah Jessica Parker’s voice in her head (and that ain’t right)
Also:
“Assez inapproprie, non?”
“nouveau-Kuwaiti-cuisine”??
I want to unlearn French…NOW! She killed it 🙁
The bottom line is if you’re cheap/can’t afford it or whatever you call yourself, eat shawarma and stop complaining.
If people don’t want to pay these types of prices, don’t eat at such establishments. Simple as that. Luckily kuwait caters for all budgets.
However, Mark, I’d agree with Desert Girl about the sneakers…In the West, people generally do dress up (or at least avoid sneakers) when going out for dinner, especially to fancy eateries at fancy hotels.
You’re exactly right.. Especially on the third point 🙂
So Desert Girl was so emotional that she actually had to write a full page about you Mark. I’ve been reading your blog for years and just today I really had to write something.
Mocking what you wore? really? I really would like to see her sense of style. Since when people had to actually dress up to go to a high-end restaurant here? people in Kuwait wear whatever they want, whenever they want. I mean, people fully dress-up to go shopping so why can’t he wear his stunning sneakers whenever he feels like it? don’t get me wrong, I love your sneakers Mark but I can’t believe that she is acting all classy and then ahh she writes all this BS.
“to pay for someone else’s rent/re-design” Pardon my french but COME ON, you do know what high-end restaurants are right? I really can’t believe that you would actually write this? were you drinking your “legal” bottle of wine writing this comment?
“Zaphere or Housney (Salmiya)” This line made everything so clear! as someone who actually compares these PLACES to SALT then I truly understand where your comment came from.
and regarding your “paid advertisement” comment, please learn how to read before insulting people:)
Ps. you better not delete my comment Mark:P
She dishes out judgement, but can’t handle being criticized herself…then she goes and makes a martyr of herself on her own blog…
how rude right?
absolutely!
That’s a very self centered blog. Very 2000s.
Why are you called Desert Girl? This is offensive. Kuwait has always been a city-state, not a desert.
City-State.
Kuwait was a port city, Kuwait’s orientation has always been toward the sea (NOT the desert).
https://books.google.com/books?id=ncfIAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq
Guys,
If you don’t want to eat there, you don’t have to.
No need for everyone to be such little bitches (DG/sumsang)
Come on Desert Girl he did say he was invited and also he did say they were fancy and upscale sneakers. Now a days those kinda sneakers are a part of every trendy upscale ensemble that men wear today. Take a look at most Hollywood and Pop stars .. Fancy threads accompanied by outrageous snickers made by Nike, Reebok,Puma or by somebody else. I am neither but I wore dusty gold and black Puma sneakers with straight trousers ,T-shirt and an evening Jacket to my daughter’s father and daughter dance and I was one of the hippest old men there. My daughter said I looked much better than the other dads who came in with the usual 3 peice suits, jackets and ties. What I want to know is was Mark’s dinner companion Wonder Woman by any chance?? The lady in pic 4 ( I am assuming its a lady) had the same star logo like Captain America has on his sheild. If so Damnnn Mark you are one lucky SOB 🙂 Forget 80 KD I would give my eye teeth to have dinner with Wonder Woman.
Hahahahahahaha you got me :p
Seafood should be picked up fresh from the fish market cooked and eaten at home,never had a decent seafood meal in tens of restaurants around the globe ,filtered tap water goes well with it.
A bit late for April Fools Mark.
Hey Ali, What about Fish that you pick out of a tank have it cleant and cooked in front of you and you wash it down with a cold beer… does that work?? I have had that like that in Vietnam, Shanghai, Bangkok and in small village in the south of India. The closest I came to that experience was at the Fish Market Restaurant on Gulf road here in Kuwait. I say closest because the difference here in Kuwait was the Fish were on Ice, The beer was Non alcholic and it was not cooked in front of me.. still tasted fine though
😉
@Security Adviser : I know what you mean. I’ve had fresh tiger prawns and shellfish direct from net to pan to my plate and it was awesome (Fort Kochin, Kerala). Wish we had some places like that in Kuwait.
Nice to see something truly upscale (in terms of tourism) open in Kuwait and I can’t wait to try the restaurant(s) and other facilities.
As for the prices, it’s the experience you pay for. But no detail can be overlooked to justify the cost and it doesn’t sound like Salt is quite there yet. And yeah, their menu is painful.
Flavours are ok, Portions are small, prices as espected, fancy place, nice experience, can afford it? just do it. enjoy life as it comes, have money? expend, dont? go to macdonalds.