Salvatores is a new addition to the Headingly restaurant scene, located just 2 doors down from Salvo’s, and offering a range of draft craft beers, wines, and cocktails. They also have a unique international street food menu, which is what I was really keen to try.
The venue is open from 4pm Wednesday through Sunday, so my partner and I walked down to Salvatores on Wednesday evening to try out the food and get a feel for the space. We were the only customers when we arrived. This is usually a red flag for me. But the bar and waiting staff were really friendly and it made us feel like we were in our own private space, rather than in an empty restaurant. The décor and music in the space were also really well thought through and that helped us feel comfortable.
There weren’t any menus on the tables, but instead, we had to look over the food and drinks menus via a QR code. This wasn’t an issue for us, but it may act as a barrier for some diners. We were pretty hungry on arrival, so we didn’t hang around with ordering our food. The menu wasn’t huge, but there was a nice range of options which felt like they had been carefully thought through.
We opted for five small plates, which we were told by our waiter should be a good amount to satisfy two hungry diners.
We ordered two ‘KFC’’s. These were mini-fried chicken burgers which came with slices of cucumber, peppers, and spring onions. They were supposed to come with spicy gochujang sauce, but as we aren’t big fans of spice, we asked for this to be on the side. Although the chicken was slightly on the dry side, the coating on the chicken was super crispy so it was forgiven, and overall, the chicken got a big tick from me. The brioche buns were tasty, but we both thought that the dish could have done with an additional creamy sauce to cut through the spice of the gochujang.
We also opted for a plate of Duckplings AKA steamed gyoza style dumplings filled with fragrant duck and topped with a ‘Nduja and orange glaze. These were incredible. Neither of us had ever had the flavour combination in a gyoza style dish, and we both loved it. We were amazed by the layers of flavour that came through and were intrigued by how well the ‘Nduja, orange and duck worked together. We were tempted to order another round of these, but in the end we both agreed that we would have to come back to Salvatore’s to enjoy these duckplings again.
The third dish we opted for was the Bolognese ragu arancini. I enjoyed these a lot. The breaded outside was perfectly crispy and the interior was soft and oozy. I liked the rich meaty flavour with the combination of the cheese. It reminded me of a homely pasta bolognese. My boyfriend was less of a fan of the arancini, but that was mostly because he doesn’t like cheese, which was a distinct flavour in this dish.
Both so that we had a vegetable with our meal, and because we found a love for them whilst on holiday recently, the last dish that we ordered was a plate of Padron peppers. As we’d hoped, these were nicely charred and generously sprinkled with sea salt. As well as being super tasty, they made an ideal vegetable addition to the other plates.
Overall, we had a really good evening meal at Salvatores. We were impressed by the venue and loved the décor and music vibe. The seating arrangement was good – with lots of options for parties of different sizes. We didn’t try any of their alcoholic drinks, but there were loads of options and other diners looked to be enjoying their beverages. The food was epic. We both enjoyed every plate and agreed that the duckplings were stand out and a dish that we would remember for a long time. We are already looking forward to another visit to Salvatores, where you’ll find friendly and efficient staff, a welcoming space and food to keep returning for.
