Dee Sargeant
Salt Yard has reached the grand old age of 20, which in London restaurant years is roughly equivalent to making the Ryder Cup team, winning it, captaining it, and still having enough energy left to open the bar afterwards.
For two decades, Salt Yard Group has held its nerve in a city where restaurants can disappear faster than a three-foot putt on Sunday afternoon. Since opening its original Fitzrovia restaurant in 2005, with Ben Tish leading the kitchen, the group has built a reputation for Spanish and Italian-inspired small plates, warm hospitality, and the sort of casual fine dining that does not require diners to arrive dressed like they are meeting a bank manager.
Now, to mark its 20th birthday, Salt Yard Group is staging a landmark chef collaboration series across its London restaurants, with exclusive menus, chef-in-residence evenings and a charitable addition to every bill in support of Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity.
Two Decades Of Small Plates And Big Staying Power
The London dining scene is not known for sentimentality. It chews up concepts, redevelops neighbourhoods, changes tastes overnight, and rarely pauses to hand out medals for longevity.
Salt Yard, though, has endured by doing something deceptively difficult: staying recognisable while continuing to evolve.
Its formula has always been clear enough. Produce-led dishes. Mediterranean influence. Relaxed service. Small plates built for sharing rather than showing off. The sort of food that encourages elbows on tables, second glasses, and the dangerous phrase: “Should we just order a few more?”
From the original Fitzrovia opening, Salt Yard Group has grown into five distinctive venues, each with its own character but tied together by the same Spanish and Italian thread. Key moments along the way include joining Urban Pubs & Bars in 2018, welcoming Opera Tavern that same year, and expanding further with Salt Yard Borough in 2022.
Today, the group is led by Dan Henry, ex-co-founder of 12:51 by Chef James Cochran, alongside Executive Chef Łukasz Kielbasiński, who continues to guide its culinary direction.
A Chef Series With Serious London Credentials
For its anniversary, Salt Yard Group has partnered with Estrella Damm on a special chef series programmed by Lee Westcott.
That is a strong name to have on the team sheet. Westcott’s career has taken him through kitchens connected with the Galvin brothers, Tom Aikens, Noma and Jason Atherton. He rose to prominence at The Typing Room, later earned a Michelin star at Pensons, and most recently led the food at Birch Hotel.
Across five weeks in May and June, five guest chefs will take over a different Salt Yard Group restaurant, each creating three limited-time dishes. Once a week, diners will also get an exclusive chef-in-residence evening, with the guest chef present in the kitchen and on the floor for a more informal meet-and-greet.
It is less red carpet, more “pull up a chair and let’s talk about the sauce,” which is exactly how these things should be.
Patrick Powell Opens At Salt Yard Borough
The series begins with Patrick Powell from 18th May to 24th May at Salt Yard Borough, with Lee Westcott appearing as chef in residence on 22nd May.
Originally from County Mayo, Powell has built a CV that knows its way around the pass, with stops in Dublin, Melbourne and London, including Chiltern Firehouse and Wild Honey. He is also the chef behind Allegra and The Midland Grand Dining Room.
His menu has proper punch without waving a flag about it:
- Iberico Pork Schnitzel, Pickled Chilli, Gordal Olive & Anchovy
- Mussel Escabeche, Grilled Bread & Aioli
- Grilled English Asparagus, Sunflower Seed Romesco & Manchego
There is a tidy Salt Yard logic here: crisp pork, briny lift, grilled bread, aioli, asparagus, romesco, Manchego. It sounds like a table that starts politely and ends with people negotiating over the last forkful.
Seamus Sam Brings Bold Seasonal Cooking To Dehesa
From 25th May to 31st May, Seamus Sam takes over Dehesa, with his chef-in-residence evening scheduled for 29th May.
Currently leading Evelyn’s Table in Soho, Sam draws on his Irish-Malaysian heritage and experience at The Clove Club, Restaurant Story and Muse. That gives this part of the Salt Yard series a slightly different rhythm: seasonal, confident, and not afraid of a sharp turn.
His dishes are:
- Iberico Presa, Sweetcorn, Borlotti Beans & Turnip
- Hay Smoked Trout, Grilled Courgettes, Confit Fennel & Datterini Tomato Sauce
- Grilled Baby Aubergine, Red Pepper & Pimento Glaze, Rosemary Brown Butter
There is smoke, sweetness, fat, acidity and enough texture in there to keep a table happily occupied. The trout alone sounds like it has been given a proper talking-to.
Georgina Hayden Takes Mediterranean Roots To Fitzrovia
Salt Yard Fitzrovia, where the story first began, hosts Georgina Hayden from 1st June to 7th June. Her chef-in-residence evening takes place on 2nd June.
Hayden, an award-winning food writer and bestselling cookbook author, brings Greek Cypriot heritage and Mediterranean influence to the menu. Her dishes also showcase recipes from her new book, MEDesque: Everyday Recipes with Mediterranean Roots.
The menu reads:
- Steak & Herby Gilda Butter
- Baked Cod, Fennel, Olives & Couscous
- Seadas Saganaki: Cheese & Honey Pastry Triangles
This is the part of the celebration where Salt Yard’s Mediterranean heart beats loudest. Fennel, olives, couscous, cheese, honey, pastry — not so much a menu as a reminder that sunshine can be edible if handled properly.
Neil Rankin Brings Fire To Ember Yard
From 8th June to 14th June, Neil Rankin arrives at Ember Yard, with his chef-in-residence evening on 12th June.
Rankin has long been one of the UK’s most influential figures in fire-based cooking, with a reputation for BBQ, smoke, sustainability and creative restaurant thinking. If there is a chef in this line-up who understands how heat changes flavour, mood and room temperature, it is him.
His dishes are:
- Coal Roasted Beet Mole, Mojo Verde, Brick Chicken Thigh & Papas Arrugadas
- Cornish Crab, Fennel & Pork Skin
- Fire Roasted Cabbage, Cucumber Salsa & Symplicity Cumin Mince
At Ember Yard, that makes complete sense. Fire is not being used as a trick here; it is part of the restaurant’s grammar. Cabbage, chicken, crab and mole all get a little theatre without the sort of smoke-machine nonsense that makes dinner feel like a nightclub evacuation.
Ixta Belfrage Closes The Series At Opera Tavern
The final chapter belongs to Ixta Belfrage, who takes over Opera Tavern in Covent Garden from 15th June to 21st June. Her chef-in-residence evening is set for 17th June.
Known for vibrant, globally inspired cooking, Belfrage is the bestselling author of FUSÃO and MEZCLA, and a former Ottolenghi Test Kitchen collaborator. Her food tends to travel well on the plate: bold, layered, colourful and properly alive.
Her dishes are:
- Spiced Lamb Meatballs, Cherry & Hazelnut Salsa, Ginger Tahini
- Tuna Tartare, Charred Red Pepper Salsa & Curried Fried Potatoes
- Golden Saffron Frittata, Sweet & Sour Onions, Jalapeño & Apple Salad
It is a lively finish to the Salt Yard 20th birthday series. Lamb with cherry and hazelnut. Tuna with curried fried potatoes. Frittata with saffron, jalapeño and apple. If that does not wake up a dining room, check the pulse.
A Birthday With A Charitable Purpose
Beyond the plates, Salt Yard Group is adding £1 to every bill during its 20-year celebrations in support of Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity.
The contribution will support the creation of a bedroom in the new Children’s Cancer Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital. It is a thoughtful move: not loud, not self-congratulatory, but meaningful.
Restaurants trade in moments. Birthdays, reunions, dates, deals, awkward family lunches and brilliant nights that start with “just one drink”. To use that machinery of hospitality to help fund care for children gives the anniversary a little more weight than candles on a pudding.
Why Salt Yard Still Matters In London
Salt Yard’s 20th anniversary is not simply a birthday dinner stretched across five weeks. It is a reminder that London restaurants survive by doing the basics beautifully and adapting before the room gets bored.
The group has always occupied that useful space between polished and relaxed. Smart enough for an occasion, easy enough for a Tuesday. Food with technique, but not the sort that arrives with a lecture and three tweezers.
This chef series understands that balance. It brings in serious culinary names, but the format remains accessible: three guest dishes, limited-time menus, chef evenings, familiar venues, and the sense that collaboration is the point rather than spectacle.
At 20, Salt Yard looks less like a restaurant group trying to relive old glories and more like one that still knows where the appetite is.
London has no shortage of places to eat. It has rather fewer that manage to feel established without going stiff at the knees. Salt Yard has reached its milestone by keeping the table lively, the plates generous in spirit, and the hospitality nicely unforced.
Twenty years in, that is not just worth celebrating. It is worth booking.
