Salt House (소금집): A Ritual of Salt and Time
Located roughly between Changdeok Palace and Gyeongbok Palace, two of the most famous palaces in Seoul, you will find a genuine deli and boutique dedicated to the art of curing and aging meats. At Salt House, the most important ingredient is patience.
Salt House has two branches in Seoul: one branch in Mangwon (2018) and the other in Anguk (2019). For this visit, Annie and I went to the Anguk location. The open kitchen was mildly busy but it felt structured and efficient. Overall, the ambiance had a subtle liveliness to it. Salt House is great place for a working lunch, a casual catch-up with friends, or a relaxing afternoon savoring wine and time.
Given that Salt House specializes in cured meats, they have a diverse selection of sandwiches. One of their signature sandwiches is the Jambon Beurre (“jam·buhn bur”), which is a French sandwich made with only d’Isigny butter and jambon (ham) in a baguette. Since this was our second lunch, Annie and I shared one order of Jambon Beurre. All sandwiches come with a side of couscous or crispy fries with aioli. Without a second thought, we opted for the fries.
When it comes to Salt House’s Jambon Beurre, appearances can be deceiving. The seemingly dense layer of ham was surprisingly airy due to how thinly it was sliced. Let’s not forget about the butter, which was spread liberally over the crisp, warm baguette. Its flavor was lightly sweet and creamy in texture. All together, the Jambon Beurre had the perfect balance of salty and milky flavors.
If the Jambon Beurre doesn’t appeal to you, Salt House also offers charcuterie boards, hot platters, and sandwiches with other cured/deli meats (e.g., pastrami, salami, pepperoni, capicola, etc.). Regardless of your choice, you can be confident that Salt House will serve only the most premium ingredients.
Season Ale. Brewed in South Korea at 5.5% ABV.
[9,000 WON]
Jambon Beurre. From this angle, you can see the ultra thin layers of ham that gave the sandwich an airy texture. Even though it looks like a generous portion of ham, it wasn’t overwhelmingly meaty or heavy.
[12,000 WON]
The fact that this was our second lunch is one of the many reasons that Annie is my favorite person to eat with.