Silver Moon S.A.L.T. programme explained
What is S.A.L.T?:
S.A.L.T. is a new initiative created by Silversea which was first featured on the Silver Muse and more recently as an expanded experience on their newest ship, the Silver Moon. The S.A.L.T. programme, which stands for Sea and Land Taste, has been designed by Adam Sachs, former editor in chief of Saveur magazine, and aims to offer guests an immersive culinary experience which reflects the destination they are travelling to. The programme intends to connect travellers to the region they are sailing in by sourcing authentic ingredients which are then prepared with respect to tradition and tell the story of the area the food originates from. With market trips and special dinners in the S.A.L.T. Kitchen restaurant, to cooking demonstrations with local guest chefs in the cooking lab, S.A.L.T. takes travellers further than ever before in destination experiences, bringing the flavours of the destination directly to the table. Wherever the ship is sailing the programme will be looking for the best producers and experts in this region, reaching out to local historians, cookbook writers, farmers, winemakers and experts of all kinds, who can best tell the stories behind the dishes and ingredients of the places they are visiting. All of the guides for S.A.L.T. Experiences will be experts in not just the history of the place but also its food culture.
S.A.L.T. Kitchen:
The Silver Moon offers the most comprehensive S.A.L.T. experience, boosting three venues and two experiences which bring the programme together. First up is the S.A.L.T. Kitchen, one of the two main dining rooms on board (along with Atlantide) offering open dining for all guests on board to experience the S.A.L.T. programme every evening of their voyage if they so wish, without having to book or make reservations. The Kitchen restaurant itself is quite large and airy, decorated in soothing creams, taupes and teal. Rather than a traditional table decoration, each table is adorned with a herb pot, a lovely nod to the emphasis on the ingredients used to make the dishes. The room is adorned with local artefacts, presumably acknowledging some of the regions that Silver Moon will be sailing to on her upcoming itineraries, and culinary art. The menu changes daily and reflects the country or region the ship is sailing in for that day. The menu is a four course menu with a few choices for each course. Alongside the delicious foods guests are offered local wines or beers that are perfectly paired to the food on the menu.
S.A.L.T. Lab:
Next door to the Kitchen restaurant is the S.A.L.T. Lab, a small demonstration kitchen, with a dozen or so cooking stations for guests to follow along with the chef leading the cooking class. The classes last about an hour and end up with a completed dish for guests to savour. We tried a couple of classes on our Greek island cruise, one focused on Phyllo pastry where we made spanakopita (little spinach and cheese parcels) and saragli (a Greek version of baklava) and another where we made a rather delicious lamb moussaka - we even managed to get Rich to adorn an apron for this one and his moussaka came out really rather well! The classes start with a little introduction by head chef, David who explains the history and significance to the region of the dishes being created. He is assisted by the S.A.L.T. Lab host, Carolina who then explains how guests will be making the dishes using the pre-prepared ingredients laid out on the workstations. Guests are then invited to cook along with French Chef de Cuisine, Cyril, who demonstrates how to make the dishes, with a handy TV screens above his head to help see those more tricky manoeuvres. If the dishes require some time in the oven this is done while guests move onto the next dish or ask questions about the process. Once the food is ready it is time to taste the labours of your hard work before removing your aprons and leaving the team to tidy up the mess you have made - surely this is the best way to do cooking! And just to make sure you don’t forget, all guests are given a copy of the recipe to take away with them so that they can recreate the dishes once they get home.
S.A.L.T. Bar:
On the other side of the S.A.L.T. Kitchen is the S.A.L.T. bar, a quirky little bar (and believe me when I say little - it only has capacity to seat about twenty guests) which has the feel of an exclusive London Gentleman’s club combined with a basement Jazz club. The sultry decor and moody vibe is offset by the glorious shiny bar housing an array of unusual bottles. Headed up by the enigmatic Carlos, the menu features an array of unusually, specially crafted cocktails with the ingredients and preparation poured over as much as a Michelin star meal. The feature cocktail is the Selene, the Moon which is a delicious combination of gin, maraschino, lemon, apricot, peaches and citrus topped with an eye-catching smoke filled moon bubble which sits atop the glass. Although this is delicious and definitely worth a try there are a range of other, just as well crafted cocktails with names like Sweets for my Sweet, From the Flames, Symposia Spritz, Noble Art, and even the non-alcoholic cocktail Fork in the Road. And to make it even better Silversea have invested in a rather magnificent drinks trolley for Carlos to take around the ship during the day and offer guests unusual cocktails made from his mobile bar.
S.A.L.T. Talks:
The first of the S.A.L.T. experiences happens on board the ship and expands upon the idea that food is a story by inviting guests on board with knowledge and experience of the region to hold talks in the theatre for guests to attend. Although our sailing was a Greek island voyage we did have one day in Cyprus which involved a sea day either side to get to and from Greece to Cyprus. For these sea days Silversea invited Yasmin Khan on board to share with the guests her extensive knowledge of Cypriot cuisine. She held a couple of talks in the theatre where she regaled us with stories and experiences that demonstrated her passion for Cypriot food whilst sharing three of her favourite recipes which were demonstrated to us by Cryil from the S.A.L.T. Lab. As we listened to Yasmin’s talk and watched the cookery demonstration we were all given a glass of local Cypriot wine to try and a taster of two of the dishes that Cryil was creating, in this case tomato and mint dolma and Cypriot Potato salad. My only disappointment was that we didn’t get a sample of the fried halloumi dish, though Yasmin did point out that we would be able to try this dish if we attended the S.A.L.T. Lab class that she was holding the next day where guests would be cooking this very dish.
S.A.L.T. Ashore:
S.A.L.T. Ashore offer bespoke experiences designed to offer immersion that goes beyond a normal excursion, capturing a destination’s food culture in a unique and curated way. Many of the destinations have been hand picked by Adam Sachs who uses regional experts to find authentic restaurants, loved and visited by the local residents. For example, when we were visiting the beautiful Greek island of Paros we experienced a S.A.L.T. Ashore afternoon excursion which lasted about six hours, and since we were on Silver Moon’s naming voyage we were accompanied by Adam himself. We started the excursion by travelling from the port to a local hillside organic farm where we were met by the farm owner who gave us a tour of the relatively new farm explaining as we went round about the crops and his organic farming methods. After delighting in the walk amongst the many olive, pomegranate and fig trees, the numerous herbs, and the exotic greenhouse plants we were invited to sample some of the food grown on the farm or from surrounding farms, all freshly prepared by the owners family. We then re-boarded the coach and headed back down to the coast to a gorgeous little secluded beachside taverna, away from the melee of the tourist strip of cafes and restaurants. We were greeted by the husband/wife owners who gave us refreshments to enjoy whilst they demonstrated some of the dishes we would be eating later that day, including making real phyllo pastry and sourdough bread cooked in the outside wood fired oven. After the cookery demonstration we were seated at a gorgeous little shore side table and served a meze of salads and small plates of delicious Greek food to eat as we watched the sun set over the sea. It really was a truly wonderful experience, with the most romantic setting, the warmest hosts and the most delicious authentic greek food of our voyage. If the other S.A.L.T. Ashore experiences are like this sign us up!
Overall, we found the S.A.L.T. programme experience and concept a pure delight, adding an extra dimension to an already outstanding ship. As food lovers we found idea of immersing ourselves into the cuisine of the area we were travelling added to our cultural journey, making the connection between and recognising the significance of food in a region’s history and culture. Guests can make as little or as much of this as they choose with the S.A.L.T. programme, from merley sampling meals in the restaurant, to cooking them for themselves, to learning about the history of local dishes, to experiencing them in shore based excursions - the choice is theirs. Now we can not only look forward to visiting a country or region on a Silversea cruise we can look forward to finding out more about that regions local cuisine.
At the time of writing the S.A.L.T. Lab classes are complementary, however, prior reservation is required and they do fill up quite quickly. The S.A.L.T Ashore programme is a chargeable excursion with prices varying depending on experience, although they all include sampling local foods and/or wines. All of the other experiences are included with your fare, including the delicious cocktails created within the S.A.L.T. bar.
Thank you to Silversea Cruises who invited us on this 10 day naming ceremony voyage and paid for all of our expenses.
If you enjoyed this blog why not take a look at our other Silversea content, including our Galapagos experience and our week in the Caribbean on Silver Spirit.
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