[Shanghai] Light & Salt Daily

Light & Salt Daily

Add: No.407 North Shan Xi Road, Shanghai 陕西北路407号
Tel: +86 021 52660930
Hours: Mon-Sun 11:30am-12:00am
Price: [main course] RMB150-300
Visited: February 2016
Will return: Yes

Light & Salt Daily offers a more casual fare than its sister, Light & Salt at Rockbund, at a somewhat friendlier price. Opened late last year, the three-story villa houses a bar and lounge area at the front and a dining area in the back, with a chic, industrial-meets-lux decor.

Some bread to start (complimentary). The bread was quite chewy, but the butter, served on a wooden block, was very soft and creamy.

Foie Gras Mousse, Poppy Seeds, Smoked Brioche (107)
Recommend: not really…
My main issue with this dish is that there were too many sweet components, and the foie gras wasn’t rich enough to justify all the sweetness. The foie gras – which was light and smooth and tasted quite good on its own – was covered with a sugary jam, and served with white sesame caramel crisps on top. The little pot on the side turned out to be black truffle honey, which overpowered the foie gras when eaten together. And the “smoked” brioche was rather tasteless, and served as little more than a vessel for the foie gras. I would have preferred if it added a savory dimension to the dish to balance it out. Still, the dish wasn’t a complete disappointment because most of the components tasted quite good. I ended up treating this as two separate dishes – foie gras mousse with white sesame crisps, and black truffle honey on toast.

Lobster Soup, Prawn Salad (67)
Recommend: no
The soup smelled amazing, but the flavor was something of a letdown. It tasted good, but I would have liked a more pronounced lobster flavor. There were pieces of prawn, which were cooked just right, and pieces of lobster, which were slightly overcooked. I liked the avocado, which added a richness in both flavor and texture. There were some sort of tortilla chips at the bottom which were soggy and tasted weird. All things considered, not a fan.

LS Miso Cod, Orange Carrot Purée, Grilled Mushrooms (187)
Recommend: yes
Miso cod is a signature dish at Light & Salt at Rockbund – although it’s served with slightly different accompaniments – and it certainly lived up to its name. The cod was moist, flaky and perfectly caramelized, with a profound sweetness from the miso. The purée was sweet from the orange but quite refreshing, and managed to cut through the sweetness of the cod and the earthiness of the mushrooms. The flavors worked very well, and I liked it more with each bite. My only issue is that there was too much mushroom and not enough purée.

Green Tea Lava Cake with raspberry coulis, vanilla ice cream and white sesame crisp (67)
Recommend: yes
I thought this would be a green tea cake, but it turned out to be a chocolate lava cake with a green tea filling, which suited me just fine. The lava cake was cooked perfectly, crispy on the outside and gooey in the center, though I would have liked the green tea filling to be thicker. The flowers on the side were rather stalky, perhaps not meant to be eaten.

Though the appetizer and the soup were a bit disappointing, I enjoyed the cod and the lava cake, as well as an excellent glass of Chardonnay, enough to warrant a second visit.