Slate Kitchen & Bar

January 25, 2024

Upon getting here, the service was the first thing I noted. There are parking attendants at every point of the parking lot to direct you (it’s kind of confusing finding the entrance so I appreciated the assistance). The hostesses are welcoming and reservations are very necessary - the place gets full quick on Fridays and weekends.

The outfitting of this place my goodness! I love good interior decor & these guys have taken such detail in everything from the furniture to lighting, spacing, wallpaper, wallpaper texture… even the window sheers that make the space feel more intimate than it would had the windows been bare… this may not matter to most but I really love a place that not only looks great, but feels great too. Ambience was giving everything it needed to give.

Now on to food - I had already heard about the insane prices here so the menu was as expected, in fact a bit higher than I thought it would be. We had sushi for starters - the Scoville Maki (KSH1200/) and the spicy salmon crispy volcano roll (KSH1500/). Now, for those who don’t know me - I don’t like sushi at all. I’ve only had it possibly twice before in my life and I wasn’t willing to try it here but I was told that I wouldn’t be able to taste the rawness of the salmon so much because the sushi was mostly filled with prawn tempura and the maki was super spicy AND it didn’t have avocado yay!

They were right on the nose on that spicy part because wow! It has a perfect burst of spice in your mouth, combined with the prawn tempura crunch, the spiced rice rolled along the seaweed… even the salmon wasn’t gross to me. I enjoyed this Maki roll so much - bummed it only came as three pieces because I actually wanted more. The Volcano roll was also good and filling - I would add the spice from the previous roll to this one to enjoy it fully.

For mains: we did everything pork - pork belly (KSH2200/), and the pork neck-2 services (KSH2300/) with sides - truffle mac & cheese (KSH700/) and potato skins (KSH600/). The pork belly dish comes with a white bean stew and pumpkin purée while the pork neck part 1 came with a broccoli fondant (looks like mukimo) & butternut purée and part 2 is pulled pork stewed in some pumpkin soup thing. By 2 services they mean they bring one part of the dish first which is the grilled pork neck and then they bring part 2, the braised pork after you’re done with part 1. Interesting concept - feels like you’re getting a 2 for 1.

The pork belly was so good! It didn’t need the beans part - beans and pork for me don’t go well together. The pork neck part 1 was really good even with the broccoli etc. The pork neck part 2 was meh… not good, felt flavourless.

The Mac & Cheese, which I was very excited for, disappointed me so much. I love a good cheesy mac & cheese but this one fell flat - I’m not sure what cheese they used but it needed salt, more than one cheese… it just needed more. Potato skins were perfect, you can’t go wrong with waru:)

For Dessert, we tried the charcoal roasted pineapple (KSH1050/) which was such a presentation. It comes with a spiced banana bread and chamomile ice cream - loved the ice cream, I didn’t really care for everything else. I’ll say my experience here was quite good, the place is beautiful, I enjoyed half of the meals, the rest were okay. Will I go back? Not by choice but I’m happy I tried it.