Soy Asian Table - Kigali

January 19, 2024

Upon asking around for places to eat in Kigali, Soy was one that was mentioned multiple times. This restaurant is so beautiful. The ambience can be felt from the moment you step out into the driveway and are greeted by the big SOY sign emblazoned on a stunning cobblestone wall. The interior/exterior because it’s an outdoor restaurant that feels very indoor is just as inviting with its sea blue walls adorned with hanging plants and warm lighting at each corner making it feel like an oasis of sorts.

The deep black dinner tables have little Buddha statues in the centre that I found really cute as a decor item. The restaurant stretches out into an intimate courtyard with a fire pit in the middle for those that want a more secluded & cozy dining experience.

The menu is large but not intimidating as they cover a number of dishes from various Siam cuisines i.e. Chinese, Korean, Malaysian, Japanese, Thai, Mongolian and Singaporean dishes. We took a while to decide on what to have but eventually got a couple of dishes that everyone could try. Starters: Prawn Tempura, Salt & Pepper Prawns; Mains: Sizzling pork ribs, Thai Green curry with Veggie fried rice & Mongolian Beef stir fry. The prices are on the higher side so come with a prepared wallet, a full meal of a starter, main & dessert could run you about KSH4000/ - KSH5000/ (minus drinks).

On the starters - you can never go wrong with prawn tempura (if someone makes this badly never go back to that restaurant please), and those salt & pepper prawns were marinated to perfection😋 So much flavour, so delicious!

The sizzling pork ribs were my choice and I had them with chips… I love a sizzling dish, something about that sound makes you feel like the food is gonna explode in your mouth! The ribs were soft and juicy, perfectly covered in a very yummy BBQ sauce. I like that there was sweet corn added to the marinade, it brought a nice depth of flavour and balance to the rib taste. The dish was a tad salty but nothing too hectic. My friend had the Thai green curry with prawns and that was super tasty too, rich in coconut sauce but lacking in the number of prawns. Feels like they put only 3 in there. The vegetable fried rice she had as an accompaniment was fantastic though - 10/10, we finished it quick!

The beef was also very flavourful and very filling, all their portions are quite big so think twice before getting both appetisers and mains😮‍💨 I had a wonderfully fresh passion juice as well - the tart to sweet ratio was balanced. We were too stuffed to try dessert but we hung out there for a while so I think the rest time allowed our systems to make some room and when they said they had gelato - whomst am I to say no?

Had a scoop of cappuccino ice cream & passion sorbet - literally the best combination. That’s one of the best coffee flavoured gelato I’ve had and I’ve tried a number - so rich, so yum and it was the perfect base to mix with the richly tart & sweet passion sorbet, highly recommend those two flavours.

The service we had was great, our waitress was very attentive - checking in every so often. The mood of the place was very chill, nice chill music, sitting outside means you can talk and not feel like you’re shouting to the whole restaurant. Really liked the vibes of this place - it looks like a perfect date night spot, also perfect for group dinners as well. Soy feels like fine dining with a bit of a casual vibe to it so you don’t feel like you have to dress up if you don’t want to but if you do decide to, it’ll just add to the full fine dining experience. This is somewhere I would definitely visit again when I’m back in Kigali.

P.S: All prices stated in the menu are in Rwandan Francs.