Slake

Food variety is little, the available food is also not fantastic. Price is steep. Won’t recommend to anyone

Soooo… hidden near the residential area of opera estate is this new restaurant called Slake. The name I guess comes from the road «Swan Lake» Avenue, however Oxford Dictionary also defines the word «Slake» as, «Satisfy (desires)».
Well done on the wordplay guys! ;)
Me and 3 other friends decided to check out a new place to dine and decided to make a reservation. Since the other 2 were a tad late, I decided to order a Guinness Draft while we waited. I have to compliment the staff there who actually know how to «pull» a Guinness draft the «right way» on tap. Not many bars do it correctly and I notice they do take pride in the way they pour it. Go ahead and order one and you’ll see what i’m talking about if you don’t already know what I mean!
Let me cut to the chase and list the items on the menu we ordered with my personal ratings:
1. Spicy Tomato Soup (⁸⁄₁₀)
2. Spicy Wings (⁶⁄₁₀)
3. Roasted Potato (⁶⁄₁₀)
4. Sweet Potato Fries (⁶⁄₁₀)
5. Crackling Pork (6.5÷10)
6. Duck Confit (⁶⁄₁₀)
7. Slow Cooked US Angus Beef (5.5÷10)
8. Coconut Cream Clams (6.5÷10)
9. Waffle with Bacon Ice Cream (⁴⁄₁₀)
The Spicy Tomato Soup was excellent! The soup was thick and not watery, hints of herbs and most importantly, it was served PIPING HOT like good hearty soup should be! (I don’t understand why so many places do no put emphasis on soup being hot and I often get it served to me «warm» or even worse, at room temperature!)
The spicy wings were average, just as the sweet potato fries and roasted potato.
*Let me add that they do plate things nicely and they all appeared exquisite in terms of appearance. (Now back to the mains!)
We each ordered a different dish thinking we could just share and try each other’s food but when it was served to us, it seems they serve food here Tapas style. I thought that it was interesting!
The crackling pork was good, crunchy as it should be and it wasn’t dry. Unfortunately the skin was charred till very black but according to the waitress they have to do that in order to cook the inside properly. The chaotah skin still doesn’t look appealing though. The duck confit wasn’t too bad, crispy skin and moist in the inside, however it tasted almost identical to the crackling pork. Both are cooked the same way and placed on top of sweet potato mash. Side by side, I couldn’t tell much difference in both, besides the different types of meat.
The slow cooked angus beef could have been ⁸⁄₁₀ or slightly higher! It was perfectly cooked! Juicy! Moist! Soft! But boy was it salty!!! I have a feeling the cook accidentally rubbed too much salt on it, it could have only been our serving, but I would make a note to the chef to use less salt if I were to order this again.
The coconut cream clams are exactly what it sounds like. You get a strong taste of coconut cream type sauce infused with the slightly bitterish taste of the clams which I love. Very jelak!!! But I thought it was interesting, tasty and different. Points there for originality!
Last but not least, dessert — The waffle was impossible to cut with a knife and was rock hard! We told the waitress this and they told us that this was a «Brunch Waffle». Well, I’ve never had brunch waffle before this and now knowing what a brunch waffle is, I’d definitely avoid it at all cost! The bacon ice cream had different responses from everyone! I personally like the sweet and savory taste of a bacon ice cream, some friends thought it was too salty. Mine tasted alright but I tried a bit from my friend and realise that it’s a bit inconsistent, some were more salty than sweet, unlike my perfectly balanced one.
Basically quite a few hits and misses here with the food, the interior looks nice, pretty cosy, do make a reservation if you intend to go, quite atas type food for a place smack in the middle of a residential area, pretty hipster…
Worth a visittttt… butttttt I guess they still have quite a few loose ends to tie up if they wanna be great or at least what they intended! But HEY its NEW. There is potential though.