Small, compact restaurants with a conventional menu seem to be all the rage in Lahore. Dotting various city spots, from densely to sparsely populated areas, these restaurants offer diners a casual, modest ambiance with all the focus on the food. Whether colleagues taking a lunch break, friends catching up, professional meetings or a date, such restaurants-cum-cafes do away with the compulsion of ordering an entire meal for a customer to get a table.

Slate is one such café-restaurant that opened up earlier this year in the rapidly expanding and easily the go-to area for any new food business popping up, Defence Phase 6, far away from the several clusters of cafes and restaurants of Gulberg and Defence Y and Z blocks. The light grey walls match the black plastic chairs and light brown and black tables, giving off a slick, minimalist, yet chic vibe. During the day, the panelled glass wall helps light up both the ground floor and the mezzanine.

A friend and I started off the meal with some buffalo wings that were perfectly crispy on the outside and succulent inside, smothered with the right amount of hot, tangy buffalo sauce.

We were off to a finger-licking start that hit a slight speed bump in the form of the khow suey. Though I have to admit the khao suey looked pretty appetising when it arrived: egg noodles and chunks of chicken swimming in a pale yellow coconut milk soup sprinkled with lots of crushed crackers, green chilli, sliced lemon with half of a boiled egg sitting on top. After squeezing the lemon over it, we dug in. It tasted delicious as was, but what I missed was the pronounced coconut flavour, the many condiments such as diced onion, peanuts, fried garlic, green chilli and coriander.

But the meal picked up some pace with The Big Slate burger that had a juicy double beef and cheese patty, slices of onion and tomato all placed between soft buns served with fries, salad and a spicy, tangy Slate special sauce on the side. The patty was lightly seasoned to let that thick piece of meat shine, which it did. And the Slate special sauce just balances the flavour, providing the heat that some may miss in the burger. One of the highlights of the day, for sure!

Next up, we tried some Tarragon Chicken also, even though I somehow felt the entire section of chicken entrees was a misfit on the menu. The creamy, mildly spicy tarragon sauce felt velvety and tasted scrumptious, while I found the chicken breast pieces a bit tough.

The desserts menu was as big as the savoury one and sounded mouthwatering, so I just couldn’t miss them. We ordered the Tiramisu Sundae and assorted churros – their pictures on Instagram were droolworthy so they had to be tried! The soft, crispy, fluffy inside cinnamon churros dipped half in a thick chocolate sauce, another sprinkled with MnMs, and yet another glazed with a delicious lotus sauce were the winning items and should be not be missed. And there are so many more variations of churros on the menu.

The sundae looked pretty as a picture with layers of espresso and hot fudge with vanilla soft serve piped the middle of the cup.

Given the interior and its relative pricing, Slate is a great place to relish fast food or grab a quick cup of coffee with some sweet treats. The main entrees seem a bit out of place here.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2019