SLAB: Artisanal food at its best

There's a lot of pretentious food that's served around the city in the name of innovation and contemporary cuisine. Then there is the honest, no-fuss, fresh-off-the-garden-into-the-kitchen variety that upon first sampling gives you a heart warming feel of what simple, soul food should really taste like. At La Mer's SLAB needless to say, it is the latter that holds sway. When we dropped in on a weekday, the laidback eatery had a Zen-like vibe to it, proving to be the perfect spot to catch up with family and friends.
The menu printed on a single piece of hard paper had us ruminating over how good restaurants don't need an encyclopedia of dishes to impress a diner - just a few basic choices is all that's required.
The Roasted Root Vegetables that made its way to our table first, was simplicity redefined with a smorgasbord of veggies, caramelized carrot, celeriac and beets along with small mounds of goat cheese served on a bed of walnut butter that just melted in the mouth. We are not huge fans of this 'super food', yet the black quinoa and broccoli couscous with beetroot shavings and baby spinach leaves that materialised alongside had a hint of lemon dressing that made it a light refreshing summer dish.
For mains of course we had to sample our all-time-fave, the Organic Salmon, a chunk of seared pure white meat, done just right with a streak of avocado puree alongside. Though we love salmon, we felt the pickled cucumber alongside didn't do anything to elevate the dish, but served as a bland though pretty sidekick since it was presented like a flower. Perhaps the fact that we are not huge fans of cucumber, impacted our experience of the dish.
The Dukkah Chicken, however was a totally different ball game altogether. Seasoned with the famed Jordanian dukkah with a chilli honey dressing, it was a lip-smacking dish we could have over and over again!
Ideally the meal should have ended right there, but we got to sample the Beef Tataki - strips of striploin beef that had been cooked for over 12 hours, we are told, seared and served alongside charred onion, pickled shimeji mushrooms and a green onion salsa - that was a bit sweet, but of the melt-in-your-mouth variety that we haven't come across anywhere. Time to confess, perhaps, that we usually stay away from beef, but somehow couldn't resist this dish. Teaches us not to go in with preconceived notions of what we'd like and what we wouldn't!
Though we'd been dying to try the Dark Chocolate Bar we ended up with the Chef's recommendation of the Arab-inspired Mafroukeh Cheesecake. The fresh and zesty kiwi with the creamy yet light yoghurt cheesecake was offset by the semolina and pistachio base, bringing our perfect mid-week meal to a satisfying end. The icing on the cake? The fact we had feasted on so much of proteins with minimal carbs thrown in!
SLAB is the kind of eatery, which would ideally have repeat customers, just based on the simple, honest, non-gimmicky food served. While at first glance, the menu seems to be predominated by the salads and sides (all of which are absolutely yummy), we were quick to learn that the portions were enormous, making it a perfect spot for a shared meal.
SLAB is located at the North end of La Mer
ambica@khaleejtimes.com