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A tiny Slice of food heaven
I would like to have been a fly on the wall when Slice's owners told their bank manager about their dream of running a restaurant.
Maybe it went something like this:
Bank manager: “We've found a building on Eversley Road, in Sketty, beside a closed-down garage. It would probably seat around 18 people.”
Bank manager: “That's tiny. Are you sure?”
Slice people: “Oh yes, we're very experienced in the trade. Phil's a master chef of Great Britain. We're putting the kitchen downstairs, with a window onto the street so that passers-by can see him cook.”
Bank manager: “A chef as a window display? This sounds risky. Maybe you should find a different building.”
Slice people: “But this one's so cute. It's shaped like a slice of cake.”
Bank manager: “Cake, you say? I like cake, I'm in.”
Slice is very cute. The building was once Sketty Fabrics, known locally as Etty Fabrics because the sign had letters missing. Let's hope the new sign is better glued, because Lice is not a good name for a restaurant.
Its new owners, Phil and Helen, have converted it with great ingenuity. The upstairs seating area is modern, while the conspicuous kitchen leaves no doubt that Phil cooks everything from scratch.
We started with Phil's crusty, springy home-made breads, which are so good I wish he sold take-home loaves as well as jam. My starter was ravioli filled with peachy-pink trout, served with spinach and a cockle and saffron sauce. The flavours were a bit subtle, but it was satisfying nonetheless.
My companion had a caramelised onion and mushroom tart with forest-green salad leaves. It was wholesome and generous with beautiful crisp pastry and spot-on sweet and savoury flavours. She loved it.
By the time she'd moved on to halibut topped with a ruby-coloured butter made with shallots, garlic, port and herbs, she was declaring it the best meal she's had in two years. She eats out regularly, so this was praise indeed. Her meal was rounded off with cauliflower puree and parsley sauce.
My main course was also delightful – a large, tender chicken breast stuffed with pancetta, mushrooms and spinach, with a rounded, perfectly seasoned veloute. On the side were carrots and broccoli, all vibrant and precisely cooked.
Finally, I had a warm, sticky chocolate tart, its bitterness mellowed by malt ice cream. It was wonderful – think Maltesers for grown ups. My companion's crème brulee equally good, from its glassy caramel top to the oven-fresh shortbread on the side.
Slice is as clever as it is cute. It compares very favourably with the best restaurants in Swansea, Mumbles and Gower, and I heartily recommend it.
Jenny White
Jenny White is a Swansea-based food writer who has inspected and written for several UK guidebooks. All her reviews are independent and on an unannounced visit.
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Taste of Wales review
“This new restaurant has shown and proved in a short time that they have the ability to produce excellent food and service.”
Good news travels fast, and that certainly applies to the small restaurant opened at Christmas 2007 by chefs Helen Farmer and Philip Leach in Sketty, Swansea.
Reliant on word of mouth rather than on formal advertising, Slice has quickly established a reputation for excellent food and service, with a friendly approach and cosy atmosphere.
The best of locally sourced seasonal produce, from the Gower, Mumbles, Brecon and west Wales, receives a distinctive and contemporary gastronomic makeover by Philip, a Master Chef makeover by Philip, a Master Chef of Great Britain, who is to be seen working in his kitchen through a large plate glass window overlooking Eversley Road.
“Preparing good food is a passion for us,” said Helen, who trained as a chef at The Walnut Tree in Abergavenny with Franco Taruschioand has worked with top chefs in London and the West Country. Helen is now mostly front-of-house at Slice, which takes its name from the shape of the building where the restaurant occupies the first floor.
Helen and Philip use locally
obtained Welsh cheeses, dairy products, free range eggs and vegetables, herbs from their own garden at Penclawdd, fresh fish, cockles and laverbread from Swansea market, Gower beef and lamb, and poultry from a Brecon Beacons farm.
Salads come from an organic source in Pembrokeshire and Philip bakes all his own bread.
Slice is the fulfilment of a 10 year dream for the couple, who met while working at the award winning Horn of Plenty at Tavistock in1997. Philip was later head chef at Combe House, near Honiton, voted best country house hotel by Sunday Times Travel in 2004.
The judges commented: “This new restaurant has shown and proved in a short time that they have the ability to produce excellent food and service. Phil and Helen have a great future at Slice if they continue on this track.”
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