Food & Drink Lifestyle Restaurant Reviews

Soul Café And Restaurant, King’s Lynn Reviewed

From the moment we walked through the doors, we felt at home.

A warm welcome from Olivier, owner, head chef, cocktail creator and DJ (a man of many hats!), he provided us with an authentic taste of the Caribbean on a very cold January evening in King’s Lynn! While most people were either tucked up warm in bed, watching Netflix, we decided that it would be better to spend our time sampling the delicious cuisine on offer here.

With a selection of wines, beers, spirits, cocktails, mocktails and soft drinks, we spent a fair amount of time perusing the drinks list before deciding on a ‘Jamaican-Me-Happy’ cocktail and a ‘Guadeloupian Sunset’ mocktail. Both were deliciously refreshing and the perfect accompaniments to the Caribbean spice.

The food menu offered a decent selection of starters to choose from with options for meat-eaters and vegans alike. If I am completely honest, I would have been happy with any of the options as they all sounded delicious. Therefore, following Olivier’s recommendation, I picked the crab and sweet potato cakes, whereas my partner went with the jerk chicken wings. Both arrived in good time (long enough to realise that the dishes had not simply been pinged for ninety seconds in a microwave though!).

Starter: Jerk chicken wings

The starters both looked appealing and we could not wait to tuck in. As I cut open one of the crab cakes, I could see clear pieces of sweet potato and crabmeat, which excited me! Fishcakes, where the filling is mushy, really do nothing for me, so I knew I would be in for a treat. The spicing of the dish was great, with the dressed salad and garlic mayonnaise offering light relief. The jerk chicken wings were also seasoned perfectly, presented well and accompanied with a tasty pineapple salsa.

For our mains, we went with curried goat and Caribbean coconut chicken, both served with rice and dressed leaves. The goat meat slid easily off the bone and was perfectly spiced. My partner has had curried goat many times before and this fulfilled all of his expectations. The dish looked appealing and was generous in size. My chicken dish was incredibly flavoursome and rather spicy, but not overpowering. The rice was cooked to perfection and the salad offered more freshness. A couple of pieces of chicken were slightly dry, but the liberal amount of sauce meant that this was not an issue.

Main: curried goat

Despite nearing our food threshold, we were both keen to sample the dessert menu. Although more limited in size than we had expected, we were both able to choose something we liked the sound of, though perhaps not sticking with the Caribbean theme. A coconut and chocolate slice (vegan friendly) and a Belgian chocolate and raspberry tart were the ones we opted for and we weren’t disappointed. Served with a coulis and fresh orange wedges, they were presented beautifully and tasted delicious.

All drinks and dishes at Soul are reasonably priced. Starters ranged from £4.50 to £6.80, mains from £10 to £19.50 and all desserts were £5.80. Certainly, there is no way we could quibble with the cost of any dish especially given the high quality dishes we received.

Main: Caribbean coconut chicken

The restaurant itself is wheelchair accessible. A children’s menu is available and, although we were dining alone this night, they had clearly considered babies, toddlers and children with high chairs along with a selection of toys, books and colouring on offer. Although the toilets were cold (it was a freezing cold evening!), they smelt fresh and looked clean.

Dessert: Belgian chocolate and raspberry tart

Overall, we were delighted with the warm welcome we received. The atmosphere was exceptional and we loved our food. The chefs paid close attention to detail; everything was presented well and the food was cooked lovingly from scratch. Highly recommended and we will certainly be returning in the near future!