Ox Eatery located in the East Hotel in Kingston, offers a whole suckling pig fully cooked on their rotisserie with all the trimmings for $800. The pig feeds roughly 15 people. For my partner’s birthday, a pig was booked for dinner on Saturday night.
We saw our pig on the spit when we walked in. It looked a little bit small but I was still excited to try it out.
We were seated in the bar area on high stools and tables, not the restaurant part. I don’t remember why but it didn’t really matter. We were asked if we’d like anything to start with while waiting for everyone else to show up. Some marinated olives ($10 per bowl) were ordered for the table.
We were informed by our waitress that the pig was being prepared at the front near the rotisserie. I watched as he hacked into the pig – kind of gruesome with bits flying everywhere. He’d obviously been doing this a while.
Four little buckets of chilli fries (apparently part of the pig and trimmings) came out right before the pig. Though I couldn’t taste any chilli, the chips were crunchy and tasty. I wanted to eat more of them but had to save space for the main event.
The pig was placed on a massive wooden plank that required two men to carry it over to the table. It was impressive and topped up and around with lots of food.
The other trimmings included corn on the cob, crunchy green beans, baked potatoes and crackling.
The pig was chopped up bones and all, so you didn’t really know which part you were picking up. The pig was cooked perfectly and the meat could easily be pulled apart. I thought it needed some gravy as it was a bit bland. There was some apple sauce slathered on somewhere in the middle of the pig under the crackling, but I thought it would’ve been better having the apple sauce in little ramekins sitting next to the pig as some people missed getting any sauce. The pig skin was very crispy and the pork crackling was pretty thick. I had a little nibble but am not a fan of crackling.
Pork crackling
My mocktail of peach and mint was $8, but then I was charged $9 when I ordered a second one. The bar man was friendly enough but this was pretty sloppy. I was also hoping he’d make a different mocktail to the first one, but it was just the same one (and not even filled to the top!) What I don’t like about buying mocktails/cocktails is that they are always topped full with ice so there’s hardly any room for the actual drink. So I found it irritating that it wasn’t filled to the top. My partner’s nearly full glass of beer was also cleared away from the table when no one was watching. He was a bit peeved about that!
As it was a birthday dinner, I rang up beforehand to see what they charged for cakeage. Ox Eatery charges $5 per head for cakeage which is absolutely ridiculous! For the 14 of us, we would’ve paid $70, nearly double the price of the cake. I understand that cakeage needs to be charged as a restaurant loses out on a profit. However, Ox Eatery do not provide an alternative. Sure they have individual desserts (at $15 per person) but they don’t offer cakes. I was really annoyed that we couldn’t celebrate my partner’s birthday with cake with all of his close friends (we had to do it the night before). It still annoys me when I think about it. I don’t understand why it is necessary to charge that amount for something they don’t even offer in the first place.
Instead, a small dessert was organised consisting of some ice cream and a candle on top so everyone could sing happy birthday. The ice cream cost $15. Extremely overpriced for 2 scoops of ice cream and a candle.
The verdict: did not like the cakeage issue or being charged different prices for my drinks. The pig was very impressive particularly when it was carried out over the shoulders of two men. It really was a grand display. I loved all of the trimmings – the corn was sweet and tasty, the green beans crunchy and full of natural flavour and the potatoes were delicious – great quality with crispy skin. As the pig was simply cooked on a rotisserie, it was pretty plain. There were no other spices or flavours mixed in, just pure plain pork. I still think maybe a bit of gravy and some apple sauce on the side would’ve made it more eatable. The whole pig is a little pricey for what it is, but it’s something different and I’m glad we had the opportunity to try this out. Nonetheless, I’ll go elsewhere for a birthday dinner.
Foodgasm 6/10
