The only downside to eating the ribs at The Black Lantern is that ALL other ribs, indeed all other pork you eat again, will pale in comparison.
The only place I have eaten pork that came close to the glory of this pork was at a place called La Boheme in Munynonyo-about 10 years ago.
Anyway.
I ate a bit of food in Jinja, and there I realized part of the power of Instagram; it is in making things look way better than they are in real life. The Black Lantern was one of the few places where what the food looks like on Instagram, is what you get in real life.
Sight
I got the half rib and that rack is huge. You will be forgiven for taking a few moments to figure out how to begin. The sauce glistens in the sun.
What the gram won’t tell you is that your plate will be heavy from the weight of this meal. It also won’t tell you that the staff will be sympathetic to your shock and say, ‘You eat what you can, I’ll pack the rest.’
The ribs looks so juicy.
Touch
You will be given a knife of course, it will slice through the flesh with ease. And when you want to use your fingers, those ribs will tear apart almost as easily.
You know that meat you get which feels like it has been slathered with sauce on the outside but is dry on the inside? This was not it.
While the ribs were adequately tender, there wasn’t a lot of juice or fat rolling all over the place.
Taste
There is a mid-way point between juicy, soft and firm. This is where these ribs land. The sauce isn’t just slapped on top, it has seeped into the meat and friends, that is a good thing.
Be ready to lick your fingers if you’re that type of person. I am. Along with the chips (wedges if you prefer) and the salad, I was only able to eat half of this. I carried the rest back to Kampala so my loved ones could also taste, but when I got There…I changed my mind and ate it myself. Sorry guys.
Sound
As you eat these ribs, you will enter into a state of enjoyment so zen that the sound of the Nile flowing just below you, that of the birds and the monkeys in the trees will fall away. Not an exaggeration. It happened.
The Half rib costs 55k.
