JEDDAH, 24 July — I remember when the Gulf Royal was considered the best Chinese restaurant in town. Lately though, it’s not as good as it used to be, especially since Toki has opened as competition. Still I must admit that the Gulf Royal has its own appeal and its own loyal dedicated customers. Most of my friends don’t enjoy eating in the restaurant any longer; they prefer take away.
The place is not too formal or fancy. Its facade suggests a Chinese palace I would say. Red is the dominant color: The sign is red and so are the menus. Plus they have red carpets. It’s a dark atmosphere. It’s relatively large and spacious.
They have some isolated rooms for private dining. I like it that the menu has precise and explicit photographs of all the dishes which is a big help. It helps a person choose wisely. One of this restaurant’s good points is that the prices are reasonable.
For example most appetizers such as squid rings, chicken corn soup, shrimp spring rolls and prawn crackers are below SR22 shrimp balls and prawn salad are both SR56. Lobster salad is SR166 buthey, that’s lobster for you. The beef dishes are within the SR30 to 40 range whereas in some other Chinese restaurants they are between SR50 and 60. Chicken dishes are even cheaper. I recommend the sweet and sour shrimps and Tepanyaki shrimp. I also love their mixed fried rice, which consists of shrimps, meat and vegetables. The chicken with cashew nuts is delicious. A friend of mine loves the Tepanyaki beef and the fish curry. They even have tofu in brown sauce, chili sauce or Tepanyaki style.
The food is generally a bit too oily for some people. I’m not too fond of their Chinese tea. To be honest, I find it hard to swallow. They do have an interesting royal fruit punch. They serve sodas of course and they serve a good cappuccino.
For dessert they only have banana split, a fruit cocktail and ice-cream other than the traditional deep fried bananas and apples in honey.
All in all, I like the restaurant. It’s worth visiting or ordering take away from. It has branches in: Riyadh, Jeddah, Alkhobar and even in Cairo. There are three branches in Jeddah. For reservations call: 6653335