Royal China Dubai: from the Far East to the Middle East

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The last time I was roped in to write was for my cousin's website on beauty for the Indian woman. It was only after I was handed a cherry flavoured lip balm to try out that I realised that I was at the start of a very slippery slope and decided to quit when I was only a little behind.

But when I was given the opportunity to write for VeggieBuzz, I was delighted because if there is one thing I know, it's how to eat.  And I'm a lot better at this than I am at applying mascara, I can tell you.

The review was on Royal China Dubai, an off shoot of the London based group. Expectations were high and my first impressions were good. It's interior is different than its sister establishments, gone is the black and gold decor and taking a leaf out of Hakkasan's book, it has adopted a more oaky look. While Sam Sparro may not too happy with this change, I rather preferred it.

I must confess, as with the beauty site, I am not actually a vegetarian, but was more than happy to be vegetarian for the evening.  Due to my unfamiliarity with the "greener" choices, my gracious Editor did the ordering.

We started off with Szechuan Hot and Sour soup. Yum. The right ratio of hot and sour with good consistency and some vegetables and tofu thrown in.

We went on to the Vegetarian Crispy Thin Tofu Pastry wrapped in pancakes with cucumber and spring onions with their delicious pungent Hoisin sauce, which was a perfect balance of sweet and salty. I understand that this is a signature dish of RC and it was quite delicious.  The tofu itself, which was presented to us before the waiter prepared the individually wrapped pancakes, provided a light crunchy texture.

Alongside this, we also had stir fried mixed vegetables wrapped with iceberg lettuce - crisp and quite refreshing.

Done with starters, we began the main courses. This consisted of the Home Style Braised Bean Curd in Clay Pot with pak choi, String Beans in spicy bean sauce and Mixed Vegetables on crispy pan fried noodles.

The bean curd was good, but there was some room for improvement for the others. The string beans were actually too salty and the fact that this was the only unfinished dish on our table indicates that it wasn't that great.  The pan fried noodles were decent, but had been deep fried as opposed to pan fried as requested and preferred.

We ended our meal with the Chilled Tapioca Rice Pudding in Coconut Milk, which definitely hit the spot.

So overall, the food was on point, however there were some concerns I noted. While the staff was attentive and service was seamless, there was a case at the end of poor customer service and a blasé attitude from the manager that marred the experience.

Also, as is the temptation with food, we had swayed towards the fried dishes and coupling this with the likelihood that the food had been laced with MSG (allegedly), my skin felt rather raw the next morning.

So Mr Royal China, in conclusion, while I usually enjoy eating at your restaurants and have done so on many a rainy London Sunday, on this occasion, I can only give you a B. Soz.

- Arun

Arun Chulani is our guest columnist, originally from London, he has sailed with an Easterly wind and has lived and worked in Paris, Milan, Dubai, Mumbai and is now in Kuwait. With each adventure, he has taken full advantage of the local cuisines and flavours.

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