Golden Dragon – MQ
Golden Dragon (Telephone 24697 374) is a very old Chinese restaurant located in Madinat Qaboos right next to Kargeen and Ziyara.
The Golden Dragon restaurant looks from the inside as if it was stuck in the early 1990s – the place is not exactly ugly, but it looks old, dark, and depressing. There is an area for a live band to play, but the instruments were there and nobody was playing on a weekend’s evening! There was barely anybody else at the restaurant when we went, and they had a big TV screen showing a match. The restaurant has a separated area that looks like an interrogation cell which used to be the non-smoking section. I think that Golden Dragon is licensed to serve alcohol, but I am not 100% sure because I didn’t see a drinks menu and I forgot to ask.
The menu of Golden Dragon is very similar to the majority of classic Chinese and Thai restaurants in town with fried starters, soups, prawn, shrimp, squid, lobster, chicken, duck, beef and lamb main courses, along with noodles and rice dishes. They got us the usual complimentary prawn crackers, and we ordered one Prawns of Toast (RO 3.500) and one portion of Drums of Heaven (RO 2.500) which were basically chicken wings. Both were amazing and I really liked them.
For the main course we got a plate of Sweet and Sour Chicken (RO 4.500) and a plate of Sweet and Sour Prawns (RO 7.000), we didn’t intend to get the same kinda of dish, but we were not really focusing.I thought that they were OK, but I was not blown away, and honestly I thought the sweet and sour sauce we so intense I didn’t find it easy to tell the chicken from the prawns.
Golden Dragon has a number of desserts such as stuffed dates with lychees and toffee apple, but we were not in the mood for desserts, so we didn’t have any.
In total we ordered 2 starters, 2 main courses, 1 noodles, and 1 large bottle of water, our bill came to RO 21.100.
I thought the service at the Golden Dragon was good, the staff seemed to be friendly and nice. Our food came exactly like we ordered and on time.
Even though I thought that the food at Golden Dragon was ok and I really liked their starters, but I cannot see myself going there again, the place is so depressing and dark I cannot enjoy myself eating there. If you want to have Chinese/Thai in MQ you should go to Silk Route instead.
GBK – Muscat City Centre
GBK (Telephone: 2455 8065) is a burger restaurant located on the ground floor of Muscat City Centre right to the left next to the escalator if you are coming from Emax (exact spot of the now closed Hamburger Nation).The restaurant is supposed to be a branch of a British burger chain and has been open for a quite a while now.
The seating in GBK is very nice, the restaurant has a modern sleek feel. I cannot really think of what sort of crowd goes to GBK because the restaurant rarely ever has any crowd – it is usually not busy at all.
GBK offers a number a variety of starters such as potato skins, cheese croquettes, onion rings, feta cheese sticks, quesadillas, calamari. and salads just to mention a few. I have tried different things in the past, but on our last visit we only had fries with mexican sauce (RO 2.150) – which is closer to Chili’s texas fries than B+F’s dynamites fries. We enjoyed the fries and thought it was alright.
The majority of GBK’s menu is naturally dedicated to burgers which are divided into beef burgers, grilled chicken burgers, fried chicken burgers, and vegetarian burgers. In addition to the burgers there are also other a few other main courses on the menu such as sandwiches and steaks. We ordered a Mexican Burger (RO 3.750 – pictured above) which had sour cream, mashed avocado, spicy bean sauce, and served with lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, and a Smoked Ranch Burger (RO 3.500 – pictured below) which was smothered with chili mayo and ranch sauce and topped with cheddar cheese, beef bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. I had the Smoked Ranch Burger which I thought was excellent, the burger looked messy, but I somehow managed to handle it properly.
GBK has a number of desserts such as cakes, brownies, and ice cream and they all looked super delicious, unfortunately we were full and didn’t feel like having any during our last visit. For the drinks we had one lemon mint (RO 1.650) and a glass of ice tea (RO 1.650).
In total we ordered 1 starter, 2 burgers, and 2 drinks, our total was RO 13. 843.
I thought that the service at GBK was excellent, our food arrived on time and came exactly as ordered. Our overall experience at GBK was very pleasant, but somehow we kept comparing every other thing we got to how it would have been in B+F, my most favorite burger place in town, and which I cannot deny I still like more than GBK. That doesn’t mean that GBK is not a great restaurant nonetheless! I recommend this place over Chili’s if you are in MCC and looking for a quieter place, with better service, and much much nicer burger to have!
Thai Basil – Al Ghubra
Thai Basil (Telephone: 2449 9565) is a Thai restaurant located in Midan Hotel Suites in Al Ghubra. If you are coming fromthe 18th November Street and going towards Al Ghubra Roundable, you need to take the right turn before the Taste of India restaurant and Midan Hotel would be the second building on that road opposite the school car park.
Thai Basil is very spacious, quite, and looks really fancy. The picture above doesn’t really show how nice the place is, but it almost feels a bit out of place for Al Ghubra as there really isn’t anything like it in this part of town. We went to dine at Thai Basil during a working day evening, so the place pretty empty with the except of a couple of other tables. The place seems to attract couples more than anything else probably because of the quite atmosphere of the place.
Thai Basil offers a number of appetizers, soups, salads, an a collection of main courses. For the starters we ordered a plate of Koong Chup Pang Tod (RO 2.000) which was basically prawn tempura and was pretty good.
For the main course we ordered a plate of Stir Fried Chicken with Cashews (RO 4.500) which had strips of chicken breast stir fried with vegetables and topped with roasted cashews. We also ordered a plate of Bang Chiang (RO 6.200) which had marinated slices of beef cooked with onions, mushrooms, and baby corn. I thought that both dishes were excellent with the right level of spiciness, being the a pro chicken dishes person I would recommend the chicken with cashews over the beef, but the beef was also really really good. You should note that none of these dishes came with rice of noodles, so we ordered a basket of jasmine rice (RO 1.000) separately.
Thai Basil has a number of desserts such as ice cream, fruit salad, and coconut custard, but we didn’t like having any at the time so we didn’t try any. We also didn’t order any drinks and had only water.
In total we ordered 1 starter, 2 main courses, 1 basket of rice for a total of RO 15.050.
I thought that the service at Thai Basil was excellent and the waiters seemed to be friendly and talkative. The food didn’t take long to get to our table and was in perfect condition.
I cannot decide if I like this place more than Shang Thai or not, but it surely is one of the nicest Thai places to go for around that area. I highly recommend this place to someone looking for nice quite Thai dining.
Lo Chef Steak House – Al Seeb
Lo Chef (2442 2290 – website) is a steak house in Al Seeb Souq area – I am not very familiar with that area of town, but Lo Chef is located in the same building as Y Magazine and Al Wisal FM which also happens to be by the corniche and right opposite Al Jadeed Stores in Al Seeb Souq. Lo Chef is supposed to be part of a Dutch restaurant chain, I do not know if they have restaurants under the same name or serve the same food elsewhere.
Lo Chef somehow looks like a sports bar from the inside, but has an amazing shaded seating area outside, we went at night and the weather was absolutely fabulous. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the seating area for you to see it, but the area outside is spacious and even though the place seemed empty when we arrived (about 7pm) and was almost full by the time we left (around 9.30). Lo Chef seems to attract a lot of Europeans for some reason and a few Omanis.
Lo Chef is a steak house with a menu that has a section of cold appetizers, hot appetizers, soups, pastas, spare ribs, steaks, mixed grill plates, and grilled fish. For the starter we decided to have a smoked beef bacon Carpaccio (RO 2) and a plate of mushrooms cooked in butter garlic sauce (RO 1.7). I thought the Carpaccio was excellent and the mushrooms were alright.
For the main courses Lo Chef offers pasta, spare ribs (RO 3 to 4.250), a variety steaks (T Bone, Prime Rib, Rib Eye Steak, Cuadril, Chicken Fillet – RO 3.750 to 5.500), mixed grill plates (RO 4.5 to RO 6), grilled fish (RO 3.750 to RO 6)and fish fillet with sauce (6.750 to 7.250). I ordered a rib eye steak (RO 4.750 pictured below) which came with roasted potato, bioled vegetables, and salad. I thought that my steak was great and it came as requested. My friend ordered a grilled squid (named Inkfish on their menu – RO 3.950) which he seemed to have enjoyed.
We didn’t order dessert because there were no desserts on the menu that we got it and nobody offered any desserts when our main courses were taken even though we sat for a very very long time after that. I am also not sure what drinks they have, we asked the waiter for their drinks menu and he recited all the juiced they had before we ordered so we had our dinner with an orange juice and a lemon & mint juice.
In total we ordered 2 juices, 2 starters, and 2 main courses, our bill came to RO 15.400 in total.
I thought that the service at Lo Chef was alright, the waiters seemed to be talkative and friendly, my friend’s knife fell on the floor by mistake while eating and in less than 10 seconds someone came from inside with a new one. However, it was really hard for us to get a waiter to come to us to bring the bill after we finished.
I really enjoyed my visit to Lo Chef, the food was great and the seating outside was amazing. There is no doubt that this is one of the nicest places to go eat out to eat in Al Seeb.
Al Jood Restaurant | Al Khuwair
Al Jood (Telephone: 24472630) is a Lebanese restaurant located in the commercial area of Al Khuwair right next to the Turkish House Restaurant.
Al Jood is quite spacious and has seating over both the ground and first floor of the building, the restaurant looks nice for something in its class (the picture somehow shows the ugly back side of the chairs they look a bit nicer in reality).
Al Jood is a lebanese restaurant with an extensive menu of salads, cold mezzas, hot snacks, pastries, pizzas, soups, grilled food and kebabs, as well as Lebanese sweets. For the starter we order a plate of humous (RO 1.700) and a plate of rocket (rocca) salad (RO 1.500) that came with a basket of lebanese bread and a plate of pickles. Both were good and well made and enjoyed them thoroughly.
For the main course we ordered a single grilled (RO 4.500) which had a combination of chicken and beef grills that came on a light bed of onion salad and the whole thing was very good.
Unfortunately we did not try any of the desserts at Al Jood, even though the place is mostly known for its Arabic sweets. We were just too full and had just come from a cafe, so we didn’t feel like having any.
In total we ordered one starter, one salad, one main course, one fresh juice, and one bottle of water for a total of RO 10.100.
We were not blown away by the service of Al Jood, the waiters were politer than the previous time I’ve been at the place, but the it took them ages to get our food and we lost hope in having a waiter acknowledge our existence when we wanted to pay our bill so we had to walk to the cashier ourselves and pay at the desk.
The food of Al Jood is not the best in town and surely not better than Turkish House in my opinion, however it is still good and it is a good option if you cannot handle the crowds at the Turkish House next door.
Dawaat | Sohar
Dawaat (Sohar 26847565, Ruwi 24787980) is an upper mid range Indian Restaurant in Sohar and Ruwi. Dawaat is located in Sohar Souq somewhere not too far from the Souq Roundabout.
The size of the Dawaat Restaurant is not too bad and has thing “triangle” theme thing going on all over the ceiling, wall, and even the back of the chairs – which I think makes the restaurant looks horrendous – it’s not that the place is dirty or anything, but it is just UGLY. From the color theme, the ridiculous trivia table paper and even the silly plants around the place. Dawaat Sohar is definitely the worst looking restaurant I’ve reviewed in Oman in 2010.
The menu of Dawaat is the typical generic Indian/Chinese menu found in restaurants of its class – soups, grilled stuff, Mughlai food, rice, bread, chinese food, and noodles. We ordered two plates of Chicken Tikka Masala (RO 3.000 each) for the starter along with a Dal Shorba (Lentil Soup – RO 0.800) and Chicken Manchow Soup (RO 0.900). I only tried the Chicken Tikka Masala which was average and a tiny bit too moist for my liking.
For the main course we ordered a chicken biryani (Pictured above – RO 2.000), a portion of Chicken Masala (RO 2.400), and a portion of Chicken Manchurian (RO 2.200) along with a mixed bread basket. I only tried the Chicken Biryani, which was much drier that usual even though the appropriate spiciness. I’ve tried in the past and it was so much better, but that is one of the main problems of this place – the quality of their food is inconsistent – at times the food comes out perfect, on other days it is cold, dry, too moist, or something is wrong with it. I do not know if they have more one chef inside, but there is no guarantee that the food will come out the same way as you had on your last visit.
My biggest complaint about Dawaat is their service, it is not that the service is bad in the traditional sense, but the waiters and the restaurant manager are all very annoying people – I hate how the manager doesn’t really speak Arabic or English and mixes a bit of both to get buy and I think this is the perfect language combination to deal with your typical Omani customers in Sohar, but it just annoys me because I cannot ever tell if he understands what I’m saying because he will respond to me in broekn Arabic when I speak to him in English. What is more annoying is that the do not give you a chance to have your food the way you want and forcefully serve it for you, I almsot always have to shout at them to force them stop doing that every time I go to the restaurant, and what annoys me the most is that they will run to take the food from infront of you once they see that you have stopped eating even though other people with you on the table are not done eating – they will go as far to get you a small bowl of water and lime to wash your hands while other people are still eating – it drives me insane.
In total we had 2 starters, 2 soups, 3 main courses, 1 mixed bread basket, a few soft drinks, and a bottle of water for about RO 15.
Dawaat is not exactly my most favorite place to go eat at in Sohar, but now that Woodlands has closed down this place is the only decent place which I can go to have Indian food, the day another proper restaurant opens I will probably never come back here again. I am not sure if I got spoiled by how great Woodlands was, cause the food is edible, but the service really turns me off. I know I complained a lot, but don’t surprised if you see me there soon though cause really there are no other options!!
Al Hamra | Al Khuwair
Al Hamra (2448 2955) is a new Lebanese restaurant in Al Khuwair. The restaurant is located right next to Rotana Hotel which can be reached if you are coming from McDonald’s Al Khuwair by taking the right turn right before the Zawawi mosque on the service road – the restaurant is a few seconds after the mosque before the end of that road.
The size of Al Hamra is quite decent with many big tables, a quiet area at the back for couples and families, and a private room for dinner parties. Unlike the many Lebanese restaurants known for their excessive use of fake house plants and ugly furniture, I thought that the place looked really nice and had a nice atmosphere.
We were not the most adventure during our visit at Al Hamra, so for the starter we ordered a plate of hommos (crushed chickpeas) (RO 1.300), in my previous visit to Al Hamra the bread was heavenly and tender, in the visit in which these pictures the bread was just alright – it was nice, but nowhere as good as what we had the other day. The hommos was good as usual though!
For the main course we had a Kabab Kheshkakh (pictured above – RO 2.400) which was minced beef mixed with various spices served with fries, pickles, some flat bread thing with leaves on them (? – but very tasty), a homos dip, and a chilli dip! The kabab is buried below everything on placed on that plate! We also ordered a plate of Shish Taouk (grilled chicken pieces – RO 2.500) which came with the same things as the kabab. We thought that both dishes were good, in my first visit I preferred the kabab over the chicken, but this second time I thought that the kebab came a little bit cold.
For the dessert we tried a plate of Kunafah (RO 0.950) which was a bit too creamy for my taste, and I’m really not a big fan of Arabic sweats, so I couldn’t have more than one.
For drinks we ordered a lemonade with mint and a “Colored” fruit cocktail which I think had something like mango, strawberry and kiwi juice – I really liked it!
The food was good at Al Hamra, but the service at the time when we went for lunch was horrible. They usually have a buffet on for lunch and most people seem to go for it, yet somehow nobody seemed to care enough to come take our order after we got seated even after we told them that we would like to order from the menu. The attitude of the waitresses was strange to say the least, and we had to wait for about 15 minutes to get our hommos starter which shouldn’t have taken them more than a couple of minutes to serve (especially as they had all the bread and everything ready for the buffet). One of the waiters also almost dropped the glass of juice on our table. It was just a total disaster.
I have to admit that this was not the same case when we went for dinner at Al Hamra the other day, the food and the service were much more better.
In total we ordered 1 starter, 2 main courses, 2 juices, 1 bottle of water, 1 dessert, and our bill came to RO 10.150 in total.
Al Hamra let me down in my second visit to it, but I’m hoping that this is just a consistency issue that they will sort out as the restaurant is still quite new.
Has anybody else been to Al Hamra, what did you guys think?
Kurkum | Mattrah
Kurkum (Telephone: 24714114) is a fancy new Indian restaurant in Mattrah. It’s located on the corniche between the main entrance of Souq Muttrah and the branch of Bank Muscat on the corniche.
Kurkum is a relatively small restaurant and has a few tables outside if you want to enjoy the weather during winter. The place has a white clean theme and looks very fancy, tables located near the windows enjoy a nice view of the Sultan Qaboos port.
Kurkum currently has two different menus for lunch and dinner. The lunch menu is a lighter one that offers soups, salads, sandwiches, and a few finger dishes, while the dinner menu is an extensive one with soups, salads, variety of indian starters, along with chicken, lamb, fish, and vegetable main courses that could be had with rice or bread.
Before our starters came we were presented with a couple of free complimentary intros, the first was a dish of fried bamya which I’ve never tried before and was pretty nice. We were also then offered a single potato finger which also tasted awesome.
For the starters we ordered one a fish soup (RO 3.5), a tomato soup (RO 1.8), and a dish of chicken dimsums (RO 2). My tomato soup was creamy and I really enjoyed it. The chicken dimsums had tamarind chutney in them, I thought that there were OK, but I’m not the biggest fan of dimsums, so I wasn’t exactly blown away.
For the main course we ordered a dish of Goan Coconut Chicken Curry (RO 4.5) which basically had boneless chicken pieces cooked in Goan style coconut curry. Our second main course was a dish of dry Tandoori Fish (RO 6) which had chunks of hammour fish marinated with spices grilled in the tandoori oven. We ordered a mixed bread basket to have with our main courses both of which turned out to be excellent and were cooked to perfection.
For the drinks we were offered a selection of juices, soft drinks, and a variety of flavored lassi, we ordered mango flavoured lassi (RO 2) which tasted super fresh and refreshing. We didn’t try any of the desserts, but asked to have karak tea, which wasn’t on the menu, but somehow they got it for us! When we asked to pay the bill we were also offered complimentary Omani halwa which was very nice!
In total we ordered two soups, one starter, two main courses, a basket of bread, 1 lassis, one bottle of water, and tea cups of tea, our bill came to RO 23. When I got back home I was checking the bill again and realized that Kurkum made some mistake and forgot to charge us for a couple of things we ordered, our bill should’ve been RO 26 at least.
The service at Kurkum was excellent, all the staff members were friendly and cheerful, the food came quickly and was presented in an elegant manner. We loved everything about Kurkum and had an awesome food there. The restaurant is still new and nobody seems to know about it yet, we hope that this excellent service and food continue remain even after more people discover this place. If you are going to take someone to see Souq Muttrah there is no better place to go to than Kurkum, but I guess only if you can find a place to park your car at the corniche which seems to be a serious hassle!
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Bamboo Kitchen – Qurum Commercial Area
Bamboo Kitchen (Telephone: 96969645) is a Thai/Chinese restaurant located in the basement of Al Araimi Complex in Qurum Commercial Area. It is jointly operated with Golden Bean Cafe, which is a bit confusing because both the restaurants are attached to each other, have their menus joint, and share staff. Bamboo Kitchen is the restaurant with the green coloured furniture (pictured above) and its items are on the green pages of the menu, while Golden Bean Cafe is the purple-themed place and its items are on the purple pages of the menu.
Bamboo Kitchen is a pretty nice looking restaurant and it is quiet spacious, but there are no tables that seat more than four people at a time. We went on a Monday at 8pm and the place was pretty empty. Al Araimi is not exactly the most happening mall so I’m not sure if the place ever gets crowded.
Bamboo Kitchen serves a good variety of Thai and Chinese, for the starters we had a portion of Prawn Rolls (RO 1.900) which came with a sweet chili dip and it was great!
We also ordered a Crispy Prawn Salad (RO 3.200), which to our surprise had the same prawn rolls we ordered for our starter – it was fine because we liked the prawn rolls, but we thought we would be getting something different.
For the main course we had a portion of Chuka Suba & Chicken (RO 4.2000) which basically was a chicken noodles cooked with various spices and baby corn. The other main course we had is Spicy Beef (pictured below – RO 4.800) which came with a side plate of boiled rice. I thought that both dishes were okay, but a bit too spicy for me – even though I consider myself a fan of spicy food.
In total we ordered 1 starter, 1 salad, 2 main courses, 1 juice, and 1 small water, our bill came to RO 16.400.
I thought that the food was OK, though no super special and in my opinion not better than Shang Thai or Noodle House, we were very irritated by the service of Bamboo Kitchen, it took a seriously long time for the waiters to acknowledge our presence, everyone seems to be on the other side of the restaurant (Golden Bean Cafe) and they just didn’t see us. Even after they realised we are there, took our order, and starter bringing the food, we couldn’t get anyone to get us an empty plate when we needed one to share the food.
I was not really impressed by Bamboo Kitchen, did anybody try this place? What was your experience like?
