In our mind you can quickly judge whether the restaurant’s offering is going to be worth a write up based on it’s busyness. It’s not rocket science we know, but it’s a pretty good rule of thumb. Whenever we’ve visited Oriental Kitchen all tables have been taken and we’ve had to keep our fingers crossed that someone will finish up soon.
That aside once you get a table, service is fast and helpful (if only we’d asked about the egg soup… more on this later). As the name suggests it offers an extensive range of pan Asian dishes, which always presents something new to try, however it seems that the butter prawn is a bit hit with the regulars – we counted at least 3 dishes of this teetering tower of plump prawns heading towards happy looking customers.
On our most recent visit we tucked into:
Kung Pao beef with rice.
Spicy, tender and ever so tasty: this dish has two portion sizes available with differing prices, you can choose it as a meal for one that comes with rice or the bigger version sans rice that’s good to serve 2-3. Would we order this again? You bet.
Singapore fried noodles
This simple yet satisfying dish isn’t overloaded with other ingredients, having said that you won’t have to go hunting for the shredded egg, chicken and shrimps, which are delicately flavoured and thankfully didn’t leave a greasy residue on the plate or palate.
Lemon chicken
Fried in a light batter, the chicken was perfectly cooked and the lemon sauce was light and refreshing rather than sticky and cloying. Thumbs up from L&M.
The things to keep in check obviously are to ensure that the meals (especially if you intend to share) go complement each other. The kick-ass spicy dried chilli flavor of the Kung Pao beef overpowered the noodles a little, having said that it was nice to have something to beat the heat.
The interiors are of Oriental Kitchen cannot be called pretty and the seating arrangement also appear a little disorderly, but we urge you not to be put off. It’s charm comes served hot, fast, fresh and flavoursome. The meals will ensure all attention is on the food and the company you keep as you try and nab some of their delicious looking dish. Plus when you receive the bill (which has always come under 100 QR for two, sometimes less than 60QR depending on our hunger) you’ll thank them for sparing you the lavish candelabra.
What we found out the hard way:
As a previous visit revealed, if you go there by yourself and are looking for something light to order. The soup dishes aren’t (we ordered the egg) are not meant for just one person. It feeds an entire family. Seriously!
The Damage: 85 QR for food and drinks
Lemon & Mint rating: 4/5
Lemon & Mint
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