‘ You know I’m not a salad person but I’m going for a second plate because it’s so good’ – praise indeed from my husband who only eats salad if it’s in a burger or shawarma. He was right, an array of beautifully presented salads greeted us on Sunday when we visited Choices restaurant at the Oryx Rotana for their Tex Mex night.
I have eaten at The Cellar and Jazz Club at the Oryx before and can highly recommend both but haven’t been to Choices. I was a bit taken back and pleasantly surprised by how light, airy and modern the restaurant was, a really lovely space. We were quickly seated and showed the various areas – salads, nachos station, live grill, cheese fountain (!), breads, hot dishes and desserts. There was so much choice but it wasn’t overwhelming as it had all been set out so well.
We started with lots of fabulous salads – beetroot, avocado with sour cream, mussels with salsa, coleslaw, prawn ceviche, cold cuts of meat and plump poached lobster.
We then moved on to mains of chargrilled beef, which had a good kick of chilli, and was served pink, chili con carne, fajitas, nachos, tacos, calamari – the list goes on. Everything we ate tasted fresh and was packed full of flavour.
There was a fairly small dessert section with fresh fruits, sauces, creme brûlée, rice pudding and cakes. To be fair we’d left little room for dessert but we did enjoy the raspberry mousse cake and the rice pudding. Service throughout was attentive but not intrusive. It is clear that the new team in the kitchen and front of house have a desire to produce good quality food and give customers a great dining experience.
Throughout the week Choices offers various theme evenings as well as a Friday Brunch with live music. The Tex Mex evening is priced at 215QR food only (I think 1 soft drink or small water should be included in that perhaps as there is no soft drink option) 305QR including house beverages and 350QR including sparkling wine and spirits.
* On this occasion I was a guest of the Oryx Rotana. As always my review is completely honest and the photographs are my own *
Eat. Sleep. Repeat 