Riyadh is full of migrants who miss their national cuisines, and Saudis themselves seem to enjoy trying new dishes regularly. This is why the Saudi capital is home to practically any cuisine imaginable today. However, since my time there was limited, I must admit that the list below is not representative of the breadth of foreign cuisines one can find in Riyadh. Nevertheless, with this humble article, I will continue to explore the dining scene in Riyadh, this time focusing on the more international offerings of this increasingly cosmopolitan metropolis.
Sagarmatha Family Restaurant – https://maps.app.goo.gl/p2SXigevrbS6ZpEX8
Most migrants in Riyadh come from South Asia, and naturally numerous restaurants serve their cuisines. Sagarmatha Family Restaurant is one such eatery that was recommended online quite frequently, and for good reason. The food here is quite decent and it is competitively priced. If their menu was a bit more extensive and included some other meat-free options I believe I would be back here in a heartbeat to enjoy another meal, alas, getting these vegetable momos stir fried with some veggies was all I really wanted to try from their menu. They also gave me a free bottle of water, though I am not sure if that is the norm here or not. In any case, this is certainly a decent eatery, which is proven by the fact that it was chock-full of hard-working labourers enjoying a hearty lunch during my visit.
Spoon Corner Restaurant – https://maps.app.goo.gl/eL26gGXWgFAjXGj26
Spoon Corner Restaurant is not far away from Sagarmatha Family Restaurant, and in principle, it is not even that different of an establishment. They also offer Nepalese and Indian dishes, though this spot offered way more vegetarian options than the previous eatery did at the time. I ended up trying two dishes here, a vegetarian chow mein which came with a tasty spicy dip, and an excellent jhol vegetarian momo that did not impress me with its filling but more than made up for that with its flavourful and plentiful sauce. This sauce also paired well with the chow mein, though it did not really need extra flavour to begin with. They also serve an excellent karak chai here, one of the most potent ones I had thus far. Personally, I could say that this meal in Spoon Corner Restaurant was the best one I had in Riyadh, even including the fantastic dishes I had in the Arab eateries. I just personally prefer the flavour profile of certain Asian cuisines, so take what I say here with a pinch of salt.
911 Pizza – https://maps.app.goo.gl/nnQYRmoSoax8JNAu6
South Asian delicacies are not the only foreign dishes you can find with some ease in Riyadh. Pizza is quite ubiquitous as well. In fact, one can find pizzas of all types here, even styles that I could not find so easily elsewhere. While I am a huge fan of Neapolitan pizza, I realize that this is partially because I am yet to try many different varieties of pizzas to begin with. Well, 911 Pizza came to my rescue. This pizzeria specializes in tavern-style pizza. These are extremely thin pizzas with crispy crusts, often sliced into small squares. The hand crushed tomato sauce they used was not spiced up to my expectations, but it was tangy enough and was used generously, and the cheese covered the whole pizza evenly, though in my humble opinion, it could have been a bit sharper. I believe I am being a bit too critical with this pizza because it was by far the most expensive dish I had in Riyadh, but nevertheless, some well-intentioned criticism is fair game in my book. The service was prompt and friendly, all the ingredients were of a high quality, and most importantly, it made me realize that there is a whole range of pizzas out there that I am yet to try and enjoy. I can easily recommend a visit to 911 Pizza for any one of these reasons, and more.
Seven Cheese – https://maps.app.goo.gl/cWxyzkS2DNd4naVP7
Of course, not all pizzerias in Riyadh are so specialized or expensive, and in fact, some of the highest rated spots seems to have noticably localized this Italian dish. The highly praised Seven Cheese is one such establishment. While I was not a huge fan of their tomato sauce and cheese mix as both lacked a bolder flavour profile that I am quite fond of, I eventually found out that locals, especially the working-class folks, prefer a thicker pizza that is full of toppings, which they eat with a ton of sauce on the side. Admittedly, this is exactly what Seven Cheese excels at. All the toppings were used generously, entire bottles of sauces were provided on the table, and the whole thing weighted a ton, enough to feed a small family, or just me after a long day of wandering around. This pizza was almost a third of the price of the pizza I had back in 911 Pizza too, so the value you get here is truly unmatched too.
Deep Fries – https://maps.app.goo.gl/rDPaAzWgzZqPJnWx9
Fast food is beloved across the Arab world. That is what I observed so far and what my Arab friends told me over the years. This was the case in Riyadh as well, where American chains that are not even doing that well in the USA (looking at you Chuck E. Cheese) were full of patrons. Naturally, in due time, some locals started to create their own fast food chains as well, often resulting in successful businesses as long as they figured out what to localize and how to localize them well for Saudi taste buds. The Deep Fries is (likely) one such example, though I am not entirely sure about the origins of this franchise. They serve excellent fries tossed in a fiery blend of spices and then top it up with protein of your choice. I went with fried shrimps, and I am happy to report that these shrimps were even better than the ones one can find in Al Baik, though admittedly the prices here are on the higher side as well. Nevertheless, if you are fine eating food that is truly fried to perfection, and do not mind taking a nap afterwards, I cannot recommend Deep Fries enough. They really do justice to their name…
Canton – https://canton-express.com
While somewhat localized foreign food is widespread in Riyadh, not all such experiments turn out as successful as Deep Fries. To me, Canton looked like a localized version of Panda Express, and while I never had the original, I cannot necessarily recommend them over some of the excellent Asian eateries I dined in during my time in Riyadh. The noodles here were just nowhere near as good as what one can find at Spoon Corner Restaurant, and the shrimp dish on the side was full of carrots, not shrimp. To be fair, this meal, as a whole, was not unpleasant. It did not taste off, it was simply a bit too bland for me. Each to their own.
