Walking along 16th street in Khobar looking for a place to eat, we chanced upon ‘Food Inn Restaurant’ with a decent rating of 4.0 on @googlemaps. I was joined by @shareeka23 and @foodingmyselfaround and we decided we would try something new for a change. The restaurant advertises that it is a ‘Mughalai – Chinese – Grill & Seafood’ restaurant and has family seating at the rear. 

First impressions weren’t promising and the restaurant definitely has a problem maintaining cleanliness. The partition curtains could do with a wash and there is no door leading to the Hand Wash / Toilet area, just a very dirty clear plastic curtain. The fittings too could do with a change and I strongly recommend they make these changes at the earliest.

We decided to each order a different item off the menu and ended up ordering 7 different items.

• Jeera Rice – SR. 12 (Serves 2)
• Hyderabadi Chicken Biriyani – SR. 15
• Chicken Fried Rice – SR. 20
• Chicken Tikka Masala – SR. 25 (Serves 2-3)
• Brain Fry – SR. 15
• Lemon Chicken Chinese Style – SR. 20 (Serves 1-2)
• Fried Fish – SR 25 (Serves 3)

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The food didn’t take too long to arrive thankfully and I started off with the ‘Jeera Rice’ and the ‘Chicken Tikka Masala’. Both were off the mark with the Jeera rice lacking any real flavour and the ‘Chicken Tikka Masala’ feeling a little underwhelmed with how the spices had rendered. It could have also done with a bit more salt and combined together it wasn’t too bad, but could have been better.

The ‘Fried Fish’ though was quite crispy and tender on the inside and if you squeeze a generous amount of lemon, can really elevate the flavour of the fish.

The ‘Hyderabadi Chicken Biriyani’ too fell short and lacked the delicious masala that usually comes with any good Hyderabadi Biriyani. The rice was good but at the end of the day, what’s a Biriyani without the masala. 

The ‘Brain Masala’ made up for the disappointing Biriyani and had some good spices and flavour. Though the brains had been diced a bit too much, this was actually quite delicious and would go well with some soft ‘Garlic Naan’. 

The highlight of the meal was definitely the Indo-Chinese style ‘Chicken Fried Rice’ and ‘Lemon Chicken’ which @shareeka23 had ordered. There is no shortage of chicken in the fried rice and coupled with the tanginess of the lemon chicken, this was a mouth watering combination that made up for the disappointing order that I had placed. The lemon chicken comes fried and soaks up the thick lemony gravy giving it a distinct flavour.

If I were to visit this restaurant again, it would be to try their ‘Indo-Chinese’ menu. The restaurant is quite affordable and the bill came to a decent total of SR. 139.

Location: https://goo.gl/maps/am8QEFnYwxDvs5Gz8