Weekend grub: The Rice Bowl is a Chinese food lover's dream

The Rice Bowl is a newly opened eatery in Lahore offering Chinese food. The restaurant boasts simplicity both in terms of its menu and its interiors. We visited the restaurant and overall, were quite impressed.

Where to go

The Rice Bowl is located at one of Lahore’s hottest hang-out spots, Mall One, Main Boulevard. If you live in Lahore or visit frequently, chances are you have been here numerous times.

When to go

The Rice Bowl is open throughout the day, so you can drop by anytime you like. We went late afternoon when the restaurant was slightly less busy.

What to order

As we mentioned earlier, The Rice Bowl has a simple menu. However, ordering at the restaurant is a fun task itself.

The process begins with deciding what type of bowl you would like to order. You can choose from standard, deluxe and premium bowls, each offering one of two side dishes; noodles or rice.

Next, you decide the mains you would like to get which will perfectly complement the side. Here is where it gets fun!

The mains menu is split into two; standard and premium. Depending upon the bowl you initially selected, you decide the number and type of mains. The standard bowl offers you the option of one standard mains, deluxe offers one standard and one premium mains and the premium bowl offers two premium mains.

We ordered the deluxe bowl with rice as a side topped with dragon fire chicken, crispy prawns in sweet and sour chilli sauce and a separate order of rice with chicken & cashew nuts.

We were promised a waiting time of 15 minutes and our order was delivered approximately five minutes earlier. The servers were polite and offered comprehensive details on each item on the menu, upon our request.

The dragon fire chicken lives up to its name; fiery, tangy and exceptionally aromatic. It is a definite try for any one who likes their food spicy.

The crispy prawns in sweet and sour chilli sauce was, however, the star of the night! Each bite lends a delicious crunch, which we just couldn’t get enough of. The sauce was sweet and sour as the name suggests and offers the perfect hit of chilli in the after taste. We only wish that there were more prawns in our entree. Nonetheless, we highly recommend this dish to anyone heading over to The Rice Bowl!

The chicken & cashew nuts remains a classic order for anyone who prefers to keep it mild. All the dishes we ordered were generous portions enough for a single person serving.

What stands out about the restaurant’s menu is that they stick to what they know. So while you won’t be spoilt for choice in starters, desserts or drinks, you can be sure that what you order off of their somewhat limited menu, will be delicious.

Damage on the pocket?

This is where The Rice Bowl makes every bite worthwhile and completely justified. Their standard, deluxe and premium bowls are priced from Rs. 500 to Rs. 675 excluding tax. Our complete order for two people came up to Rs. 1,700 only including the drinks and the tax!

The Rice Bowl is a Chinese food-lover’s dream. It is a relatively affordable place to eat out, offering a clean, comfortable environment and quick service. The simple menu is classic, delicious and definitely worth a try.