‘Wok of Life’ is a new Chinese restaurant that has come up in MBD, near BankMuscat. Yesterday being a weekend, we decided to check out the new kid on the block that commenced operations in mid-February.

The restaurant is quite spacious and the décor is elegant. We were told the hotel could seat up to 120 people. Being a Friday noon, there wasn’t much crowd, and we were lead to our table by the affable hotel staff.

We decided to give starters a miss, and zeroed in on four main course dishes – Cantonese chicken, Seasonal vegetables with broccoli in Chinese parsley sauce (Ah! how can a name be so complicated…), Singapore veg. noodles and Veg. fried rice.

Before our order arrived, we were given a complimentary round of kimchi (a South Korean delicacy akin to Indian pickles). Frankly, the kimchi tasted weird, nothing close to the one I had relished in an authentic Korean restaurant in Bangalore, a few years back.

The food arrived after 20 minutes, surprisingly late since there were only 10-15 customers at that point of time. The Singapore veg. noodles tasted good, and it went well with Cantonese chicken. Seasonal vegetables with broccoli in Chinese parsley sauce was quite different, and it had a unique flavour. I want to try this again. The fried rice was a bit oily, but ok. Finally, we had Chinese tea, which I guess is the easiest tea on this universe to prepare. Throw some herbs into hot water, and tea is done, bingo!

For four main course dishes and tea, our bill was RO10.5. I glanced through the menu, and there is a good variety in terms of soups, starters, and main course items. Starters cost around RO1.5 to RO 3, and main course items around RO2.5 to RO5. Fish and crab items costs anywhere between RO5 to RO9. The food and non-pretentious atmosphere did impress me. The whole restaurant is a non-smoking zone, much to my relief.

Rating:

Food: 4/5
Ambience: 4/5
Service: 4/5