Not That Royal China

There’re almost no Chinese restaurants in Argentina, but there’re some in Buenos Aires. One edible and presentable restaurant, to be precise. Royal China. It’s got no affiliation to the chain of Royal China we know. It’s just the name used that’s the same. A tad misleading, I would say. Whatever happened to trademarks ah?

When a restaurant of today has no website, I’m almost skeptical. We thought it's some dingy little eatery. We felt better when we saw it. The décor is assuring in the modern chic familiarity of Chinese restaurants. Located in the touristy stretch along the river at Puerto Madero, Royal China has its fair share of customers in the form of locals, expatriates and tourists.

It’s edible because the Chef is from Hong Kong. It was a little disconcerting to have the Chef walk out of the kitchen and speak in Cantonese-accented Mandarin to the manager who’s a Chinese lady. The rest of the staff is Spanish. They do speak a little bit of English. Aside from pointing to the menu when ordering food, it'll be a little tough to ask for other things unless you speak Mandarin or Spanish.

However, the steamed white rice used isn’t the jasmine fragrant rice we know. It’s Argentine long-grain rice. To me, I eat so little that I don’t quite care about it. But the others on the table scrunched up their faces at it and pronounced it “not nice”. Alamak, this isn't a white-rice eating city lah. Their rice is meant to be buttered rice or used in salads. Or as risotto. Duhhh. Anyway, the Chinese dishes were fairly good and OILY. Luckily I didn’t have to eat there more than twice, otherwise, I will not get to eat all the empanadas I want.

Royal China Restaurant, Tel: +54 11 4313-8121

Alicia Moreau de Justo 1808, (at Puerto Madero) Buenos Aires, Argentina