A ROYAL EXPERIENCE?
I had heard a lot of good things about the Royal Baths Chinese Restaurant on Crescent Road, Harrogate so at last I decided to try it out for myself and four of us chose Saturday night for our Royal Baths experience.
As you enter the building, you can deposit your coats in the cloakroom and you then open the doors to what can only be described the most grand and sumptous Chinese restaurant interior in the country.
As the restaurant has two sittings (which I'm not always crazy about) we were shown through to the Champagne bar where we ordered drinks. The bar was buzzing and included a large party in black tie and cocktail dresses (I later saw they had their own private room)
There seemed to be no evidence of the recession in this restaurant (although we are now apparently coming out of it!). We were shown through to our table in the magnificent dining room and our orders were taken. The menu choice was impressive and mouth watering.
We chose to sample one of the set menus which included a sweet and sour dish,chicken and vegetables, a King Prawn dish and rice and noodles. We added another main course of Deep Fried Beef with Chilli. The usual Starters were produced and included ribs,rolls,satay style chicken and sesame prawn toast as well as splendid seaweed!
Some of the items on the menu are expensive but the Set Menus in particular were good value for money and the food was tasty and plentiful. I have never seen so many staff in one restaurant and so as expected the service was attentive and friendly. We were brought the wrong main course at first but this was a small blip and we were not kept waiting.
The restaurant is certainly one to experience both in terms of the spectacular setting and the quality of the food and service although do expect to pay just a little more than usual, but after all the Royal Baths Chinese is an unusual and special Royal experience!!
The Royal Baths Chinese Restaurant and Champagne Bar can be contacted on 01423 536888 and booking is advised particularly at weekends.
