There was once a time when a corner in Dabab Street, Sulaimania attracted the attention of diners. In there you'll find one of the best French bakeshop and restaurant in Riyadh. People flock to eat authentic French dishes and buy French pastries and bread too. Nowadays, it's mostly ignored because it's overtaken by the more known French restaurants in the city. But for me, I couldn't ignore this place because 1. it's near our flat and this is my landmark when I ride the taxi (Saddiq, malloum French Corner?), 2. I actually like the food, and 3. I get to enjoy the solitude of eating in a place na parang akin lang yung lugar.
French Corner is a French restaurant and bakeshop that sits in a busy but small intersection in Suleimania. At first, you wouldn't really notice it unless you're looking for the blue and red sign reminiscent of the flag of France. But of course! I usually go there for the bread and pastries. I like their cheesecake but its rather dry pero pwede na. I also like their muffins and marjolaine, a dessert cake. I've tried their chocolates too but they're too sweet for my taste. The handmade caramel ice cream is good and I was tempted to try the sorbets. I even tried their sandwich. Anyway, it's the restaurant that I visited recently so...
The dining place for families is located on the second floor. Once there, you'll feel that the place was somewhat abandoned. There are no regular patrons and the decorations are sparse. The tables were set-up though. During the time I went with friends, I felt like we own the place.
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| All by ourselves... :) |
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| Well, at least the tables are ready. |
We were alone and we have a butler waiter waiting for our orders. Just ours. We took the table by the window and perused their menu with excitement. I mean, I don't know anything about French dishes aside from the fact that they're hard to read and pronounce. Lol.
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| Free bread and butter |
The bread comes to the table warm but a little bit hard. When eaten with butter alone, it doesn't have any astounding difference to other bread we've had in steakhouses. It's a better pair to the soup.
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| Bisque de langouste a' notre facon (lobster bisque), SR16 |
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| Soupe a L'oignon Parisienne (french onion soup with cheese toast), SR16 |
Sige, kayo na ang mahirap i-pronounce! :P We enjoyed the bisque more because the onion soup was runny and bland.
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| Croustillant de saumon et crevettes beurre de vanille, SR42 |
We're not sure how the French eat but this is part of their appetizer menu. This is salmon and shrimps in crispy paste pan-fried vanilla butter sauce. Looks good enough for dinner to me, especially with that rice. This is good. It's creamy and the shrimps are nicely plump. However, I haven't tasted this hard to pronounce dish anywhere else so I have no comparison.
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| Ravioli Amandine, SR38 |
This is ravioli stuffed with salmon and shrimps served with lobster bisque gratined. It's delicious but order this keeping "sharing" in mind. Nakakasuya (cloying) s'ya when you finish this on your own. It has huge chunks of salmon, which is different from other restos scrimping on them.
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| French Corner Mixed Grilled, SR48 |
Consisting of chicken, steak, lamb chops, sausages, we enjoyed their huge plate of mixed grilled meats plus fries... even if we're not sure how French this is. Lol. The meats are juicy but a little bit torched much.
Overall, the dinner experience in French Corner is fine. Nothing elaborate or fancy. It's a good place if you value your privacy so much and you just want to talk with your friends. A good wine will be welcome, lol. Just kidding. While its true that you won't really go out your way to dine here, it might be worth it if you want to enjoy the French cuisine without the usual fanfare of restaurants with too many waiters and diners. This is one simple, private dinner you'll probably enjoy once in a while.
French Corner
Dabab St., Suleimania
Riyadh, KSA
T: 01-4645322
