Sinouhe and Dragon restaurants (merged)

Sinouhe and the Dragon have been closed since October 2009. We believe they are still closed.

Sinouhe (pronounced shin-oo-ee) is a first floor restaurant on the southern side of town, on the main road that serves most of the hotels. It is on the left side of the road when you have your back to the town centre. Once up the stairs from street level, the Sinouhe opens into a larger space than you first expect. The decorations are bright, adding to the feeling of openness. As well as the large internal restaurant there is a balcony where drinks and snacks can be taken.

We used to like the Sinouhe. It offered a mixture of Egyptian and some Chinese dishes and its prices were very keen indeed. Things have changed a little. The Dragon Chinese restaurant, which used to be almost opposite, next to the Nile Palace hotel, has closed and merged with Sinouhe. Sinouhe still has its largely Egyptian menu. It also has a separate chinese menu based on the Dragon one, and a third menu linked to the Red Lion pub, which is also part of the complex. You can choose from all three menus.

The restaurant caters for large groups including coach parties, and can arrange a self-service buffet if they are given adequate notice. They can become busy when these groups are in, but most of the time, between the large groups, it is quiet, with plenty of waiting staff to provide attentive service.

The food appears freshly prepared and is served hot. We sometimes find the Tagen a little more oily than usual. Overall the Egyptian and international meals rarely disappoint but seldom excite. The prices are high for the type of restaurant. Tagen meals start at LE41.70, pastas are just under LE40, a steak with pepper sauce is LE57.30 and fish-based main courses are around LE60. There are also snacks, but they are also expensive. An omelette meal is a whopping LE39.30 and desserts are mainly LE14.40. You can get better meals in a more sophisticated restaurant for those prices.

None of the chefs from the Dragon have come over to the new merged restaurant and it shows. The Chinese meals are not as good as they were at the original Dragon. The food is OK, but no better than OK and bearing in mind there are other Chinese restaurants in Luxor, we would not choose this one above the others, even though prices for Chinese meals are a little lower than at the main competitor, Asia House. Main courses are just under LE40 and rices start at aroundLE10. Drinks are a little higher than at Asia House. Softs are LE10 and beers are from about LE20.

The Sinouhe lacks the atmosphere of other restaurants, and many of those others also offer better food. Sinouhe used to be on our 'worth a try' list, but since the changes and price increases we now think it is better to leave it to the pre-arranged coach parties and guests wanting to eat whilst enjoying a few drinks at the Red Lion bar / disco, which shares the space in the evening and into the early hours.

Updated March 2010
Prices at February 2009