Tudor Rose restaurant (St Joseph Hotel)
Tudor Rose, also accessible via St Joseph's reception
Our View
Not an obvious place to go but their special deals are superb value for an excellent meal.
The restaurant in the St Joseph hotel used to be called the Classic, but is now called the Tudor Rose. It is a much less obvious place to eat than most, unless you are staying at this hotel. Nevertheless, well worth trying. If the entrance in the side road indicated by the illuminated sign is closed, go into the hotel and through the hotel lobby.
The hotel itself is less glamorous than some of the larger ones that surround it, but its restaurant is every bit as good as most and better than many. It has a small 'no smoking' section that gets full quite quickly on busy days, and, beyond some pillars, a bigger section for smokers.
The evening dinner menu is reasonably varied and includes Egyptian and International options. It is quite expensive if you order a single main course. Soups are LE10 - LE13; starters LE11 - LE16; salads LE7 - LE13; main courses LE32 - LE62 and desserts LE9 - LE18. However, it is hardly ever necessary to pay these prices, unless you just want a lower cost single course, such as a quick, cheap salad. This is because the restaurant invariably has 'Special offers'. The longest standing special offer entitles customers to 6 four-course evening meals for £35 (English pounds). The offer is open to residents and non-residents alike. The restaurant has recently introduced a variation on this. You can now choose any four courses from the menu for LE50, without committing to 6 meals. This makes it pointless ordering a fillet steak on its own, for example, as this would cost more than a four course meal incorporating the same steak. Food of this quality at under £6 for 4 courses is well worth trying even if you are staying in a more expensive hotel.
The restaurant is also open for lunch between noon and 2.45pm when soups, appetizers, desserts and a reduced range of main courses are available, all at the same prices as the dinner menu, as well as a range of omelettes from about LE13 - LE19 and sandwiches from LE19 - LE25. At other times, snacks are available at jo's Paradise, on the roof of the St. Joseph hotel.
Review updated March 2010
Prices at March 2010