This royal dragon just about manages to purr

The next time you go visit your neighbour-hood branch of garcia's for a slice, you have a choice of digging into a bowl of noodles as well. But as we found out, you'd be better off sticking to their signature cheesy pizzas

The next time you go visit your neighbour-hood branch of garcia's for a slice, you have a choice of digging into a bowl of noodles as well. But as we found out, you'd be better off sticking to their signature cheesy pizzas

Royal Dragon is perhaps Garcia's Famous Pizza's answer to rival companies who've also started to deliver swiftly rustled up Oriental cuisine.

The Chinese joint shares kitchen space with its older Italian brother-in-business (a cost cutting decision, may be?).

There were no signboards or banners of the new joint at the Garcia's outlet at Tardeo where we picked up our takeaway as well. Needless to say, with very little publicity, the dragon is yet to get off its snooze mode.

In fact, the guy at the counter seemed pretty surprised when we asked for a Royal Dragon menu card instead of rattling off an order for a pizza from the by-now-well-known Garcia's menu.

Chicken Wings, Mushroom Corn Fried Rice, Crackling Balls, Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce and Royal Dragon Special Saute Baby corn and Mushroom.

After a ten-minute consultation with the mighty bored staff sitting at the counter, we decided to try Crackling Balls (Rs 105) with paneer stuffing, also available with chicken and prawn stuffing, and Chicken Wings (Rs 95) for starters.

For the main course, we picked up Royal Dragon Special Saute Baby corn and Mushroom (Rs 115) and Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce (Rs 135) with Mushroom Corn Fried Rice (Rs 95).

The food arrived after a half-hour wait, though we were told it would only take 15 minutes.

Forgiving the delay, we tucked in. The Crackling Balls were a Chinese version of the desi bread pakoda, a little too oily but an interesting fusion.

The Chicken Wings and Royal Dragon Special, true to the jaded counter guy's word, were not very spicy yet yummy.

Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce and Mushroom Corn Fried Rice made for a decent combination with the spicy and tangy gravy going well with the rice.

Though the food wasn't disappointing, it wasn't impressive either. With the backing of Garcia's, which has established itself despite stiff competition from other pizza places, we expected better from Royal Dragon.

At: Garcia's Famous Pizza outlets at Tardeo, Bandra, Juhu, Malad and Churchgate.
Call: 64522501 / 65052401 / 65162206 / 66751101 / 66159425.
Time: 11 am to 11 pm
Royal Dragon didn't know we were there. The Guide reviews anonymously and pays for meals.