Saudi-Chinese cultural festival: Chinese cuisine draws crowds in Riyadh

The Common Ground Festival was held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, with the authentic Chinese cuisine cooked on the spot becoming a highlight.

Set against the backdrop of traditional Chinese markets, this festival presented the cultures of China and Saudi Arabia in a single space, featuring artistic performances, intangible cultural heritage displays, art exhibitions, and food culture.

Among all the exhibition areas, the food experience area was one of the busiest sections, bustling with people.

Three booths were set up in the food area, two of which offered China-Saudi fusion dishes, and the other one that drew large crowds served authentic Chinese food prepared on-site.

“Saudis generally like Chinese cuisine,” said Jade He, the vendor of Chinese cuisine, during the festival. “Every day, visitors queue up in long lines to pick up the freshly cooked Chinese food we provide.”

Delicacies such as beef noodles, steamed buns, dumplings and rice noodles are provided to tourists for free within a limited time and quantity every day.

All the freshly made delicacies here still retain the authentic Chinese flavors and were not specially adjusted to cater to the tastes of locals.

“Saudis generally have a sweet tooth,” he said. “So for those who come to taste Chinese cuisine, we will also offer customers some free localized sweet noodles according to their taste preferences.”

Basseh, a local university student at Princess Noor University, is a fan of Chinese food. 

“Chinese food is really delicious, and the meat tastes really good,” said Basseh. She said that if more Chinese restaurants will open in Riyadh in the future, she is willing to try them one by one.

Mahamed, a staff at the event site said that the cultural festival is so popular that more than 3,000 people come to visit the exhibition every day, mainly local Saudis and Chinese.

Jade He said he participated in the exhibition both to promote his Riyadh restaurant and, more broadly, to introduce Chinese cuisine and culture internationally.

He mentioned that in the past few years, the number of Chinese restaurants in Saudi Arabia has been soaring, from around twenty at the beginning to over a hundred now.

Tripadvisor currently lists about 60 Chinese restaurants in Riyadh.

“The emergence of more Chinese restaurants in Riyadh is not only to allow more foreigners to taste Chinese food, but also to enable more Chinese people to enjoy the ‘flavors of home’ here,” he said.

However,  interviewees noted that there are different challenges in running Chinese restaurants well in Saudi Arabia.

“Language barriers are the greatest difficulty,” he said. 

He also added that Saudi Arabia has very high requirements for the hygiene of restaurant environments and food,  which demands that Chinese restaurant operators here should have considerable experience in the catering industry. 

The year 2025 marks the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Saudi Arabia and is also the first “Sino-Saudi Cultural Year”.

As Saudi Arabia gradually opens up its tourism and entertainment industries, He believes Chinese restaurants have enormous growth potential in Saudi Arabia.