JEDDAH, 24 October — Sadly, the quality of the food deteriorates sometimes at fancy restaurants to the extent that you come to count more on fast food outlets.

At least with fast food you can be sure the food will always tasting the same.

Kudu is a place unlike any other in the sense that it is open from 7 a.m. until 4 a.m. Because of those hours, many guys like to frequent it at odd times to grab something to eat. When I was at university, I knew a number of girls who stopped by at Kudu for breakfast on their way to class. Their mouth-watering waffles alone are worth a trip, and they cost just SR5. The pancakes are equally good, always fresh and with just the right amount of fluff.

Another breakfast delight is the steak and eggs. There’s also the “Kudu breakfast” — bread and butter with jam, sausages, coffee and orange juice. While their sandwiches are not out of this world, they definitely fill a gap. The most popular are the Kudu roast beef sandwich — which is really long — and the Kudu chicken sandwich, the Kudu club sandwich and the turkey sandwich. The turkey is one of my personal favorites, and I like the fact that they supply your order with individual packages of mayonnaise, ketchup, salt and pepper. It’s a good thing because their fries are usually in desperate need of salt.

Their chicken nuggets are wonderfully tender. The onion rings however do not warrant a better comment than okay. The chicken lunch is also good. And then there are the burgers. The chicken is fine, but the big Kudu with cheese is... stomach upsetting. The meat is not at all appetizing; you can tell it’s not high quality. Kudu is a kind of African deer and the name is supposed to indicate high quality food. But that’s not the reality as far as the meat is concerned.

And now for the worst part: They serve NO DESSERT other than apple pie similar to the one at McDonald’s (except that McDonald’s is better). The bits of apple are raw and really hard.

Generally, I was extremely disappointed; but I wouldn’t go as far as suggesting that the place should be shut down. The decor of the branch in Jeddah’s Tahlia Street is rather appealing; the color scheme is mustard yellow and blue. It’s quite big too. What struck me as unusual is that you can see the kitchen from where you stand to give your order. I mean, I could see everything — from the slices of fresh tomatoes to the stacks of bread.

Kudu is located in Jeddah and there are branches in Riyadh, Qatar, Dubai and Bahrain.