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Chinese Food Blog
The Jimmy's Express Chinese food blog: dishes, ingredients and kitchen notes from our restaurant at 45 South Bridge in Edinburgh.
From the kitchen
Chinese food, written down
The Five Most Popular Chinese Takeaway Dishes in the UKThese are the most popular Chinese takeaway dishes in the UK, and why each one keeps its place. Chinese cuisine has gained immense popularity around the…Read more
Unearth the Hidden Gems of Authentic Chinese FoodsAuthentic Chinese food is a question of technique as much as it is of ingredients. When it comes to Chinese cuisine, most people are familiar with…Read more
Conscious Indulgence Healthy Dishes from a Chinese TakeawayOrdering healthy dishes from a Chinese takeaway is easier than it looks once you know what to ask for. So, you’re on a health kick, but…Read more
Great Health Benefits of Chinese FoodThe health benefits of Chinese food come down mostly to vegetables and the way they are cooked. Chinese food is very nutritional, but it is…Read more
Chinese Food in Ethnic CuisinesChinese food in ethnic cuisines has long ranked high, and the reasons are simpler than they look. Chinese food has long ranked high on the list…Read more
10 of the most popular dishes in ChinaThese are the most popular dishes in China, and what makes each of them worth ordering. Chinese culture has a rich history tracing back thousands of…Read more
4 Reasons why Chinese restaurants are so popularThere are a few clear reasons why Chinese restaurants are so popular, and none of them are accidental. So, why is this the case? What’s so…Read more
Chinese Food CultureChinese food culture is built around sharing, timing and balance rather than courses. A Chinese meal usually consists of two parts: staple food, normally made of…Read more
What is Chinese Food?What is Chinese food? It is a family of regional cuisines rather than a single list of dishes. HOW I GOT TO LIKE CHINESE FOOD When…Read more
Some Facts about Chinese FoodA few facts about Chinese food explain why the menu is as long as it is. Chinese food encompasses a diverse culinary history with countless traditional…Read moreAbout the Chinese food blog
Our Chinese food blog is where we write about the dishes we cook at 45 South Bridge: what goes into them, where they come from, and how to order well whether you are eating in or taking away.
Start with the guides below if you are choosing a takeaway for the first time, or read the kitchen notes if you already know what you like and want the detail behind it. Everything here is written from our own kitchen in Edinburgh rather than scraped from elsewhere, and if a dish is not on our menu we say so rather than pretending.
If you are deciding what to order rather than what to read, the menu is the better place to start: it is kept current, priced, and arranged by section so you can move from starters to roast meats without scrolling. If you want the background first, read on.
We add to this blog when there is something worth saying about a dish or an ingredient, not on a schedule. That means a small number of longer pieces rather than a stream of short ones, and no repetition of the same list of popular dishes across five different pages.
The blog is arranged so you can read by interest rather than date. If you want to understand how Chinese cooking works, start with the piece on what Chinese food actually is and then the one on food culture; between them they explain more than most restaurant menus ever will.
If you are ordering rather than reading, the guides on popular takeaway dishes and on the most popular dishes in China will do more for your next meal than any list of fifty items. For the local side of things, the takeaway and delivery pages carry what we cook and how we send it out.
Common questions
Questions we get asked
How long has Jimmy’s Express been on South Bridge?
The restaurant has been at 45 South Bridge long enough to be part of the street, and our head chef has been cooking for forty-five years. We are family-run and we would rather talk about the food than about dates, but come in and the photograph on the wall tells the story.
Who is the head chef?
Sam Shum, who came to Edinburgh from Hong Kong and has spent forty-five years in kitchens. He runs the pass, tastes everything that leaves it, and works with a team of under chefs. He is the reason the roast meats taste the same on a Tuesday as they do on a Saturday.
Is Jimmy’s Express part of a chain?
No. It is one restaurant at one address, run by one family. That is why the person who answers the phone can also tell you whether the duck is still available, and why nobody will read you a corporate script about your feedback.
What kind of Chinese food do you cook?
Hong Kong Cantonese at the base: roast duck, char siu, poached chicken, won ton, noodles and rice. On top of that the menu reaches into Sichuan and Hunan cooking with dry pots and chilli dishes, plus a few Hong Kong cafe dishes such as baked rice and milk tea.
Come and see the room
We are at 45 South Bridge, open noon until half nine every day. Book a table, or walk in and ask what is good today.
