Home / Chinese Restaurant South Bridge Edinburgh
Chinese Restaurant South Bridge Edinburgh
Jimmy's Express is a family-run Chinese restaurant South Bridge Edinburgh knows, with head chef Sam Shum and forty-five years of Hong Kong cooking. Book today.
OUR STORY
A South Bridge Kitchen, and the Chef in It
Chinese restaurant South Bridge Edinburgh, at number 45, with Sam Shum in the kitchen and a family behind the counter. Forty-five years of cooking, one address, and a menu that runs from roast duck to Sichuan chilli. It suits a wet Tuesday as well as a birthday.
Family-run
Behind the counter since day one
Cooked to order
Nothing sits under a lamp
South Bridge
Six minutes from Waverley
Open daily
Noon until half nine
The Chinese restaurant South Bridge Edinburgh keeps walking past
South Bridge is not a pretty street and it is not a quiet one. It is the road between the Royal Mile and the university, and everything that implies: students at ten, office workers at one, people dragging suitcases up from Waverley, and a bus every ninety seconds. It is, however, the shortest way between two things everybody wants to see.
The restaurant sits at the top end of the street, and the door is easy to miss if you are looking at your phone. It has been a restaurant for a long time and it looks like one: warm, lit, a bit worn in the places that get used. The Old Town is two minutes uphill and the Cowgate is one minute down, which is why we get a mix of people rather than one kind.
That is the setting. What people come back for is the food, and the food is Hong Kong cooking with a chilli habit picked up from Sichuan. It is the sort of Chinese restaurant South Bridge Edinburgh needs more of, and the setting matters less than you would think.
Sam Shum, and forty-five years of it
Our head chef came from Hong Kong and has been cooking for forty-five years. That is a long time in a trade that burns people out, and it shows in the parts of the job you cannot photograph: the seasoning, the timing, the way a plate is checked before it leaves. You do not stay in a kitchen for forty-five years by being quick. You stay by being right.
He works with a team of under chefs who do the prep, the wok work and the plating. He still tastes everything. If a sauce has split or a duck has gone too far, it is not going out, and nobody argues about it because he is usually right. It is not a one-man show, whatever the menu says.
What that gives you is consistency. The honey char siu tastes like honey char siu on a Wednesday and on a Saturday. The won ton broth is the same broth. That is not luck. It is a man who has made it several hundred thousand times.
A family business, run like one
We are family-run, which mostly means nobody is following a script written by someone in an office. The menu is not designed by a marketing team either. If you ask what is good today, you will get an answer based on what came out of the kitchen an hour ago rather than what is on a poster.
It also means the person taking your booking may also be the person seating you and the person who remembers that you did not want coriander last time. There is no call centre. There is a phone on a counter. The regulars get asked how the family is, and they ask back.
Not the cheapest Chinese restaurant in Edinburgh, and not trying to be. We are trying to cook properly, charge a fair price, and have you come back without needing to be persuaded.
How we fit into the street
In August the whole city changes gear. We feed people before a show and after one, and we get used to tables that need to turn. The rest of the year it is quieter and slower, and the room fills with regulars who order the same thing every time and are no worse off for it. We like August. It is exhausting and we like it.
Opening hours are noon until half nine, every day, and bookings run through RESV for up to eight people. Anything larger goes through the phone. Delivery is Uber Eats and Deliveroo, collection is HungryPanda or the counter, and all menu prices include VAT. If you are not sure which suits, ask when you ring.
Please let us know of any food allergies when you order. Everything else, including the chilli levels, is printed on the menu. The allergy conversation is the one thing we would ask you not to leave until the plate arrives.
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.