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Group Dining Edinburgh
Group dining Edinburgh can book at Jimmy's Express on South Bridge. Tables up to eight online, larger parties by phone. Ring 0131 563 9054 to arrange yours.
LARGE TABLES
Group Dining at Jimmy's Express
Group dining Edinburgh tends to be booked late and decided by nobody. We can help with that. Tables up to eight book online, anything bigger comes through 0131 563 9054, and we will build an order that feeds everyone without a committee meeting.
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
Group dining Edinburgh can arrange without a spreadsheet
The first decision is how many of you there are. Up to eight, use the online booking. Nine or more, ring us. That is the only firm rule, and it exists because a large table needs a person to plan it rather than a form to record it.
The second decision is the food. A group can order dish by dish, but it works better if one or two people agree a spread in advance and everyone eats from the middle. That is how Chinese food is designed to work, and it saves the last person at the table eating cold rice while the first is on pudding.
The third is timing. Large tables take a bit longer to get going, so an earlier start usually makes for a better evening. Turn up at eight with twelve people and the kitchen has to do everything at once.
Booking a table for nine or more
Ring 0131 563 9054. We will ask the date, the time, the number, and whether anyone cannot eat something. Then we will tell you what is possible. If the room cannot take you on the night you want, we will say so and offer you another.
This is group dining Edinburgh does not always make easy, and we know it. The phone call is longer than a form, but it is the difference between a table that works and a table that is two tables pushed together with a gap in the middle.
We can also price a set spread for the group, which removes the arithmetic from the evening. Tell us the budget per head and we will tell you what it buys.
What to order for a big table
Start with duck. One whole aromatic crispy duck, £40, feeds about four to six as part of a meal, and the theatre of assembling pancakes slows the table down in a good way. For a party of twelve, two ducks.
Then a spread: Yang Chow fried rice, Singapore chow mein, salt and pepper chicken, beef brisket with potato, a dry pot for the chilli half, and two vegetable dishes. The mixed platter at £19.50 covers the first ten minutes while everyone settles.
One rice per person is roughly right, and it is better to order slightly less than to have three half-empty trays going cold. Tell us the number and we will do the arithmetic with you, which is the part of group dining Edinburgh usually leaves to chance.
If there is a vegetarian at the table, the pak choi with garlic and the aubergines Yuxiang style are not an afterthought. Order them for everybody rather than for one person, and the table will be better for it.
Whole aromatic crispy duck, £40, for every four to six people.
Mixed platter, £19.50, before the food arrives.
Salt and pepper chicken, £15.50, and beef brisket with potato.
Pak choi with garlic, £12.50, and aubergines Yuxiang style, £13.50.
Fridays, Saturdays and August
Friday and Saturday evenings are the two sittings that fill first, and August is a month to itself. If you want a big table in either, ring earlier than feels necessary. Two weeks is not excessive in the Festival.
Lunch is a fair bit easier. A group at noon gets the room at its calmest, the food comes out faster, and you can be back out on the street in an hour if you have somewhere to be.
There is also a middle option: an early evening table at five or half five, which gives you the room before the rush and gets you finished in time for whatever comes next. If you are booking for August, do it now rather than in July, because the answer changes by the week.
Bills, cakes and the fiddly bits
Bills can be split, or kept in one place. Tell us at the start rather than the end, because untangling twelve people's orders after the plates are cleared is nobody's favourite job.
All prices include VAT, there is no service charge added at the end, and payment is by cash or card. If somebody is paying for all of it, even easier. If nobody wants to do arithmetic, one card pays and the rest settle with them afterwards. That is easier than six cards and a calculator.
Tell us about birthdays and allergies when you book. We will not sing, but we will make sure the cake arrives at the right moment and that the person who cannot eat shellfish is looked after properly rather than awkwardly.
Common questions
Questions we get asked
How many people can you seat together?
It depends on the date and the layout of the room, so we will not print a number here and then disappoint you. Tell us the headcount when you ring and we will tell you honestly whether we can seat you all at one table or need to arrange the room differently.
Is there a deposit for large bookings?
If one is needed we will say so when you book, along with anything else you should know, rather than surprising you later. Ring 0131 563 9054 with your date and numbers and we will go through the whole thing in one call.
Can we order from the full menu as a group?
Yes. Groups can order dish by dish from the whole menu, though we would suggest agreeing a spread in advance. It tends to mean everyone eats at the same time, which is the point of a shared Chinese meal in the first place.
Do you do Christmas parties?
December fills up quickly, so get in early. Ring 0131 563 9054 with the date and the number and we will tell you what is available and put a spread together for the group. We do not publish a party menu because every party is a different shape.
One table, one spread, no committee
Ring 0131 563 9054 with your date and headcount. Up to eight people can book online. Large tables need a conversation, and we are happy to have it.
