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Private Dining Edinburgh
Private dining Edinburgh can book at Jimmy's Express on South Bridge: whole duck, sea bass and shared dishes for your party. Ring 0131 563 9054 to arrange.
PRIVATE DINING
Private Dining at Jimmy's Express
Private dining Edinburgh can book for a birthday, a work dinner or a family thing that needs everyone at the same table. Ring 0131 563 9054 with a date and a headcount and we will tell you honestly what the room can do.
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
When a table is not enough
There is a difference between booking a table and taking over the evening. The second one means the menu is agreed before anyone arrives, the dishes come out in an order that makes sense for the room, and nobody spends the first twenty minutes deciding between noodles and rice.
It also means we know what is coming. A table of twelve ordering one at a time is a different kind of service to a table of twelve eating the same thing, and the second one is better for everybody, including the kitchen.
We do not have a set party menu to hand you, because the right spread for a work dinner is not the right spread for a nine-year-old's birthday. Tell us the occasion and we will build it from the dishes we know travel well across a table.
Private dining Edinburgh, arranged by phone
Online booking through RESV takes up to eight people, so anything above that comes through the phone on 0131 563 9054. That is not us being difficult. A larger table needs a conversation about date, time, numbers and food, and a form cannot have one.
Ring with the date, how many are coming, whether children are coming, and what you would like to spend if there is a figure in mind. We will tell you what is possible and what is not, and we will not take a booking we cannot do properly.
If a deposit is needed we will say so when you book, rather than surprise you with it later. If something changes, tell us early and we will work around it where we can.
What we would cook for you
The centrepiece is usually duck. A whole aromatic crispy duck, £40, carved and sent out with pancakes, cucumber, leeks and hoisin, gives a table something to do with its hands in the first ten minutes. Two ducks for a big room.
Around it: a steamed sea bass at £22, dry pots for the chilli half of the family, a platter of starters, char siu and roast meats, and a couple of vegetable dishes so the table is not all brown. Yang Chow fried rice and Singapore chow mein fill in the gaps.
The point of private dining Edinburgh can get wrong is ordering by committee. Someone picks the food, twelve people eat it, and the two vegetarians look at the ceiling. We would rather agree one spread that covers everyone, with the heat marked so nobody is ambushed.
The practical side
We open at noon and close at half nine, every day, so an event fits inside that window. Lunch works well for work dinners that are not really dinners, and an early evening table leaves the rest of the night free for whatever comes next.
We are six minutes on foot from Waverley and two from the Royal Mile, so people arriving by train is not a problem. Lothian buses stop within a minute of the door and there is on-street parking on Drummond Street and Chambers Street.
All menu prices include VAT and payment is by cash or card. Please let us know of any food allergies when you book, and tell us if anyone cannot eat something. It is much easier to plan around it in advance than at the table.
Birthdays, leaving dos and family dinners
The events we do most are not corporate. A birthday where the cake comes out at the end. A leaving do for somebody who has worked in the same place for a long time. A family dinner where half the table has not seen the other half since Christmas.
Those evenings have a rhythm, and it is not a conference rhythm. People arrive late, order more than they meant to, stay longer than they said, and somebody always wants the duck. That is private dining Edinburgh can plan for rather than something that derails the kitchen.
Tell us which kind of evening it is and we will shape the timing around it. The food is the easy part. Getting the plates out at the right moment is the part worth planning.
Common questions
Questions we get asked
How many people can you take for a private dinner?
It depends on the date and how the room is laid out, so we will not quote a number here and then let you down. Tell us the headcount when you ring and we will say straight away whether it works, and what the table would look like.
Can we have the room to ourselves?
Sometimes, and it depends on the day and the numbers. For a smaller party we may set aside part of the dining room rather than the whole thing. Ring us and we will be straight with you about what is possible for your date.
Do you do set menus for parties?
We build one with you rather than handing over a list. Tell us the number, anything people will not eat, and a rough budget, and we will come back with a spread that covers the table. It takes one phone call to get most of the way there.
Can we bring a cake?
Tell us when you book and we will find space for it and bring it out when you ask. It is worth ringing ahead rather than arriving with a box at the door, and let us know if it needs cutting in a particular way. Nobody minds a birthday interrupting the meal.
A whole evening, arranged in one call
Ring 0131 563 9054 with your date and numbers. We are at 45 South Bridge, open noon until half nine, and we will tell you honestly what the room can take.