I LOVE WANDERING from Princes
Street over the Bridges. There is such a melting pot of culinary cultures in
this part of Edinburgh that excites me every time. We were actually en route to
Tanjore on this rather dark and
chilly July evening when, unsurprisingly, a drizzle of rain fell causing us to
take evasive action and dive, conveniently, into
Jimmy’s Express Chinese.
Now I must admit Chinese food is
not one my favourite cuisines, but
Jimmy’s
had caught my eye on Instagram so was duly added to my ‘must visit’ list. An enthusiastic waiter greeted us warmly and
we gratefully took our seats in the middle of the dining room; you can’t help
but notice it’s full of Asian people, which is reassuring.
Sarah and I split a portion of
chicken gyoza (£8.50) to begin and were instantly impressed, six perfectly
formed dumplings evenly crisped up on each side and packed with meat. I liked
that the chicken had texture to it, rather than being that generic mushy
filling you often find. The only niggle was that they needed seasoning, which
was, to be fair, corrected when dipped in the soy dressing, although there
wasn’t enough of it to satisfy a portion of this size.
We continued the sharing theme with
mains ordering char siu chow mein (£15.50) and crispy shredded chicken with
honey sauce (£14.50), as well as a side of egg fried rice for an additional
£4.50. Not the easiest of dishes to make look sexy, but the first impression of
the chow mein certainly enticed you. Taste-wise it was instantly enjoyable with
tender chunks of pork, crunchy vegetables and soft angel hair noodles adding a
bit of body. The crispy chicken was exactly that with the slight sweetness of
honey accurately balancing the heat of the chilli and the savoury poultry. Both were hearty portions, too.
Service was arguably the standout
element of the night, and I don’t mean that to detract from the
excellent
food. Our original waiter kindly put the
football on for another patron and handed out a tangerine to everyone as if to
say, “Make sure you get your five a day!”.
This meal was like sitting in your
friend's living room tucking into a takeaway with the footie on. The food was
extremely gratifying and certainly worth the stroll from the city centre. Pity
they couldn’t fix the weather…
Web: jimmysexpress.com Instagram: @jimmysexpressedinburgh
Phone: (0131) 563 9054
Address:45 South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH11LL
Open: seven days from 12- 9:30 p.m.
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