from Meng (89%) on August 5th, 2007 (1 year ago)

Great Wall Chinese Restaurant, 105-109 Lothian Road, EH3 9AN, Edinburgh

The Great Wall of China. Eaten there on 3 occassions (the restaurant, not the Wonder of the World). 1 for a proper full monty Chinese wedding restaurant-meal. The other sort of shared food off a flatmate's takeaway, and the last for dim sum (that's a light meal served with Chinese tea, usually a brekkie tradition a la Sunday tea, and more akin to tapas these days).

For the full-on Chinese wedding experience, get yourself invited to a Chinese wedding. Man, this restuarant spares no expense at trying to show off to show off. You know the type, lobster, deep fried sea bass, 4 seasons, chilli crab, etc, etc. Just like home. And Chinese weddings.

The takeaway stuff? Reasonable. But just not good enough for the price you know? I've had better takeaway stuff that's cheaper, is all I'm saying. And all of you KNOW that the 'Great British Chinese Takeaway' phenomena (much like the All-American Chinese Takeaway phenomena. See chop suey and fortune cookies. Yep, you heard me, fortune cookies are as Uncle Sam as Apple Pie) is a culinary genre in its own right. C'mon, how many Chinese people do you actually see eating that takeaway stuff? (if you want to eat cheaper stuff for the same quality, how about Jimmy Chung's around the corner? There you go.)

In all seriousness, the dim sum? Pretty damn good. For the uninitiated, the steamed meat buns (char siu pau), egg tarts (tahn tart), prawn dumplings (har gow), chicken in glutinous rice dumplings (siu mai) are all standardised Chinese fare one can order in any half-way decent Chinese restaurant with Chinese people in it all over the world, and this place? It's surprisingly good, just come in the morning, or ask to look at the dim sum menu (which they would serve at all hours anyway).

And if you want, you can even order 'local delicacies' like cold chicken feet. It's not a bushtucker trial joke. (But in all honesty, I detest the stuff anyway)

Come here if you know someone who can read the special menu in Chinese writing, that way you get better for cheaper. But other than that, pretty fair fare.

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