Dumpling Time At The Kweillin
The Kweillin is a long established Chinese restaurant in Edinburgh's New Town. In years gone by it had an excellent reputation but it is now some time since I’ve heard anyone talking about visiting it so Molly and I decided to take pay a visit to see how the old place was doing.
Due to the unpredictability of public transport during these corona times I decided to drive which meant Molly would be left as the sole wine and spirits reviewer a task she was readily up for given her expertise in drinking wine.
We went on a Saturday evening and managed to park easilly.
I have to say Molly had scrubbed up well and looking very appealing in her black and white chiffon top, tight blue jeans and pixy boots – I knew I would enjoy the meal even if they served me stale cheese sandwiches.
On arrival I was impressed by the lack of covid 19 palaver: no temperature checks, form filling, mugshot taking or phone scanning. Rather we were shown quickly to our seats and offered the drinks and starter menu.
The restaurant was reasonably busy but the seating was placed far enough apart to satisfy even the most fanatical covid worrier.
For starters I ordered the Sai Loong Boa - mixed meat Dumplings and Molly went for the crispy spring rolls. She cast her expert eye over the drinks list and was impressed by the wide range of wines ranging from £18 to £58 per bottle. She settled for a glass of the Casa Lapostolle Chilean chardonnay which was cold and crisp and was tasty and fruity with hints of apple and lime clearly discernable to her sweet palate. I opted for a diet coke which tasted just like every other diet coke I’ve ever drank.
The food arrived in an acceptably short time and when I bit in to my meat Dumplings, my taste buds broke in to a hallelujah chorus. The were soft, dainty light and the filling of mixed pork and beef was delicious with subtle but distinct hints of ginger, garlic and sesame, served with a ginger and Chinese white wine dip - truly tasty. Molly tried some and concurred with my opinion. These dumplings were the star of this culinary show.
Molly herself had spring rolls which were light and crispy with a filling of bean sprouts, onion and carrot. Even the complimentary prawn crackers were light and fluffy and actually tasted of prawns rather than cardboard which is the norm.
We soon finished our starters and were pleasantly surprised by being offered the option of being served our main course straight away or resting for 10 minutes which was good as it allowed you pace the meal to level that you stomach and conversation could cope with. We decided to wait a while and I was enchanted in the warm ambience of the room as Molly blethered away in the way that only women can.
Molly’s wine glass by this time was empty so in the spirit of any good reviewer she decided to go for a glass of sake - Japanese rice wine. This duly arrived and I did detect hint of surprise when the said sake arrived in a vase with a thimble sized glass. Nonetheless Molly reported that the warm sake was delicious , sweet with a hint of hot whisky today.
The main courses soon arrived and I had opted for lamb in spring onions and Molly for the Sechzwan chicken. Portions were good and the lamb and onion cooked to perfection with that distinctly Chinese flavour of ginger and onions. Lamb can be hit or miss in restaurants with under or over cooking common and excess fat an ever present danger but there was evidence of that in this dish we both soon devoured the succulent lamb. The Szechwan chicken was colourfully presented, was spicy and the chillies pepper garnish was very tasty.
The toilets’ were not dirty but rather tired and could do with serious updating. There was no hand sanitizer in the toilets which is not good but there was a bottle of such in the hallway outside the toilets. There is also a small but cosy bar for pre or post meal drinks which looked cosy.
I had to beg Molly to have another glass of to test the house wine. She is normally a two glass max girl but such was her dedication to the job that she reluctantly agreed and chose the White House wine. It was not good and she noted a distinct bitterness on her palate. When I kissed her in the car later on I noted this myself as her mouth usually tastes of sweet strawberries with summer cream with a hint of honey. I forbade her from drinking such bitter wine again.
The dessert menu was poor as they often are in Indian and Chinese places. Out of the 5 or 6 dishes on offer Molly had a banana fritter dripping in melted syrup and it was a hugely erotic experience watching her eat it even in a culinary sense it was totally bog standard
The bill came to £79 which we both felt was quite reasonable for a city centre restaurant.
Overall this is a nice restaurant if you wan a typical Chinese British restaurant . When so many ethnic restaurants aiming for the younger market with fusion cooking, ,loud music, wooden floors and tiny portions, the Kweilin is the kind of place anyone over the age of 50 expects Chinese restaurant to be. It serves delicious food in a nice setting for a good price, what more could you ask for?