To say that the Silver Fox and I are loval fans of Chop Chop is a bit of an understatement, and so when the opportunity came up to review the Leith branch ahead of Chinese New Year, it didn’t take long to have a date in the diary! If you’ve never been, Chop Chop is one of those spots in Edinburgh that has achieved near-legendary status within the 8 years since opening the original branch at Haymarket. Although I’m sure each and every dish they do has their own fan-club, it’s without doubt that their speciality is owner Jian Wang’s awesome Chinese dumplings, jiao zi.
I first discovered these insanely tasty Asian bites when I lived in Vancouver in 2000, both the Chinese pot-stickers from Hon’s and the Japanese gyoza from what might still remain my favourite ever restaurant, Gyoza King. When Chop Chop first opened, I was over the mooncakes that I’d be able to find (what I hoped would be) great dumplings here in Edinburgh. Yes, well, me and hundreds of thousands of other folk did agree, including a certain chef, well known for his love of a sweary-word or two.
So branch No 2 opened at The Shore in 2010, which has remained our spot as Leithers, and despite numerous visits to the restaurant, and take-aways ordered, it was slightly anomalous that I’d never reviewed the place! So to time in with the Chinese New Year (this year of The Horse) here’s a review of our most recent visit.
Try as you might, it’s a bit of a challenge to order in moderation here, and in fact when we tried to rein things in, the helpful server suggested we order maybe ‘just one more plate of dumplings?’. He was , of course right, as whether you go for the larger boiled, or slightly smaller fried versions, I challenge any diner not to become possessed with their downright addicitveness. Method: pick up dumpling with chop sticks, intentionally piercing in at least one place to let the steam out. Drag through the little mixer bowl of garlic, chilli, soy sauce and vinegar, apply to mouth, say ‘mmmm’ and mutter something about going in for another whilst surreptitiously glancing at your dining partner’s progress to establish who will get the lion’s share of theses tasty little things. This night we had the beef and chilli boiled and the all-time favourite, pork and coriander as the fried version. Honestly, if you’ve never had these things before, make a booking post-haste!
Chop Chop are extremely proud of their attained AA Rosette, and rightly so. It’s not something many Chinese restaurants can boast, but when you taste their food, it genuinely tastes fresh and home-made. Home-made as in if you had some awesome Chinese chef working behind the scenes in your house. There were a couple of new dishes to try out, and we went for the crispy chili squid, which with its sprinkling of fresh chilies lived up to its promise of spice. It was crisp-crunchy, fresh as you like and also suited a little dunk in the dumplings’ sauce mix.
Two favourites followed, the crispy Northern Chicken and the Lamb with Cumin seeds. The latter will never win any prizes for beauty, it really is just a plate full of sliced lamb (kind of like Chinese shwarma, I guess) sprinkled with toasted cumin seeds. What it lacks for in colour or beauty it makes up for in aromatic flavour though.
The crispy Northern chicken is one of a few variations they do (including beef and pork) which will always feature on a visit to Chop Chop. Again, it’s like the best version of sweet and sour chicken you wish you could make at home, not too oily, with just the right balance between savoury and sweet notes, and decent chunks of meat.
The egg-fried rice is a delight too (check out the photo below), rather than a bowl of sad greyish brown rice, this version with a sprinkling of chopped spring onions is clearly made to order. The fluffy rice keeping a lightness and is tasty in its own right.
This feast of savoury delights didn’t leave any room for desserts ,but do check out the sugar-string apple or some of the ‘dessert dumplings’ which are a nice little treat and not too sweet. As usual, slick and friendly service kept our dinner ticking along and we were well (well) fed and out of there in under an hour. Equally, it’s a great spot for groups of friends, the menu covers all bases including some fantastic vegetarian options. Chop Chop, we’ll be back!
For more information on the Chinese Year of The Horse, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_(zodiac)
We dined as guests of Chop Chop.
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