The Edinburgh Blog

When choosing the best Chinese Takeaway in Edinburgh The Edinburgh Blog was looking for a takeaway which did all the usual favourites, including prawn crackers, to an extremely high standard in addition to offering excellent value. I’ve been a frequent takeaway customer of China Palace restaurant. China Palace is based on St Bernard St in Leith but they offer delivery across Edinburgh, which costs between 85p and £1.50. If you visit the restaurant in person to collect a takeaway order China Palace have a seated area, where you can enjoy complementary prawn crackers and read the day’s newspapers. The computer monitor displays a list of pending takeaway orders and China Palace’s popularity is evident from the list’s size.

The food at China Palace is consistently very good, staff are extremely friendly and service is prompt. The menu is extensive and offers a good mix of well-known dishes, like lemon chicken (£4.30), and more adventurous ones, like squid with green pepper and spring onion (£5.10). In addition to the usual banquet meals, they offer several promotions and ‘meal deals’ which are particularly good value. If you spend over £8 you receive free prawn crackers, over £13 you can additionally choose a free dish, over £20 adds free delivery and over £30 gets you one free half of crispy duck or bottle of house wine plus the prawn crackers and free delivery. Usually I reach the free dish tier and choose free spring rolls - the free dish must be one of spring rolls, fried rice, lemon chicken, sweet and sour chicken, beef curry or apple fritters.

On my latest visit I ordered duck with pineapple (£5.70) and king prawn with cashew nuts (£5.00) plus 2 portions of boiled rice totalling (£1.70 each). This meant I qualified for the ’spend more than £13′ promotion and I certainly enjoyed my customary free spring rolls. This is excellent value. However it can lead to overeating as it is difficult (impossible!) to turn down a free dish. China Palace’s prawn crackers are, for some reason, spectacularly nice and way too moreish.

My fondness for pineapple is growing by the week, so duck with pineapple is an ideal dish for me. The pineapple tasted fresh but it was the superb duck which stole the show. China Palace really don’t cut back on the meat content of their dishes - the quantity of duck can only be described as generous. The king prawns were stir fried with a selection of vegetables and cashew nuts. The portion size was pleasing, with a large number of fresh and juicy king prawns. They were well cooked with a tender meaty texture and thankfully didn’t exhibit the tough chewiness of overcooked prawns.

To date I’ve not eaten in the restaurant. Sometimes I have seen it busy, sometimes not. The restaurant does have a lot of floor space. However, it would appear an awful lot of China Palace’s trade is gained through their well run and very well executed Chinese takeaway operation.

Over the years I have tried various Chinese takeaways in Edinburgh, but none have impressed me as much as China Palace. Their cooking is simplistic, but done consistently well. Basically China Palace is as close to the perfect stereotypical Chinese takeaway I have found in Edinburgh. Therefore it seems fair to state China Palace as being Edinburgh’s Best Chinese takeaway.

China Palace is located at 27 Bernard St, Edinburgh, EH6 6SH. They have a freephone number 0800 389 0489. Additionally the Edinburgh number is 0131 554 5292.

Heavily recommended.