The Rainbow Arch
- Food served: Mon–Sun (not Thu) noon–3am; Thu noon–midnight
- Pre-theatre times: Mon–Sun 3–7pm
- Number of wines sold by the glass: 2
- Also offers: Gluten-free options, Children's portions, Children's high chairs, Takeaway, Pre-theatre menu, Live music
- Music on stereo: Is drowned out by customer noise (sounded like Queen)
- Capacity: 80
- Largest group: 80
- Open since: 1993
- Average price 2 courses:
£12 (lunch)
£12 (evening meal) - Pre-theatre price: £8 (3 courses)
- House wine: £13.50 (carafe) per bottle
This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 – in the shops now or buy online.
Hopefully a planned refurbishment in 2008 will breathe new life into this well-established and popular restaurant. Owner Henry Tse also owns the downstairs Henry's Cellar Bar, with which the restaurant shares its rather basic toilets. The planned refurbishment may see the reopening of the upstairs noodle bar. Currently the restaurant offers a separate dim sum menu, which unfortunately reads rather better than it delivers with the various components of a two-person mixed starter characterised by a rather bland, chewy, sameness. A better delivery comes from mains, with a staff recommendation of crispy pork providing an appealing contrast of crunchy coating and soft, gelatinous pork slices. Likewise, sizzling chicken with ginger and spring onion has well defined flavours and a refreshing lightness about it. Erratic service may well fluctuate from overly attentive to inattentive and back again over the course of your meal, but is pleasant enough throughout. Brownie points are scored, however, for a longer than average vegetarian selection, and desserts such as steamed egg custard bun and Malay steamed sponge cake make a change from the ubiquitous pineapple fritters and ice-cream.
- High point: Convenient location and late opening
- Low point: Bland dim sum
Comments
- 1. chazzyb31, Edinburgh – 26 July 2008, 8:51amReport
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I visited this restaurant in February 2007 with friends. The dim sum was a little bland, but enlivened by the sweet chilli dipping sauce we requested as an accompaniment. The main dishes were very tasty and plentiful - we had no room for dessert. The price was very reasonable and the restaurant was quiet when we arrived (around 6.30pm), but got very busy as we were leaving (around 9pm).
We later discovered that the restaurant had only just re-opened after having the Health Inspectors in, but on our visit it was very clean and the food was wonderful. The only downside were the toilets, which were a bit smelly and tatty-looking.
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