Ping On

8pm on a Friday in Stockbridge is not the most propitious time for having your choice of where to dine. Fortunately, we were in the mood for Chinese food and timed it right to snag one of the last remaining tables at Ping On, on Deanhaugh Street.

Upon arrival, it was clear that this place does a lot of business as takeaway, as there was a little queue of people in the foyer awaiting dishes to take home. This was echoed in their menu, which read much more like a takeaway selection than restaurant fare.

I was joined once more by Patrick, who’d been along at recent quests to Jambo Grill and the Clay Oven.

We were shown to the window table by our friendly waitress who brought menus and took our drinks order. Patrick quickly settled upon ribs and duck, while I took a little while to decide, eventually settling upon salt and chilli bean curd followed by deep fried oysters.

Starters arrived looking plentiful. There was a surfeit ribs so I tried one. It was fine but little beyond. My triangles of tofu were crisp and light, but again lacking wow factor.

The main courses were a little better. The duck looked a bit peely-wally, but was tender and abundant. The rice and noodles were as expcected and solidly decent.

My oysters were a good portion, once more. The batter was so thick it was like they were encased in a little cakey dumpling, but the oysters retained a surprising amount of fresh sea saltiness. I enjoyed the dish.

So overall, Ping On was a bit of a mixed bag, with strengths and weaknesses. It’s definitely focussed on the takeaway market where I imagine it does good work. As a restaurant, it has some elements to improve to lift it from being one of the weaker restaurants in the Stockbridge neighbourhood.

Scores
Blythe scores Ping On
3.5/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
3/5 for setting
3.5/5 for service
giving an overall 13/20

Today’s questers were: Patrick, Blythe

We ate: ribs, tofu, duck, oysters

We drank: cola, lager, coffees

We wore: accidentally bleached trousers, lilac shirt

Total bill: £53.40