Weight seems like an extremely arbitrary way of assessing customer favour or popularity. Reducing portion sizes would also impact the assessment, which is often a subtle way of managing a price increase. I wonder why it developed as a metric. 🧐
A useful little article but can we drop the showboating about what wicked racists we all are? It has no relevance to the subject, is profoundly cliched, and really amounts to saying “Bristolians are human” - quelle surprise. The Chinese aren’t exactly paladins themselves because - guess what? - they’re humans too. Try Googling “Nanjing anti-African protests” and see how the Tiananmen Square occupation grew directly out of what amounted to miscegenation riots against black exchange students on Chinese campuses.
Hi Jacques, thanks for reading and for taking the time to comment.
I included the reference to racism intentionally — not to moralise or assign blame, but to give necessary context. British Chinese cuisine didn’t emerge in a vacuum — it was shaped by the lived realities of immigrants navigating life in a country where racism, both structural and everyday, was (and still can be) a serious barrier. That context isn’t about “showboating” or assigning blanket guilt — it’s about being honest about how food, culture, and history intersect.
And it’s not just history. During the pandemic, we saw a sharp rise in racism towards people perceived to be Chinese or East Asian — a reminder that these issues haven’t gone away. Ignoring that context would feel like a disservice to the communities at the heart of this piece.
It’s also entirely possible to acknowledge discrimination in the UK without denying that racism exists elsewhere too. Calling out one doesn’t excuse another, and I certainly don’t see it as a competition. My aim is to highlight the complexity behind the food we often take for granted, not to moralise or generalise.
I’m always open to respectful discussion — and absolutely open to learning — but I do hold anti-racism as a non-negotiable value in how I approach writing about culture and community.
Weight seems like an extremely arbitrary way of assessing customer favour or popularity. Reducing portion sizes would also impact the assessment, which is often a subtle way of managing a price increase. I wonder why it developed as a metric. 🧐
Excellent piece. Thank you.
Most welcome - thanks for reading!
What an enticing list! Thanks for pulling this all together.
So glad you like it! Let us know which ones you end up visiting
This is such good, honest writing. Through food reviews it also tells a story of where we're at as a society
Thank you so much, that’s such a kind thing to say!
Apparently dragons delicacy does all you can eat dim sum on a Sunday, or something like that. I’ve wanted to check it out for a while. V nice Meg
Excellent intel!
A useful little article but can we drop the showboating about what wicked racists we all are? It has no relevance to the subject, is profoundly cliched, and really amounts to saying “Bristolians are human” - quelle surprise. The Chinese aren’t exactly paladins themselves because - guess what? - they’re humans too. Try Googling “Nanjing anti-African protests” and see how the Tiananmen Square occupation grew directly out of what amounted to miscegenation riots against black exchange students on Chinese campuses.
Hi Jacques, thanks for reading and for taking the time to comment.
I included the reference to racism intentionally — not to moralise or assign blame, but to give necessary context. British Chinese cuisine didn’t emerge in a vacuum — it was shaped by the lived realities of immigrants navigating life in a country where racism, both structural and everyday, was (and still can be) a serious barrier. That context isn’t about “showboating” or assigning blanket guilt — it’s about being honest about how food, culture, and history intersect.
And it’s not just history. During the pandemic, we saw a sharp rise in racism towards people perceived to be Chinese or East Asian — a reminder that these issues haven’t gone away. Ignoring that context would feel like a disservice to the communities at the heart of this piece.
It’s also entirely possible to acknowledge discrimination in the UK without denying that racism exists elsewhere too. Calling out one doesn’t excuse another, and I certainly don’t see it as a competition. My aim is to highlight the complexity behind the food we often take for granted, not to moralise or generalise.
I’m always open to respectful discussion — and absolutely open to learning — but I do hold anti-racism as a non-negotiable value in how I approach writing about culture and community.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!
💀