Rock Salt’s Chinese menu is big enough that it’s easy to default to the same one or two dishes every time. This is a practical, dish-by-dish guide to what’s actually worth ordering — starters, mains, and the combinations that work best together — whether you’re eating in or planning a takeaway.
Starters Worth Ordering
Salt & Pepper Chicken is the benchmark dish on the starter menu — crisp, well-seasoned, and a reliable opener for the table regardless of what’s coming next.
Chilli Paneer is the standout for anyone eating vegetarian, or for a table mixing meat and veg dishes — bold, well-balanced heat that holds its own next to anything else on the table.
Salt & Pepper Soft Shell Crab is worth ordering if you want something a step above the standard starter list — a genuine speciality dish rather than a menu filler, and one of the dishes that separates a proper Chinese menu from a generic one.
Deep Fried Crispy Aromatic Duck, served with pancakes, hoisin, and cucumber, is the pick for sharing — it’s built for the table, not for one person, and it’s a strong way to start a group meal.
Vegetable Spring Rolls and Cauliflower Manchurian are the two most reliable plant-based starters — the Cauliflower Manchurian in particular, tossed in ginger, garlic, and soy, holds up well even for diners who wouldn’t usually pick a vegetarian starter first.
Mains: The Wok Classics
Kung Pao Tofu is the vegetarian main worth knowing about — it delivers the same punchy, savoury heat as the meat-based Kung Pao dishes without losing anything in translation.
Beef in Black Bean Sauce is the dish to order if you want something rich and savoury without excessive heat — a genuinely comforting main that works well alongside a spicier dish on the same table.
Szechuan Pork is for anyone who actually wants the heat — it’s one of the spicier mains on the menu, built for diners who find the standard sweet-and-sour route too safe.
Braised Pork Belly is the pick for texture and depth — slow, rich, and a genuine alternative to the lighter stir-fried mains if you’re after something heartier.
Sweet & Sour Chicken remains a classic for a reason — it’s the safest, most universally appealing main on the list, and a solid choice when ordering for a group with mixed preferences.
Dim Sum
The Veg Dim Sum are made in-house rather than pre-made, which is a genuine point of difference — the dumplings hold their shape and texture in a way that’s noticeably better than what most Bristol Chinese menus offer as a default.
How to Build a Table
The Chinese and Indian sections of the menu are kept deliberately separate rather than blended, which means a table can lean fully into Chinese, fully into Indian, or mix freely without either cuisine feeling diluted — a structure we’ve written about in more detail in how Rock Salt’s menu is actually built.
For a Chinese-focused table, a strong combination is one shared starter (the Crispy Aromatic Duck works well for this), one lighter main (Kung Pao Tofu or Sweet & Sour Chicken), and one richer main (Beef in Black Bean Sauce or Braised Pork Belly), alongside egg fried rice or stir-fried noodles to round it out.
Mixing Cuisines on One Order
If you’re torn between Chinese and Indian, that’s exactly the gap Rock Salt’s combined menu is built to solve — we’ve covered this directly in our guide to ordering both Indian and Chinese in one place, rather than splitting an order across two separate takeaways.
Vegetarian? Start Here
If you’re building a fully vegetarian order from the Chinese side of the menu, the Veg Spring Rolls, Cauliflower Manchurian, and Veg Dim Sum starters pair well with Kung Pao Tofu as a main — a combination covered in more depth in our vegetarian Indian food guide, which also details the vegetarian Chinese starters available.
Ready to Order
Whether you’re planning a sit-down meal on Cotham Hill or a takeaway night in, this should take the guesswork out of what to actually order. Browse the full menu to see everything available, or book a table to try it for yourself.