The women-owned and joyful Asian bakery that's opened on lively Edinburgh square

There’s a new addition to this hectic area

There is a rather lovely bakery that’s palm struck and tiger-tail-kicked its way onto Edinburgh’s Nicolson Square.

Kungfu Bakery has arrived at number five and has brightened up the whole Newington square, with its fun branding, red and white stripy awning and stacks of sunshiney buns, breads and cakes. We asked one of the owners, Rankin Chen, to reveal more.

Tell us about the team.

We’re run by five Chinese mums who have lived in Edinburgh for many years. We started by making Chinese-style breads and pastries for our children at home, and later returned to China for further baking training. Now that our children are older, we wanted to take that experience and build something around practising a craft, doing the basics well, and then developing our own style from there. It’s our first bakery project together, and we don’t own any other restaurants or bakeries.

From the beginning, we wanted it to be about more than making bread that simply looks good. We wanted the product, the process and the idea behind the brand to feel connected. In the end, the most important thing is still whether the bread tastes good.

What’s on offer?

We mainly make Asian-style soft breads, loaves, pineapple buns, Swiss rolls and bagels, alongside soy milk and coffee. Our products tend to follow two directions. One is what we informally think of as our ‘craft’ side involving familiar, classic products that do not need to be changed just for the sake of innovation. With those, the focus is on getting the fundamentals right: dough, fermentation, texture and consistency. The other is our more experimental side. Once the basics are solid, we like to explore new flavours and combinations. That might mean something like a Sichuan-inspired salt bread, or a soft dragon fruit bread where the fruit itself provides the main moisture for the dough, with no added water. We are not interested in making something unusual just for the sake of being different. The idea still has to work as bread.

Why do you think Edinburgh is a good place for something like this?

Edinburgh already has many very good bakeries, so we never thought of it as a city that simply needed another bakery. It was more that there are flavours and styles of baking that feel very familiar to us, but are still not part of everyday life here in quite the same way. For some customers, these products may feel very familiar and even nostalgic. For others, they may be completely new. We really like that contrast. Some people come in because they recognise something, while others simply think it looks good and decide to try it.

Tell us more about the branding and concept.

It’s not intended to be a martial arts-themed bakery. For us, ‘kung fu’ is much closer to its original meaning - spending time on something, repeating it, and practising until you genuinely become good at it. Mixing dough takes kung fu. Fermentation takes kung fu. Shaping and baking do too. Many of these things look simple, but doing them consistently well every day is much harder than it seems. That is why we like the line ‘dough meets discipline’. It is not really a choice between tradition and innovation. It is more about learning the basics properly first, and then creating your own moves. Visually, we wanted the same balance. We did not want the bakery to feel overly traditional or filled with very obvious cultural symbols. The Chinese influence is there, but we wanted it to feel modern and restrained. Ideally, people notice the bread first, and then gradually discover the thinking.

Why did you choose this location?

We really liked the mix of people who pass through this area. There are students, local residents, people working nearby and visitors.

What changes have you made to the space?

We have put a lot of work into the space, but many of the changes were practical rather than decorative. The production flow, ovens, work surfaces, proofing, refrigeration and cake preparation areas all had to be reorganised so the bakery could function properly every day. The customer-facing space is deliberately more restrained. We do not want the interior to compete with the products. Ideally, the first thing people notice when they walk in is the bread.

What are your signature bakes?

If we had to choose a few products that represent us well, we would probably say our pineapple bun, Swiss queen roll, pumpkin loaf and Asian-style bagels. They each show a different side of what we do. The pineapple bun is a very classic and familiar Asian bakery product. The Swiss queen roll represents the lighter, more delicate side of our cakes. The pumpkin loaf looks simple, but that simplicity puts more focus on the dough, fermentation and texture itself. Our bagels sit more on the experimental side. Traditional bagels in the UK are usually firmer, denser and chewier, while the style that has become popular in China and other parts of Asia tends to be softer and lighter, with more freedom in fillings and flavours. Our approach is closer to the latter - keeping some of the chew of a bagel, but making the overall texture softer and exploring a wider range of flavours and combinations. We like products that feel familiar at first glance, but turn out to be slightly different from what you expected.

Is there anything new you hope to add to the menu in the future?

The most important thing right now is to make sure the products we already have are being made consistently well every day. Over time, we will naturally add seasonal products, new flavours and new combinations, but we want those changes to grow from what we are already doing rather than adding new products simply for the sake of launching something new.

What have been your bestsellers so far?

We have only been open for a couple of weeks, so it still feels too early to say. We can already see that some products sell more quickly and that some customers are coming back for the same things, but we would rather observe that for a little longer before drawing conclusions. At the moment, we are more interested in seeing what people stop to look at, what they ask about, and which flavours surprise them.