The Three Sisters: Chinese New Year Street Food Pop-Up

Sold as 'a street food event full of delicacies from the East', with 'the best Dumplings in the city', it's safe to say I had high expectations for The Three Sisters' Chinese New Year street food event. I come from a pretty average Scottish family, with a very picky father and younger brother, so Chinese New Year is something I've never really had the opportunity to celebrate, and I was excited about attending an event seemingly specifically catered to doing just that.

And boy, was I severely disappointed.

It was as we were walking towards the venue that I had my first misgivings. Not only was there no aroma of cooking food in the air, but the lack of decorations almost had me wandering past the building - it was only when I noticed the Chinese flag hanging up that I figured this must be the place.

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure an event that is sold as a street food pop-up should have more than three stalls to it, especially when only one of those stalls has anything mildly resembling authentic Chinese cuisine (more on this later), and the other two are your standard Western street food stalls with 'a Chinese twist' (think pizza with hoisin sauce and pak choi, and burgers with 'Chinese style' pulled pork).

Though disheartened, I decided to roll with the set-up and make do with what was available, however, even that wasn't an option. There was a reason there was no smell of cooking food in the air - over an hour into the event (which had started at 5pm), and not even one of the stalls was preparing or selling food, which meant when they eventually were ready to do so, there was already a huge queue formed, and everyone was in for a long wait. (I should also mention that when I asked at the bar, the only non-alcoholic beverages available were red bull and ginger beer - a bit odd for an event that was tipped as being 'family friendly'.)

It was at this point that I was pretty determined to give up and go and find a Chinese restaurant nearby, but my boyfriend encouraged me to stay. I had been looking forward to this event after all, and we had traveled into Edinburgh specifically for it, so why not make the most of it?

So after a long wait in the queue (we're talking like 45 minutes to an hour), we finally got served. We decided to go for the Spiced Chilli Beef Noodles, Fried Pork Dumplings, Chicken Satay Skewers, and a Chinese Pulled Pork Beefburger (the last one being my boyfriend's choice). Much to my chagrin, there was no sign of Hoisin Duck or Rou Jia Mo, despite their being advertised.

The noodles, despite being one of the only things remotely close to 'traditional' Chinese cuisine, were ultimately a disappointment. The noodles themselves were stringy and bland, and didn't hold the sauce well - not that I'm sure that would have made much difference, as it was pretty thin and tasteless itself. The beef was fine, nothing particularly special, and I wouldn't so much have said 'spicy' as 'hot' - it burned the mouth, but didn't leave behind any particular kind of after taste. We actually didn't end up finishing this, which I was quite bummed about as I'd really been looking forward to some thick, tasty noodles, and these mediocre substitutes didn't hit the spot at all.

The pork dumplings, I have to say, were actually pretty tasty, despite appearing to have been fried from frozen (I can't say for definite, but I certainly saw the chef pouring something resembling dumplings out of a white freezer packet into a fryer - one of the downsides of having an open kitchen). The batter was deliciously fried around the edges - perfectly crispy - yet still soft in the middle, encasing some surprisingly succulent pork! If the queue hadn't been so long, I probably would have went back for more! The only downsides however were, one, the price (almost a £1 per dumpling!) and I didn't get any salad with it, despite every other customer appearing to??? Lame.

We actually got the chicken satay from one of the Western food-turned-Chinese stalls, so I had my reservations, but these were actually pretty good as well. There wasn't as much of a wait either, thankfully, and my boyfriend returned after having only been gone a maximum of ten minutes. The chicken was well cooked and tender, and the sauce was tasty, albeit, there definitely could have been more as I was left wanting. They were a bit pricey as well, at £3.95 for only three skewers.

And finally - the Chinese style pulled pork beefburger. This was fine, to be honest. I didn't think it was anything particularly special but my boyfriend dug it. Probably nice for someone who isn't that into Chinese food but has been dragged along or something, but I'd avoid it if you're really into your Chinese food.

By the time we'd finished our food, we'd been at the event for almost two hours (eating had only taken us a max of 20 minutes) and were freezing, so we decided to call it a day and get out of there, choosing to forego the lion dancers at 9pm. The rest of the event had been a bit mediocre considering our expectations, and we weren't keen to stay longer and be further disappointed by it.

After checking the event Facebook page a couple of days later, it appears we weren't the only ones let down by it as there were quite a few negative reviews from people angry about the lack of stalls and long queue times.

Did you get along to it? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below!

© Photos by A Scottish Dumpling