Potters Fields Chinese Food Festival

Did anybody else go this weekend?

I was really disappointed at how the event was organised. There were only about a dozen stalls but none of them accepted cash; instead you had to queue for 10 minutes at a separate booth to load money onto a smart card which could then be used to make purchases.

Your card then gave you the right to spend even longer in a queue for something to eat. It seems the payments system kept hanging meaning money couldn't be taken from cards, and everybody was delayed whilst it was fixed. After spending 20 minutes moving nowhere in a queue for some dessert we found another stall - we'd definitely have gone home had we not had money left on our card.

I overheard some staff saying that the card system was introduced because the organisers were charging a %age of takings from each stall and they were afraid the stallholders wouldn't tell the truth! As a result the customers had to suffer...

Any money loaded to the cards was non-refundable so I'm sure a tidy sum was made from those who left with a few £ to spend. It's not all bad news though as apparently you can register the card to get a discount at some unspecified restaurants in London. Sure this will be popular!

I've been to quite a few events at Potters Fields and had a good time but this was a joke. Next time we'll give it a miss and go to the chinese restaurant on Tower Bridge Road ;-).

Agreed, total let down and failed miserably in showcasing Chinese food. Very poor attempt with the usual stir fried noodles and sweet and sour chicken. The payment system was a complete joke, and a bit of an advert for alipay, which I'm guessing is part of alibaba.

Agree too, food was very poor and served cold as well as a pain to buy.

Robbed myself of some notch grub from Malby St. wont sacrificing my Sunday lunch like that again.

Im still trying to find s decent place in SE1 that serves good Chinese food. Can anyone help?

I'm afraid there isn't a decent Chinese restaurant in SE1, that's why l stick to Chinatown or home cooking when l feel like it.

Littledorrit1 wrote:

Im still trying to find s decent place in SE1 that serves good Chinese food. Can anyone help?

Crystal China on Tower Bridge Road is good.

Pops wrote:

Littledorrit1 wrote:

Im still trying to find s decent place in SE1 that serves good Chinese food. Can anyone help?

Crystal China on Tower Bridge Road is good.

That's the one I was talking about in my post. Had one really good takeaway from there and keep meaning to return and try the dry hotpot, seems to be very popular with their Chinese customers (of which there are many)

Tai Tip Mein looks awful from the outside, and not much better from the inside, but local Chinese students swear by it and the portions are immense.

Otherwise I recommend venturing a few yards into SE17. Marcel & Sons at The Artworks serves Chinese-heritage Mauritian Hakka food. And Dragon Castle on Walworth Road just had a refit: their food is always good, but their Asian bling decor was a bit too much.

Crystal China and After Taste are my two favourite Chinese restaurants / take aways in SE1

The name of Aftertaste always makes me laugh. Seems to be a wonky translation of the concept of a good flavour that stays with you.