Dai Pai

If there’s one thing that the southside can be relied upon for it’s a high turnover of hospitality businesses. The start of 2017 has seen the arrival of Roti, a new dumpling place, and there’s a new burger outlet on the horizon, too. Added to that number is Dai Pai, a pan-Asian street food purveyor on Nicolson Street.

Interior

At the core of its offering are hirata buns – which look much like the famous gua bao from Ninja Kitchen – and sushirritos, the bastard son of the sushi roll and the burrito. Another southside place, Te-Bi Island is doing something quite similar with their Taiwanese hot rice rolls.

Dai Pai is very smartly appointed with a range of informal seating. The menu extends beyond the buns and rolls to include sushi sets, gyoza dumplings and sweet treats, but my eyes were firmly set on the sushirrito selection.

Sushirrito

I opted for the caballero, which brought together sriracha beef, cucumber, carrot, spring onions, peppers and wasabi mayo with sushi rice and a nori wrap.

I sat at one of their counter seats rather than risking eating on the go, as I suspected some messiness would be inherent. I was correct.

The beef proved profuse and flavourful, but the nori lacked crispness so proved a pully eat. The veg provided ample crunch and the rice gave things suitable backbone. It was good, but didn’t quite achieve the greatness I’d hoped for it.

So overall, Dai Pai is a very pleasing new option to our informal lunchtime options. I’ll definitely be back to give their other menu items a go as the place has a good feel to it. Hopefully when you visit you’ll find their sushirritos on slightly better form than I found them today.

Scores
Blythe scores Dai Pai
3.5/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
3.5/5 for service
giving an overall 14.5/20

I ate: caballero sushirrito

I wore: stripes

Total bill: £6.95

Address: 95-97 Nicolson Street Edinburgh EH8 9BY