London restaurants are getting ready to welcome the Year of the Snake on 29 January. We pick out some of the best dishes and menus for you to try during this year's Lunar New Year celebrations.
Daddy Bao's Lunar New Year Seafood Feast
Daddy Bao (Tooting, 27 January) - This year, Daddy Bao has a Lunar New Year Seafood Feast led by a six-course menu that includes a brown shrimp taro puff, butterflied sea bass with superior soy sauce and an eight-treasure rice pudding. (£60)
Poon's and Toklas (Temple from 26 January, and online from 23 January) - For the celebrations, Toklas Bakery and Poon's have joined forces to create a special almond cookie made with zesty fino lemon. You can order this online or pick it up from Toklas Bakery.
Mambow (Clapton, from 29 January) - Abby Lee’s Malaysian restaurant will have a special menu that includes a prosperity yam basket - a deep-fried five-spice yam ring filled with Chinese kung pao chicken and topped with peanuts. They'll also include red envelopes with all orders, one of which contains a golden ticket for a free meal for two at Mambow.
China Tang (Mayfair, 28 & 29 January) - The high-end restaurant at The Dorchester will be decorated with lanterns for the event and have special dishes on the menu which include lobster with xo sauce on crispy noodles and a cornucopia of mixed seafood and poultry.
Snake macarons at Yauatcha
Yauatcha (Soho, City of London, 14 January - 12 February) - Both Yauatcha restaurants have a limited-edition menu with special desserts and a snake-inspired cocktail (£75). They'll also have special snake-emblazoned macarons.
Carousel (Fitzrovia, 28 January - 1 February) - Joyeta Ng, most recently at the Noma pop-up in Kyoto, is over for Chinese New Year with a menu of "homespun Cantonese flavours". The menu includes dishes like rainbow prosperity salad with fermented tofu dressing and grandma’s brown sugar Chinese new year cake (From £79.50).
Singapulah (23 January - 12 February) - The Singaporean restaurant is celebrating Lunar New Year 2025 with the Singaporean tradition of Yu Sheng, a prosperous salad that includes shredded carrots, radish, pickled ginger, coriander, sliced raw salmon, crispy noodles & wonton skin with toppings of peanuts and fruitful sauces. It's also available to take away.
Din Tai Fung (St Giles, Covent Garden, Selfridges, 24 January - 9 February) - All the Din Tai Fung restaurants will have special new dishes on the menu, including the new courgette & prawn xiao long bao and "lion’s head" pork meatball soup. They will also be giving away 100 free baskets of their award-winning xiao long bao and red pockets anyone who finds a hidden golden "Snake Charm" in their dumpling basket.
BAO's Lunar New Year set menu
BAO (Various locations, 20 January - 9 February) - This year, they've launched a special Lunar New Yearset menu which includes BAO’s Prosperity Tossing Salad of of fried vermicelli, crisp vegetables and sashimi salmon in a sweet plum dressing (the aim is to toss as high as possible), a special honey-glazed pork and crispy bean curd bao, and special snake bao baked goods filled with a delicate pistachio cream (£29). The snakes themselves will be available separately at all sites.
Sambal Shiok (Holloway, 25, 29 January, 8, 9 February) - Mandy Yin's Malaysian restaurant is having four prosperity feasts hosted by herself with a special eight-course menu on offer. That will include the yee sang prosperity toss salad with smoked salmon, pomelo and golden crackers, eight treasures soup, golden fragrant chicken, chicken fat rice with garlic butter and more (£78.88). The yee sang prosperity toss salad will also be available on the main menu from 21 January - 9 February.
Bun House (Soho, from 25 January) - This year, they've created some special Lucky Yu ube custard buns, all in the shape of a fish.
Med Salleh Kopitiam (Bayswater, 29 January to 12 February) - They've added the New Year dish Lucky Lousheng to the menu, which features a mix of shredded carrots, mooli (white radish), yellow radish, cucumber, pickled ginger, pickled onion, pomelo, crispy yam, crispy wanton pastry, and crispy vermicelli. It's then topped with roasted peanuts, sesame seeds, tuna and salmon sashimi, caviar, and edible gold leaf (from £68 for 6 people).
Inamo's cobra sushi
Roe (Canary Wharf, 28 January) - This restaurant from the team behind Fallow will have a special menu featuring crispy stuffed chicken wings, Exmoor caviar, and mushroom noodle spring rolls, followed by mains like the ‘year of the snake’ Wellington or sweet & sour suckling pork with octopus rice. (£88)
Inamo (Soho, Covent Garden, 29 January - 12 February) - They've created special Cobra Salmon Sushi Snakes for the occasion, made from premium Scottish salmon, avocado and fresh cucumber. A vegan version is also available.
Hutong (London Bridge, 27 January - 9 February) - They've introduced a special three-course Chinese New Year menu with dishes including lo hei salad, crispy poussin with garlic and peppercorn, deep-fried sea bass with a sweet and tangy sauce, and wagyu beef in a hot and sour broth. On 29 January, they'll also have traditional hong bao and a lion dance performance throughout the evening.
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