London restaurants are getting ready to welcome the Year of the Horse on 17 February. We pick out some of the best dishes and menus for you to try during this year's Lunar New Year celebrations.
Mei Ume's 10-course Lunar New Year feast
Mambow x TA TA Eatery (Clapton, 22 February) - Chef Abby Lee is teaming up with Ana Gonçalves and Zijun Meng of TĀ TĀ Eatery, for a one-off feast to ring in the arrival of the Year of the Horse. The menu is influenced by Lee and Meng's Chinese New Year memories, with dishes including chwee kueh (steamed rice cake) with caramelised onion, crispy baby shrimp and spiced coriander relish. Tickets are £60.
Mei Ume (Tower Bridge, 15 February - 3 March, £128) - Chef de Cuisine, Chef Peter Ho, is putting on a special 10-course Lunar New Year tasting menu. presents a specially curated ten-course tasting menu. Dishes include prosperity tossed salmon salad, an Iberico char siu and roasted pork platter, steamed seabass with a ten-year aged yellow wine sauce and more.
Noodle and Beer (Chinatown and Spitalfields, 16 February - 3 March) - The Sichuan noodle restaurant is introducing a menu that features seven specials, like Prosperity Beer Duck which is dry-pot duck braised with konjac, rice cakes, and aromatic chilli bean paste. On 17 and 17 February, they'll also be handing out red envelopes to all guests with the chance to win prizes, like a free drink or a free meal.
The Lunar New Year set menu at BAO
BAO (Various locations 10-26 February) - There's a new Lunar New Year set menu at BAO, which includes Taiwanese fried chicken, a bao of your choice, mushroom dumplings, prosperity tossing salmon salad and more. And as it's the year of the horse, they'll also have crispy bao horse charms served with hot chocolate sauce for dipping.
Hakkasan (Mayfair, 9 February - 8 March) - They'll have a special menu for the occasion (£158) with dishes including the "Fortune money bag" which is king crab, scallop, water chestnut, spicy chilli sauce and for dessert, the "golden mandarin prosperity", mandarin mousse, almond biscuit, earl grey cremeux. On 18 February, they'll also have lion dancers.
Park Chinois (Mayfair, 12-22 February) - The special Chinese New Year menu here includes Auspicious Spring abalone & bamboo fungus soup to start, and mains like the fortune glazed wagyu chae sui. on 16-18 February, they'll also have lion dancers in each night.
Xi Home's Lion Dance Buns
Xi Home Dumplings Bay (Spitalfields, 17 February - 16 March) - There are two ways to celebrate here. First is the special Golden Spring Feast menu with five special dishes, like the Ruyi golden enoki & tofu saladand the Golden-coated sea bass bites. There will also be special Lion Dance buns, filled with custard and matcha, which should be a great Lunar New Year gift.
Carousel (Fitzrovia, 17-21 February, £69.50) - John Javier and Jackson Boxer (Dove) are reuniting for a joint residency for Lunar New Year. Their menu will "blend regional Chinese influences with contemporary techniques" with dishes including monkfish and prawn siu mai with trout roe, bang bang chicken and deep fried milk ice cream.
Belly (Kentish Town, 18-22 February, £160) - Belly is putting on a Chinese New Year duck menu where a whole roasted duck is served with dishes like foie gras fried rice, duck lumpia, adobo offal ragu, BBQ plum with plum and beetroot XO, and calamansi-laced sauces. Note, however, that there are only four ducks available each day.
China Tang (Mayfair, 17-18 February) - They'll have a traditional lion dance on these days and a new Lunar New Year menu that features 10 dishes all associated with prosperity, abundance, unity and happiness. So there will be Lo Hei, the traditional abalone Salad, symbolising rising success and shared good fortune and Lobster with XO sauce on crispy noodles which represents ambition and strength, among others.
Roe (Canary Wharf, 17 February) - The Fallow sister restaurant will have a special New Year menu that includes char siu lamb skewers, maitake mushroom wontons, crispy stuffed chicken wings and a Yee Sang prosperity toss salad. The meal is £58.
Dim Sum Library's feast
Dim Sum Library (Covent Garden, 16 February - 3 March) - It's Dim Sum Library's first New Year, and they'll have a special set menu that includes Lo Hei salad with lobster, scallops, prawns, salmon and sweet plum sauce and black truffle crispy-skin chicken. They'll also have a Lucky Horse chopstick game, where you'll try to pick up horse figurine from a box with oversized chopsticks, withvarious prizes to be won.
Peninsula London (Belgravia, 3 February - 3 March) - The Belgravia hotel will be celebrating Luna New Year across a number of different venues. So you'll find a special six-course menu in Canton Blu (£148), special baiju cocktails in the Little Blue Noodle Bar and The Tea Lounge will have a special installation from textile artist Lin Fanglu. They'll also have a dragon dance in the hotel's courtyard on 17 February.
Daddy Bao (Tooting, 17 February, £30) - For one night only, Daddy Bao will have a special Lunar New Year tasting menu, with dishes including confit duck dumplings, prawn longevity noodles, fragrant fish bao, nian gao dessert and more.
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