It’s Lunar New Year on 29th January and 2025 is the Year of the Snake
In the Chinese zodiac the snake symbolises wisdom, intuition and transformation and represents elegance and calm. People born in the year of the dragon are said to be resourceful, adaptable and graceful, and this year is specifically the Year of the Wood Snake (each of the five elements are associated with a year alongside an animal of the zodiac), making it a time for personal growth and change.
Chinatown’s Lunar New Year celebrations will be back in full force with the annual parade taking place on Sun 2nd February. Otherwise, a bunch of restaurants are getting in on the action, so here’s how can you ring in the Lunar New Year in London.
Chinatown Parade
Floats and dragon dances will wind through the streets of Chinatown on 2nd February as part of the annual Lunar New Year parade – it’ll kick off east of Trafalgar Square and make its way into Chinatown. And on 1st February ahead of the big parade, there’ll be lion dance performances throughout the area. As well as watching the performances, you can dip into one of Chinatown’s many restaurants for festive specials like yu sheng, longevity noodles, nian gao and jiaozi dumplings.
Sun 2nd February 2025
Trafalgar Square, London
chinatown.co.uk
Hakkasan
Both Hakkasan locations are being decked out with new year decorations, wishing trees and lion dances, with a limited-edition menu of celebratory dishes. They include golden Yaun Bao crab and caviar dim sum; snake fruit, persimmon and avocado salad; plum braised beef short ribs with pineapple plum glaze; and a mango curry mousse and cashew peanut praline Lucky Red Envelope dessert. And you can pair the menu with two exclusive Hennessy cocktails.
Tues 14th January – Weds 12th February 2025
Mayfair & Hanway Place
hakkasan.com
Yauatcha
The Year of the Snake has come to Yauatcha City and Yauatcha Soho and you can get in on the action with a limited-edition set menu. It kicks off with the Blossoms of Fortune dim sum platter, featuring crystal scallop dumpling and Chinese yam dumpling. There’ll also be crispy prawn with wasabi mayo, stir-fried chicken with soy kumquat sauce, kung pao cod fish, stir-fried snake gourd with lotus root in sanbei sauce, bergamot curt and Sichuan pepper chantilly Firecracker Petit Gâteau, and Serpent’s Sweet macaron made with milk oolong ganache and orange marmalade.
Tues 14th January – Weds 12th February 2025
Yauatcha City and Soho
yauatcha.com
Mei Ume
Mei Ume’s chef Peter Ho has created a menu filled with auspicious dishes for the restaurant’s Lunar New Year celebrations, featuring dishes like the Prosperity Toss salmon salad, wasabi king prawn, golden oyster with enoki mushroom, braised pork belly with preserved vegetable, and a Mei Miao dessert inspired by the restaurant’s lucky cat statue. If you dine at the restaurant on the evenings of the 29th January and 8th February, you’ll be treated to lion dancing and performances by Chinese dancers.
Mon 20th January – Weds 12th February 2025
10 Trinity Square, London EC3N 4AJ
fourseasons.com
MiMi Mei Fair
For its Lunar New Year celebration, MiMi Mei Fair will be decked out in lanterns and florals, including a wishing tree. The restaurant is also putting on menu of festive dishes like ‘basket of wealth’ dim sum; steamed XO okra; crispy glazed chang sah prawns; grilled Chilean seabass; stir-fried XO lobster with asparagus; and a chocolate raspberry Serpent’s Treasure dessert.
Mon 13th January – Weds 12th February 2025
55 Curzon Street, London, W1J 8PG
mimimeifair.com
Daddy Bao
Tooting’s favourite Taiwanese spot is celebrating Lunar New Year with a Daddy Bao twist. For one day only it’ll be serving up a six-course seafood feast featuring dishes like seven coloured fish salad; brown shrimp taro puff; smoked eel and cod siu mai; butterflied seabass with superior soy sauce; longevity noodles; and eight treasure rice pudding.
Mon 27th January 2025
113 Mitcham Road, Tooting, London SW17 9PE
daddybao.co.uk
Ling Ling’s x Papi
Ling Ling’s is kicking off 2025 with a Lunar New Year pop-up at Papi. Founder Jenny will be cooking up a feasting menu for two nights (the dishes are TBC for the mo), with karaoke on offer in the downstairs bar after dinner so you can really make a night of it.
Weds 29th & Thurs 30th January 2025
1F Mentmore Terrace, London, E8 3PN
@ling_lings_
BAO
Head to BAO City, Shoreditch, Marylebone, King’s Cross and Battersea for the £29 per person Lunar New Year menu, which includes the likes of prosperity tossing salad, cull yaw and mushroom dumplings, honey-glazed pork and crispy beancurd bao, and longevity noodles. Each diner will receive a red envelope, which contain various snake-themed prizes such as BAO vouchers, t-shirts and a free BAO every day for a year. All BAO sites will also be serving a limited-edition pistachio cream-filled snake bun for the occasion too.
Mon 20th January – Mon 10th February 2025
All BAO locations
baolondon.com
Gwei-Lo at Bruno
Victoria Park wine bar Bruno is welcoming Alexandre Ferro into the kitchen for Lunar New Year. Of Mozambican and Portuguese heritage, Alexandre has been inspired by the melting pot of Macau cuisine and those fusion flavours are what he showcases with Gwei-Lo. His six-course menu for Bruno includes dishes like lardo and preserved green strawberries, sweet & sour leek and torresmos, pork & smoked eel jaozi with red vinegar dip, char siu pork neck with kale and confit ginger spring onion, and almond cookie with rice ice cream and jasmine kombucha syrup. The menu costs £35 per person and there’ll be two sittings on the night.
Weds 29th January 2025
211a Victoria Park Road, London, E9 7IN
bruno-london.com
Loveness Lee Calligraphy Workshop
Jeweller Loveness Lee is hosting a Chinese calligraphy workshop at her Oxo Tower Wharf store to ring in Lunar New Year. She learnt the technique as a child in China and now she can teach you how to create your own abstract calligraphy painting inspired by the zodiac. The session is BYOB, with tickets costing £40, which you can redeem against any in-store purchase on the evening.
Fri 24th January 2025
104 Oxo Tower Wharf, London, SE1 9PH
lovenesslee.com
Chop Chop by Four Seasons
Wanna keep the celebrations going late into the night? Chop Chop by Four Seasons at The Hippodrome is open until 4am so you can swing by for chicken chiu chow dumplings, spicy beef buns with sweet potato noodles. Cantonese-style roast duck, and pistachio mille crepe cake long after the city’s other restaurants have shut up shop. Those born under the snake zodiac will be able to get 20% off the menu from Mon 20th – Thurs 23rd and Tues 28th – Thurs 30th January, and if you visit on the eve of Lunar New Year, the team will be handing out red envelopes for blessings and good fortune.
Mon 20th – Thurs 30th January 2025
Cranbourn Street, Leicester Square, WC2H 7JH
hippodromecasino.com
Sambal Shiok
Mandy Yin is putting the Yee Sang Prosperity Toss Salad back on the Sambal Shiok menu for Lunar New Year, which will be available in sizes for groups of four and eight. For four special days – 25th January, 29th January, 8th February and 9th February – Mandy will be hosting special eight-course feasts featuring dishes like Eight Treasures soup, coconut prawns with salted egg mayo, golden fragrant chicken, and pandan almond cake with condensed milk yoghurt.
Weds 29th January – Sun 9th February 2025
171 Holloway Rd, London N7 8LX
sambalshiok.co.uk
Shanghai Supper Club
Lillian Luk is back with another edition of her Shanghai Supper Club and she’s doing a banquet for Lunar New Year. As well as debuting a whole slow-braised pork knuckle dish, she’ll also be cooking drunken chicken, jellyfish and radish salad, spring rolls, eight treasure duck, braised whole fish, tangyuan and fermented rice soup, and more.
Tues 4th February 2025
The Royal Oak, 74-76 York St, London W1H 1QN
shanghaisupper.co.uk
Bun House Disco
Bun House Disco, the new Brick Lane spot from the Bun House team, will be celebrating the Year of the Snake with a week-long extravaganza featuring a spesh pop-up event; exclusive celebratory dishes like prosperity tossed shrooms, disco a la orange confit duck leg, and Lucky You Fish Buns filled with ube custard; and a few extra surprises thrown in.
Tues 28th January – Sun 2nd February 2025
118 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 7EE
@8unhouse
Xi Home Dumplings Bay
To celebrate Lunar New Year, Xi Home Dumplings Bay is adding these spesh dragon shaped steamed buns to the menu. The fillings include custard egg yolk, sweet ube and taro, truffle chocolate, and custard matcha, and they can be enjoyed in the restaurant after a dumpling feast, or you can buy them online to have at home.
Available from Weds 29th January 2025
10 Blossom Street, London E1 6PL
wjxfoodculture.co.uk