This week marks Lunar New Year, a holiday celebrated by millions across Asia and the rest of the world. This time around, it’s The Year of the Snake – so if you were born in a ‘snake’ year, 2025 could be a year of rebirth and regeneration.
Luckily enough, there’s lots happening in the capital right on our doorstep, including the best Lunar New Year dishes to get your teeth stuck into – including Hakkasan’s snake fruit, persimmon and avocado salad and Mr Bao’s even-better-than-bossman’s fried chicken.
We’re also not done with Veganuary just yet – with a review of Portobello Road’s Holy Carrot, the kind of place you go when you want to impress.
See you next week!
Read on for a whole range of recommendations for February 1 and 2, handpicked as always by The Slice.
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This week in London
1.Perfect fried chicken and kick-ass baos at Mr Bao
It’s a typical Saturday night in south London: I’m eating fried chicken outside Peckham Morley’s. Except I’m actually across the road, in a Taiwanese restaurant, devouring crispy wings dipped in ultra-savoury miso mayo so good that bossman’s have paled permanently in comparison. ‘Doesn’t it feel like we’re cheating?’ I ask my boyfriend. He doesn’t care, he’s already scribbling on the paper order form for another portion.
The arrival of the Year of the Snake had the Slice team thinking about our favourite neighbourhood Chinese and East Asian restaurants, and I had to put forward Mr Bao (they’ve got other branches in Tooting and Westfield, but this one’s the OG). It’s a tiny, proper Peckham joint, with paper lanterns, dried flowers, and a couple kitschy souvenirs.
On the menu you’ll find a mix of traditional Taiwanese buns and kick-ass twists on favourites from smacked cucumber to hash brown baos at brunchtime (two baos and a couple small plates between two should do it), while the drinks selection includes Asian beers, sake, and a powerful Plum Wine Negroni. Put it this way – I’ll be slithering back as soon as I can get a table.
Bao from £4.80, small plates from £3.50. 293 Rye Lane, Peckham, SE15 4UA. Book here.
2. Impress at all-vegan Holy Carrot
There’s a vegan restaurant for every occasion (a huge improvement on ten years ago). But Holy Carrot is the kind of place you go when you want to impress. The smoked Mushroom Chilli Ragu delivered on a moreishness I thought you could only get from beef lasagne, soaked up with fresh, soft in the middle, crisp on the outside koji bread. And if there’s one dish you’d be mad to skip, it’s the flawlessly crunchy hen of the woods mushroom with roasted koji mole.
Koji is the same mould used for miso and soy sauce, and the result is a well balanced sweet, tangy sauce with that umami taste we all crave. While some dishes had me wishing for more dimension – the Foraged Mushroom Cassoulet with Smoked Tofu faded into the shadow of the other dishes – I appreciated their simplicity.
The dessert menu is free of all refined sugars, but sweetness-wise, the sticky toffee pudding with carob caramel and cream is still pretty high on the scale, so have your water at the ready. Don’t forget to drizzle some of the cream on top – the absence of dairy makes it deliciously light.t.
Smalls from £11; larges from £13.50. 156 Portobello Rd, Notting Hill, W11 2EB. Book here.
3. Celebrate Lunar New Year with these tasty menus
Hakkasan
Best for: a sumptuous Chinese feast
Celebrate the year of the snake in style with Hakkasan’s specially-crafted Chinese New Year menu. Featuring dishes like the snake fruit, persimmon and avocado salad or the sauteed eight treasure vegetables (including snake gourd, of course) every single flavour packs a punch. The Chilean sea bass and plum-braised beef short ribs are particularly melt-in-your-mouth spectacular. But it’s not just about the food – Hakkasan is a full dining experience.
There’s a lavish golden, handcrafted wishing tree where you can hang your wishes for the year to come, plus dry ice smokeshows with exclusive Hennessy cocktails. You’ve never had Chinese like this before.
Year of the Snake menu, £98pp, Hanway Place or Mayfair, London. Book here.
Mambow
Best for: if you’re feeling lucky
It’s the return of the golden ticket! At Mambow, in honour of Lunar New Year and the Year of the Snake, guests are in with the chance to win a free meal for two. So how does it work? You’ll be handed a red envelope when it’s time to pay and if you’re lucky you’ll get a free meal on your next visit. What are the specials? Prosperity Yam Basket – a deep-fried five spice yam ring, filled with classic Chinese Kung Pao Chicken and peanuts; Chilli Crab Kueh Pie Tee – thin and crispy pastry tart shells, filled with spicy crab and served alongside stir fried yam bean; and Adam Peas Daging – a hot and sour beef short rib curry with okra, torch ginger flower.
Dishes from £5. 78 Lower Clapton Road, Lower Clapton. Book here.
Lunar New Year Celebrations at Greenwich Peninsula
Best for: those born in the Year of the Snake
It’s all happening this weekend at Greenwich Peninsula (bonus: it won’t cost you a fortune). Welcome in health and prosperity for the new lunar year with a whole range of activities – there are spiritual tea-tasting sessions, mesmerising lion and dragon dances, and a sensational line up of East Asian and Southeast Asian artists. And for when those stomachs start grumbling, Canteen Food Hall & Bar will be serving up authentic congee and youtiao from Juk Pou.
Peninsula Square, Greenwich. 1 February. 12-4pm. Find out more here.
4. Crunch is bringing its weird and wonderful flavours to Soho
Cult sandwich shop Crunch are bringing their unique flavours (you’ll either love them or say ‘WTF?’) to Soho this February.
We can’t wait to try the Donald’s Duck Sandwich with slow-cooked Gressingham duck leg, banana shallots, crispy onions and smoked apple sauce. Look out for a review from The Slice team next month…
5. How to get free hot chocolate…
It’s National Hot Chocolate Day this Friday! To celebrate this all-important occasion, Whittard of Chelsea is giving away FREE tubs of their luxurious hot chocolate for the first 20 people at each of their 42 stores nationwide.
And they’re keeping things interesting with two brand new flavours – tonka bean and pistachio. Full list of stores as well as opening times here.
6. Continue the Lunar New Year Celebrations at BFI Southbank
Three films from Hong Kong filmmakers will play at BFI Southbank for Lunar New Year, selected by Focus Hong Kong.
Love story True Love, for Once in My Life, queer drama All Shall Be Well and timeless rom com Shanghai Blues. Find out more here.
7. Listen to some jazz at the Southbank Centre x Montreux Jazz Festival
It’s the last week to catch a vibe at the Southbank Centre x Montreux Jazz Festival. While some events are sold out, you can still join in on honouring the life and music of Nina Simone on Friday, or listen to the next generation of jazz musicians commemorate James Baldwin’s life on Sunday.
8. Join the waitlist for the new Tutankhamun immersive exhibition
The waitlist for the new Tutankhamun immersive exhibition is now officially open. With stunning 8m-high video mapping, a 360º VR journey, an interactive Metaverse, authentic artefacts from Cairo, and more. Get ready to uncover the secrets of a truly fascinating era in history. More info here!
9. Enjoy nature at the London Wetland Centre for free
Fancy being at one with nature? You can claim a FREE admission ticket to explore the London Wetland Centre anytime from 31 January to 7 February. Just book here and get ready to drown out the noise of busy modern life.
10. Watch Kyoto at Soho Place Theatre
★★★★
By John Nathan
More Trending
Out of the early rounds of twig dry, round-table meetings convened by the United Nations to combat climate change in the 1990s, writers Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson (AKA ‘the Joes’) have wrought a political thriller with a real-life bad guy at its core.
The villain is Don Pearlman, a Republican lawyer who is approached by a sinister cabal who want him to sabotage attempts to reduce global warming by making the world use less oil. So he does, pitting nations against each other and sowing discord where consensus might grow. Billions star Stephen Kunken plays Perlman with a demonic charm that at first suggests he might be the devil himself. Certainly he seems to be doing Satan’s work. Yet the writing skates over his motives for being, as anxious wife Shirley (Jenna Augen) puts it, ‘on the wrong side’.
Still, the show’s pulse-quickening pace leaves little time to dwell on doubts. We leave as thrilled by the energy of the evening as we are dazed by the mendacious lengths to which corporations go to keep profits intact, even if it means the world will burn.
Tickets from £25. Soho Place Theatre. Until 3 May. Book here.
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