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As you all know by now, I’m a bit of a fan of Dim Sum and Hakkasan. So naturally I had to go and try out their Chinese New Year menu on the day it launched and report back to you all. Well, it’s safe to say it didn’t disappoint. I took Dad with me, and he loved it just as much as I did!
Chinese New Year is the most important festival in the Chinese calendar, and many families have their own traditions. There is one tradition that many Chinese families follow however, which is the tradition of the wishing tree.
The wishing tree tradition began hundreds of years ago, and it involves people writing their wishes for the year onto a piece of paper, and then throwing them onto a tree.
Dad and I wrote down our wishes, before tucking in to our first course of dim sum.
I had the Hakkasan Kumquat Cocktail, which was especially for Chinese New Year, while Dad had a glass of German Pinot Noir. The dim sum as always was excellent, beautiful scallops and every piece was full of flavour.
After the dim sum came the soft shell crab, which was my favourite course of the night. The crab was topped with egg yolk…yep, that huge pile of crumbly pastry looking stuff on top is egg yolk! How clever is that?! It tasted delicious!
The lamb wraps were really really spicy! It’s weird, I’m not a massive fan of spicy food, but these tasted so good I kept going back for more (and then calming my mouth down with the cocktail!). Dad wasn’t so keen on these, he felt they were a bit of a strange combination with the seafood dim sum and soft shell crab.
After the starters we had a break before moving on to the mains. I always find that the set menu always gives you far too much food, we could have really done with one or two less mains (we had five!). Again two of the dishes were really quite spicy, so be warned if you can’t handle spice!
However, the abalone rice, the seabass, and the beef were mouthwateringly good. I’m usually not a big rice eater, but I couldn’t stop eating the huge bowl of it that was sat next to me.
For dessert was the Kumquat wishing tree with Chocolate, caramelised macadamia, cocoa rocks. I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this, but loved the theatrics of having a tree brought to the table with our Kumquats hanging off it.
Historically, people would tie their wish to a small orange or kumquat, and then throw the wish up to hang in the branches of the trees.
It was believed that if the wish successfully hung onto one of the branches, the person’s wish would come true. The higher the branch the wish landed on, the more likely it would be for the person’s hopes to be fulfilled. Hence the dessert includes your very own wishing tree and kumquat hanging from it.
The rest of the dessert, the chocolate part, was completely moreish! It was really rich but beautiful, and it left me feeling as though I just wanted a huge slab of it!
The
Hakkasan Chinese New Year menu is well worth it if you fancy a special meal out over the next couple of weeks, just be warned though that it is quite a spicy one, and it’s also very filling! At £88.88 each it’s actually quite good value, you get nine courses for that price, which means each course is less than £10 each.
*Our meal was complimentary, but as always my views are my own
Catherine Lux
Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of Content Marketing at Amazon by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.
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Not good to read before lunch, my tummy's rumbling now! It all looks so delicious, though the lamb wrap does sound a little out of place within the starter menu. Yum though!!
Rosie xx
Haha, sorry! It was so good!
C x
Aaaah this post is making me so excited for Chinese New Year! I love the price – £88.88 – that translates to 'prosperity x4'!
Jasiminne | Posh, Broke, & Bored
Ooooh is that why!? Their set menus are always £88.88, and I've always wondered why as it's such a random number! Now it makes sense – thanks!
C x
I love the whole idea of the kumquat tree! I still can't believe that I haven't been to Hakkasan! I really need to up my game. Glad you had such a lovely time. It's always so nice having some Daddy Daughter time!
Katie <3
I know, it's so cute isn't it! You really need to go, it's awesome. Yeh, even though we live in the same house I hardly ever see him as we're both always so busy, so it's nice to just catch up every so often 🙂
C x
Haven't been to Hakkasan in ages, think it's time to make a return trip. I love the Kumquat tree story, love hearing about little rituals and traditions like that!
Do it! It's such a great place, I love it so much! Agreed, the Far East traditions fascinate me so much, it's like a whole other world from which we live in.
C x
Can you believe I've never been to Hakkasan! I love the idea of the wishing tree and your dessert looked amazing
Suze | LuxuryColumnist
Whaaat? No way! You MUST go, ASAP!
C x
THE place to spend Chinese New Year – I'm heading there next week 🙂
Have a fabulous weekend,
Hayley x
http://thelifestylemenu.co.uk/
Definitely! Eeek have an awesome time!
C x