Lunar New Year celebrations have become a significant part of most people’s social calendars these days. It has always been primarily celebrated across East and Southeast Asia, but nowadays you will find colourful celebrations in most of the major cities. Below, we look at the best restaurants in London to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
1.Shan Shui Social
Situated in the heart of Victoria, it is still a relatively new restaurant, having just opened last April. The restaurant transports you back to the glamorous Roaring 20s in Shanghai. With art deco motifs, neon signs and a bespoke porcelain mosaic floor, you know this is a passion project for their owner. Their menu is a crowd-pleasing mixture of regional Chinese cuisines. You have the chilli and numbing spices from Sichuan and the delicate dim sum creations of southern China, along with delectable Cantonese roast meats.
Their well-curated dim sum menu includes exquisite, fine shrimp and scallops dumplings and the explosive charcoal lava baos. The pork belly char siu has the perfect meat-to-fat ratio and has a tasty layer of char siu sauce and honey. They have comforting vegetarian creations like their claypot braised aubergines.
For Lunar New Year, they are offering the celebratory Yu Sheng dish. It is a raw fish salad filled with auspicious ingredients and also affectionately known as the “prosperity toss”. It is a participatory dish, where diners have to toss the ingredients high in the air with their chopsticks. The higher you toss the ingredients, the more prosperous you will be for the Year of the Fire House.
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2. Singapulah
The very centrally located restaurant that sits on the border of Soho and Chinatown has been a crowd favourite since opening on this site in February 2024. You will find the most authentic Singaporean cuisine in London at Singapulah. It is a sister restaurant to Shan Shui Social, so unsurprisingly, you will also find Yu Sheng offered on their menus for Lunar New Year. In fact, Yu Sheng is said to have been invented in either Singapore or Malaysia in the 1960s, so it is particularly apt to be enjoying this auspicious dish at Singapulah.
Their signature Laksa is not to be missed. It is a flavour explosion that delivers on tangy, spicy, creamy and savoury notes. It has all the requisite ingredients like tofu puffs, fish cakes, prawns and a boiled egg. This complex and fragrant dish is what keeps attracting diners back to the restaurant. At the outset, there seem to be more vegetarian starter options than main course options. However, speak with their helpful staff, they can recommend mains like char kway teow, which can be altered to cater for vegetarians. They currently have other Lunar New Year specials like seafood lettuce wraps.
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3. Fiery Flavors
One of the newest openings in London at the start of 2026, they specialise in Hunan Cuisine. It is very much a hidden gem, situated in the neighbourhood of Surrey Quays with unassuming fast-food takeaway dining outlets nearby. They have some showstopping dishes, like their signature fish head dishes. They have a considerable pedigree, being owned by Winston (Tao Xu), who has worked with hot pot brand, Happy Lamb and was the mastermind behind the renowned Sichuan restaurant, Bar Shu in Soho.
They have some well-thought-out dishes like their braised pork belly with gua bao. The fluffy bao buns readily soaked up the rich umami flavours from the indulgent meat dish. They have some wonderful vegetarian creations as well, such as the typhoon shelter-style fried sweet corn and sizzling tamago tofu. The former is actually a Hong Kong style of cooking, whilst the latter isn’t actually tofu, but a smooth, delicate custard made from eggs and dashi.
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4. Hainan House
In terms of regional cuisines, we head further south with Hainan House. Their authentic, home-style cooking focuses on light and fresh ingredients. They tend to have less oily dishes, but focus on poaching, braising and claypot cooking. The restaurant founded by Sunny Wu started out as a series of pop-ups and supper clubs and became a permanent brick-and-mortar restaurant back in September 2023. They have not looked back since, with a loyal following of diners who adore their unique offerings.
You will find unusual creations not found elsewhere, such as their tiger skin quail eggs with papaya chilli. With the tropical nature of Hainan, you won’t be surprised to find mango, papaya and coconut appearing frequently on their menu. They have warming dishes like their comforting vegetable curry stew, but they also have refreshing options like their citrusy chilli mussels. The latter is unusually cooked with kumquat to give an extra burst of tangy, citrus notes.
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5 Med Salleh Kopitiam
Med Salleh London offers two different concepts. With Med Salleh Kopitiam, they offer vibrant, multicultural street food from Malaysia, whilst Med Salleh Viet offers street food from Vietnam, focusing on grilled delights and the most aromatic of pho dishes. At Med Salleh Kopitiam, they have a very homely, nostalgic decor. They have a quirky interior filled with oddities such as superhero memorabilia, retro television and guitars.
You will feel like you’ve been transported to the food stalls of Kuala Lumpur with their menu. They have authentic creations like oyster pan cake and stingray with sambal sauce. Dishes are reasonably priced unless you opt for the extravagant choices like the stingray. Even the drinks have a nostalgic, childhood vibe with delights such as Milo dinosaur and cendol king.
Click here to visit their website.
Why not check out my article on The Top 5 must-visit fine dining restaurants in Hong Kong, click here to read the article.
