Happy dog year!
Family and a great banquet. The Chinese New Year It may start on a different date than ours. They follow the lunar calendar, not the solar one, and, therefore, their year begins on a different date each year, which usually falls between January 20 and February 21. This year, Chinese New Year starts on February 16. A somewhat distant date to our January 1, but celebrating it is always celebrated like us: as a family and with a great banquet.
Chinese culture looks a lot at its kitchen and its table. Food for them is part of their well-being. Of the balance of your body and mind, That is why it shares the same elements (fire, water, earth, metal and wood) as its medicine and some of its recipes are just as ancient.
The Chinese New Year festivities last for 23 days, ending on the 15th day of the first lunar month. But in Madrid the third weekend of February will be the one in which the great celebrations are concentrated, also gastronomic. Each Chinese region has a special dish, a festive dish to prepare each day of these holidays and that we can try in some of the best Chinese restaurants in the city. Happy year of the dog! and to the table!
New Year's Banquet.
SHANGHAI MOM
The new life of one of the most established Chinese restaurants in Madrid brings the street food of the megacity Shanghai and its New Year's banquet is full of those food street delicacies: as the black truffle or foie xiaolongabao ; steamed glutinous rice… A long menu to celebrate for €39 per person that will be offered between February 13 and 16. The big feast should be given to you on New Year's Eve, dinner on the 15th.
MISSKA
In the new restaurant of the Taiwanese businessman Pedro Lee (behind Café Saigón) the spirit of the Hongkong street food, hometown of its chef Jianhong Jiang. An assortment of dim sums, wonton soup or caramelized duck could not be missing from his New Year's menu. For dessert: coconut mochi with chocolate. It will be available from February 16 to March 15 (€22.5 without drink).
Hotpot!
LONGAN
This Asian bistro has been one of the last to arrive in Madrid, and its Peking duck has already made a noise, but the New Year is celebrated with another thousand-year-old recipe that is very popular with the family: the hotpot, that hot broth around which diners sit and cook their own food, with meat or vegetables, with meat and vegetables. They offer it in buffet form, all you can eat, for €20 per person.
I'M KITCHEN
Julio's signature cuisine, of course, which will also celebrate such a special date, there will be a New Year's menu, but as always you will have to go there to discover what Yong Ping Zang will surprise you with.
** KION & SUI **
Here, Cantonese, Peruvian and Chifa cuisine is honored; and, therefore, the dishes offered from February 15 to 17 only at dinner are Cantonese (€70 two people). Thus, there is no shortage of dim sums (king crab or duck with foie) made in their own kitchen; rolls or Cantonese rice and a second to choose between sirloin or sea bass. Accompanied by Chinese liquor, of course.
Chinese New Year: Cantonese and a dash of Peruvian.
THE HAPPY BUDDHA
In the oldest Chinese restaurant in Madrid, recently reopened with a lot of energy and novelties, they also celebrate this special date with **a menu (€30)** with a starter, first course (low-temperature Sichuan chicken), second (cubes of sirloin) and dessert (spicy chocolate cake and peanut ice cream). A good time to experience the rebirth of a classic. In addition, they are part of the gastronomic proposal Chinese Taste which these days brings together several Chinese restaurants in Madrid with special New Year's menus. Among those who will be:
Saigon Coffee (for €45 with wine) ; Lafu House, with a wide variety of dim sums (for €35); Ni Hao, an infallible and very economical one, which includes lacquered duck on its menu (€26)… And perhaps the most special menu of all will be the one that cooks Chinese chef Scott Xu invited by the ** Gran Meliá Palacio de los Duques. **
The year of the dog has to be a good year.
PASSPORT TO CHINATOWN
In Madrid, the Usera neighborhood It is the great center of the Chinese New Year celebrations, where the great part of the Chinese population of Madrid lives and moves, restaurants, pastry shops, shops... It is our Chinatown. and these days 15 of those establishments have met in a gastronomic passport who wants to teach you a little more about Chinese cuisine, this year explaining the five elements that make it up.
"Every day they will have a special dish, they are very market cuisine so some cannot get ahead of themselves, but each restaurant will have a festive dish on its menu," says David Berna, director of the project, who will have a second leg: guided tours of the neighborhood, with six local guides (Chinese and non-Chinese) to explain the origins of each restaurant and better understand this corner of the city and its culture.
A good dinner to celebrate the year.