The Chinese New Year is fast approaching and before you know it, we’ll be in the year of the Ox. Usually for those who celebrate Chinese New Year, it’s one of the biggest nights of the year and tends to involve celebrating in large groups and eating a lot of food. And we mean a LOT of food. However, just like practically everything over the past year, 2021’s Chinese New Year celebrations are going to be rather different from normal, thanks to the current nationwide lockdown.
However, just because you aren’t able to meet up in person or go out to a restaurant doesn’t mean that you can’t still celebrate. There’s nothing to stop you stuffing your face while catching up with friends and family virtually. In fact, a number of restaurants have once again found a way to work around the COVID restrictions by coming up with various Chinese New Year meal kits and delivery services. From beautifully made dumplings and elegant takes on crispy duck and pancakes to treat-packed banquets, there are a huge number of options to choose from, depending on what you want your meal to look like.
The best news is that many restaurants are delivering their kits and banquets not just in London but nationwide, meaning that you don’t need to be living in the Capital to take advantage. Below we’ve included some our favourite Chinese New Year meal kits and delivery services, which are sure to have you seeing in the year of the Ox with a big smile on your face. We’ve split our guide into kits available just in London, and ones which can be ordered nationwide so you can easily find the perfect option for you.
UK-wide Chinese New Year meal kits
Fancy trying some of the best Chinese food in the UK regardless of where you live? These are our picks of the best Chinese New Year meal kits offering UK-wide delivery.
My Neighbours the Dumplings' Chinese New Year Box
What: Clapton and Hackney-based My Neighbours the Dumplings has long been a favourite haunt for dumpling-loving East Londoners but its food can now be enjoyed nationwide thanks to this special Chinese New Year box. Featuring a whole host of wonderful dishes (eight savoury and two sweet, to be precise), this box can feed up to four people and requires a bit of hands-on cookery, which we think adds to the fun. This ranges from steaming prawn har gau in a bamboo steamer to pan-frying vegan turnip cakes.
Price: £88
Order now from My Neighbours the Dumplings
Mei Mei's Deluxe CNY Box
What: Now we're not going to say that all good celebrations require caviar, but it certainly makes a rather nice addition. Luckily London hotspot Mei Mei's deluxe Chinese New Year box does come with 50g of N25 schrenckii caviar along with dishes such as five spice pork rolls with sweet soy sauce and duck breast served with barbecue sauce, which need to be finished at home. It may not be the cheapest of options, but it's available for delivery nationwide, will taste ultra-fresh post cooking, and is guaranteed to wow whoever you choose to share it with.
Price: £175
Order now from Mei Mei
Yauatcha's Pineapple Pastries
What: For those of you with a sweet tooth, London-based restaurant and bakery Yauatcha is offering a simpler way to see in the Chinese New Year with these wonderful pineapple pastries. Available throughout the whole of February, the pastries are meant to be a sign of prosperity and good fortune, and are filled with caramelised pineapple jam. While the pineapple pastries are available for UK-wide delivery, people in London will also be able enjoy a dedicated set menu of treats from Yauatcha.
Price: £22 for a box of 8
Order now from Yauatcha
Lu Ban Kitchen's Chinese New Year Family Banquet
What: This kit from Liverpool Chinese restaurant Lu Ban means it when it calls itself a banquet. Serving between four and six people, each box contains dumplings, salt and pepper chicken wings, smoked pork baby ribs, roast duck and pancakes, jiang beef, prawn chow mein, and noodles. You’ll simply need to heat it all up and tuck in. Arriving frozen to keep everything extra fresh, you can pick a delivery date that works best for you regardless of whereabouts you live.
Price: £99
Order now from Lu Ban Kitchen
Wun's Tea Room's Iberico Char Siu Kit
What: Soho favourite Wun’s Tea Room is so highly regarded that its New Year feasting kit has actually completely sold out in advance. However, fear not, as it’s also offering a fantastic iberico char siu kit, which we think is also a great option for Chinese New Year celebrations and is available for delivery nationwide. It’ll take you around 25 minutes to prepare on the evening but you’ll be rewarded with melt-in-your-mouth pork and fluffy blini buns.
Price: £18.81
Order now from Wun's Tea Room
Old Chang Kee's Singapore Laksa Meal Kit
What: This might not be one for the traditionalists out there but for those looking to see in the Chinese New Year with something a little lighter than a full-on banquet, this laksa kit from Old Chang Kee is on the money. This easy-to-prepare kit serves two people making it particularly ideal if you're only going to be in with one other person on the night. The finished laksa doesn't disappoint either, with the wonderfully meaty prawns coming drenched in a rich coconutty broth.
Price: £28
Order now from Old Chang Kee
London-only Chinese New Year meal kits
Looking for the best possible way to celebrate Chinese New Year at home in London? These are the best spots in the Capital offering meal kits and delivery.
Park Chinois' Year of the Ox Set Menu
What: Park Chinois has never been somewhere which does things by halves and its Chinese New Year offering is no different. Executive Chef Lee Che Liang has created a luxurious set feasting menu available for delivery containing delights such as a selection of dainty dim sum, Australian Wagyu Beef and taro yam, and steamed wild seabass in Chinese chive sauce. As if the food wasn't exciting enough alone, one lucky customer will find a golden ticket hiding in the delivery which will give them a meal worth £150 a head at Park Chinois when it reopens.
Price: £228 for two people, £388 for four
Preorder now from Park Chinois
Hakkasan's Year of the Ox Menu
What: When it comes to Chinese food in London, names don't come much bigger than Hakkasan's two restaurants (Mayfair and Hanway Place) and now you can have its Michelin-starred food delivered right to your door as a New Year treat. Hakkasan's special Year of the Ox menu is a rather grand affair and has a hefty price to go with it, but when else are you going to treat yourself to a Michelin-starred Chinese takeaway? Dishes on the indulgent menu include crispy kumquat chicken and brown butter and black bean scallop.
Price: £88 per person
Order the Hakkasan menu from Deliveroo
Rasa Sayang's "Yu Sheng" Prosperity Toss Salad
What: The prosperity toss salad is an incredibly traditional celebratory dish, often served on Chinese New Year, and is made up of a myriad of different ingredients including carrot, pickled ginger, salmon sashimi and jelly fish. Courtesy of Malaysian spot Rasa Sayang, Londoners can have a prosperity salad delivered right to their door up until 28 February. What's more it's great value too as each salad can serve between 3 and 6 people.
Price: £38
Order now from Rasa Sayang
The Red Lion & Sun Chinese New Year Menu
What: A Highgate pub might not be the first place you'd think of when planning your Chinese New Year celebrations, but this year The Red Lion & Sun has teamed up with The Royal China to offer a special menu on 12 February. The reasonably priced menu includes everything you'd want for a Chinese banquet, from steamed dumplings to confit duck leg and all the trimmings and can be delivered to anyone within a two-mile radius of the pub, or collected.
Price: Dumplings from £4 for three, other dishes range from £5-£18
Preorder now by calling 0208 340 1780
Hot Stone's Japanese Wagyu Gyoza
What: We know that it might seem a little odd to choose to celebrate Chinese New Year with a very typically Japanese dish but these wagyu gyozas have been created specially by Hot Stone to welcome in the year of the Ox and taste just as brilliant as they look. Coming ready to be steamed, the gyozas can be enjoyed as part of a larger meal, with other dishes available including an irresistible omakase box.
Price: tbc
Order now from Hot Stone
Plum Valley's Limited Edition Chinese New Year Dishes
What: If restaurants were open as normal, people would be flocking to London's Chinatown on the 12th to celebrate in one of its many restaurants. However, not all is lost as a number of Chinatown spots are offering collection and delivery and that includes Plum Valley which has actually launched a selection of limited-edition goodies specifically to celebrate the New Year. These include a turnip cake, a "yu sheng" sashimi salad, and some very stylish custard buns designed to look like mandarins and are available as part of Plum Valley's Deliveroo menu.
Price: Limited edition dishes range from £6.80-£45.80
Order from Plum Valley on Deliveroo
Want to know what other London restaurants offer delivery? Check out our guide to the best takeaway in London