CHINESE New Year in Manchester is not just about the Dragon Parade, colourful centrepiece though it is of the celebrations (Feb 4-7) of the Year of The Monkey.
This Friday (February 5) sees the region’s first ever Chinese Art Lantern Festival at the Trafford Centre with silk lanterns up to 20ft high depicting the Terracotta Army, Chinese architecture, UK landmarks and even Disney characters creating a winding path to explore between Kung Fu, acrobatic shows, family lantern-making workshops and a chance to taste Cantonese cuisine.
The Festival runs from 4.30-10pm every evening between 5 February and 20 April, tickets from £15.50 for adults and £10.50 for children and are available here.
Not that there is not spectacle aplenty inside the city’s restaurants, too. On Sunday, February 7, day of the Dragon Parade, the venerable Yang Sing on Princess Street will be hosting a £40 a head five course Monkey King Lunch Banquet from 12pm. It includes a private Lion Dance, communal salad tossing (for good luck), martial arts demonstration and a dance performance illuminating the Monkey King legend. Oh and the food looks pretty amazing – Steamed xiaolongbau pork dumpling with black truffle or Baked native scallop with seafood in a creamed coconut dressing anyone? Book via this link.
At the Little Yang Sing on George Street it’s all about the food.From Wednesday, February 3 the popular basement restaurant will be offering two special New Year set menus
– The Lucky Monkey (£22.95 a head) and The Hale and Hearty (£31.95 a head, minimum order for two people). The H&H looks particularly appetising with lobster (at a premium), crispy duck venison and monkfish among the choices
Sichuan specialists Red Chilli on Porland Streetv are offering their own characteristically heat-driven Chinese New Year Menu, offering the likes of Braised Duck Feet with Dried Oysters and Black Moss, Chinese Mushrooms and Taro (£13.80) or, perhaps less uncompromising, Baked Lobster with Egg Noodles in Spring Onions and Ginger with Grandma’s Chilli Sauce/Green and Red Chilli (£23.80).
Out in Alderley Edge, in the former Panacea unit, glitzy newcomers Yu (above) are holding a Chinese New Year Banquet on Thursday, February 4. The bespoke £65-ahead menu created by Victor Yu for this one night only features among the starters Steamed Har Kau with XO and Honey Coated Spicy Chicken wrapped in Bamboo Leaves; deconstructed Crispy Duck and Pancakes with crispy duck skin served separate, followed with spring onion and cucumber with Yuzu and Hoi Sin; anda choice of mains including Steamed Wild Seabass with Ginger, Spring Onion and Seasoned Soya and Stir Fried Mukyui with Seasonal Vegetables in Chilli and Black Bean.
A less obvious Chinese celebration is at The Chefs Table in The Kitchens Spinningfields M3 3AG on Monday, February 8 (7pm-10pm), where meat-driven residents Bangers and Bacon and Well Hung present a five course menu – their Chinese cuisine debut. Menu to be announced @bangersandbacon. £21.79 a head. Get your tickets via this link.
If street food is the way you want to toast the Monkey you can’t go wrong either. Throughout the four day festival, New Cathedral Street will host an Asian Street Food Village from 11am-7pm featuring some of the city’s most popular vendors and colourful carts – including The Hungry Gecko and Yo Sushi!.
The festival’s main hub is in St. Ann’s Square with further food stalls from the likes of Yang Sing, Bubble Tea and Rice Bowl, a live music stage, and the façade of St Ann's Church in glorious Technicolor via a mix of stunning light projections that tell the story of Chinese New Year (6-9pm every day). Not to be missed: traditional Beijing Jian Bing crepes and Bao glazed buns from Mei Mei’s Street Cart (below).
Elsewhere there are thousands of ascending red lanterns a 50ft Giant Golden Dragon outside Selfridge’s in Exchange Square, a Tsingtao Beer Ping Pong Bar on Cathedral Street, parkour runners, live street art by graffiti artists from Hong Kong and a major new exhibition at the NQ’s Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art.
The festivities finish on the Sunday with the hugely popular street parade when from 1pm a 175ft dragon leads the way from Albert Square to Chinatown, accompanied by dancers, musicians, and acrobats, followed by a fireworks display at 6pm.
For the full listings go to www.chinesenewyearmcr.com. Main image is from Selfridge’s, who are celebrating the Year of the Monkey in great style.