The Lunar New Year on February 1st heralds the year of the tiger, and buildings and monuments across Dublin city will once again glow red in honour of the occasion. There is a packed schedule of social and cultural events at dublinlunarnewyear.ie, including a Taste of Asia food programme.
One of the highlights of this is a Chinese New Year Night Market, taking place at Asia Market's Ballymount store in Dublin 12 on Thursday, February 3rd (5.30pm-9.30pm). Food trucks and street food vendors, including Bites By Kwanghi, Ginger's BBQ, Seoul Kitchen, HK BBQ, Mei Mei, BaoBun, Planet Sushi, and Shaking Lab, will be in parked up outside the store, while inside there will be cooking demonstrations by chefs Kwanghi Chan and Sham Hanifa (6pm-8pm). Traditional live music and lion dances will also be part of the evening's activities, and the shop will remain open until 9.30pm so you can restock your Asian larder as well as enjoy the festivities. It is free to attend but pre-registration is required via Eventbrite.
Asia Market's commercial director Eva Pau will host a free online cookery class on Tuesday, February 1st at 6.30pm, in association with the Chester Beatty museum. She will be cooking a tomato, chilli and prawn dish. "Many Chinese families like to include a prawn dish in their celebration menu as it is said to bring laughter, joy and happiness to the whole family," she says.
On Sunday, February 6th at noon, you can join the Spice Bags podcast team Blanca Valencia, Dee Laffan, and Mei Chin for dim sum and tea at Ka-Shing restaurant on Wicklow Street in Dublin 2. Tickets for this (€40) can be booked via Eventbrite.
Some events that are part of Dublin’s Lunar New Year Festival continue beyond this week. The Chinese New Year banquet at Duck, on Fade Street in Dublin 2, can be booked until February 15th. For €50 a head you can enjoy a feast of Hong Kong-style Silver Hill Irish roast duck; pork char siu; crispy pork belly; duck spring roll, duck gyoza, steamed rice and fried noodles, along with two drinks.
At the Guinness Storehouse, you can explore the history of the beverage in Asia, before heading up to the tourist attaction’s restaurant 1837, where Stoneybatter restaurant Hakkahan brings a Chinese influence to the menu in a collaboraton running until February 28th.
