23 Jan 2025
James Cameron checks out some local offerings for Burns’ Night and Chinese New Year…
Now that all the fuss and palaver of Christmas is over, it’s time to focus on the next seasonal excuse for over-indulgence. This is either Burns Night or the Lunar New Year, depending on your persuasion.
For the more Caledonian amongst you there are a few options around St Albans to get your haggis on, in honour of the great Scottish poet Robbie Burns and his birthday
on January 25. Plenty of these involve a visit to the pub, which seem apt, including the Prae Wood Arms, the Chequers and if you’re feeling particularly fancy then Wetherspoons normally do a Haggis-burger.
If you have more respect for yourself and your digestive system, and you have any money left after the relentless consumerism of December, then the finest steamed entrails can probably be found at Thompsons. It’ll set you back £120 for their Pre-Burns Night Celebrations on Friday 24, plus an extra £75 for whisky pairings, but for that you get the whole kilt and kaboodle.
The Great Chieftain of the Pudding Race will be piped in by bagpipes, and then addressed with poetry, and all the while you will be stuffing your face with four courses of Scottish delights including Smoked Salmon and Poached Lobster, as well as welcome canapés featuring the incredibly intriguing sounding Haggis Doughnuts.
If dead Scottish poets and sheep innards aren’t your bag, then a few days later on January 29 you have the start of the Lunar New Year. This was previously known as Chinese New Year until a few other South Asian countries quite rightly pointed out that they also celebrate it.
The start of the year if you go for a lunar calendar, it is also known as the Spring Festival and is traditionally a time for people to return to their hometown and eat bucketloads of food with friends and family. If you feel your wok skills are lacking, though, there are plenty of options to outsource.
We are lacking any real sit down Chinese restaurants in St Albans, since Chi on Holywell Hill went to the great Deliveroo in the Sky.
Luckily, they also celebrate the Lunar New Year in Thailand, so you can justify a visit to one of our selection of fine establishments including Thai Rack, Bua Thai or newcomer Sukawatee by the Clock Tower. There are also a few Korean Fried Chicken places that have sprung up on Just Eat, including Korea Town and Seoul Chikin, as this seems to be the latest culinary trend to hit us.
Vietnamese food is harder to find, but on my ‘to visit’ list is Taste of Vietnam, offering takeaway small dishes Thursday to Saturday, as well as Banh Mi (Vietnamese baguettes, showing the French influence in their cuisine) for Thursday lunch.
If you don’t mind a trip into London, then Hoxton has a bewildering number of Vietnamese restaurants, mostly offering extensive vegan options, along the Kingsland Road, including the delicious Nom Nom featuring a sumptuous hotpot and a particularly cheeky old head waiter.
If you are determined to go old school Chinese, and it’s a market day, then you should be able to track down Yum Yum, home of the brightest red sweet and sour sauce I have ever seen. If you are happy to travel, apparently the Roast Duck Inn in Hatfield is very popular amongst the Hong Kong ex-pat community, particularly for their Roast Duck (though you’d be disappointed if they didn’t do a good job on that dish).
For local evening dining, though, you’re going to have to go for a takeaway. Again there are plenty around the parades and suburbs of St Albans, and you will most likely have your own favourite.
Honourable mentions go to Lantern House in Fleetville and the excellently named Flame Light in the culinary hotspot of Chiswell Green. This year, though, we will be giving our business to Jersey Farm Chinese Cuisine, located unsurprisingly in Jersey Farm. They are masters of the crispy chilli beef, and portion sizes are so generous you will certainly be having leftovers for breakfast, my favourite part of any takeaway.
For an even wider selection, I cannot recommend Kat’s Oriental Cuisine enough.
Located on an unassuming suburban street, on arrival to collect your order you will be given a lovely welcome and possibly some Thai prawn crackers to munch on whilst you wait. They have a great selection of vegan dishes, and everything has that combination of freshness and spiciness that Thai food does so well, leaving you invigorated and ready to take on the gloomiest of Januarys.
If you want to really go to town, though, like Burns Night you have the option of going to Swankcom One with a visit to old favourite Omboo at Sopwell House.
At their Pan-Asian restaurant they have a number of special dishes to help you welcome in the year of the snake, including a Rainbow Salad with Salmon Carpaccio in honour of the tradition of tossing a salad with loved ones at New Year.
Between January 28 and February 12 diners will also be able to pick a Hong Bao from their tree, lucky red envelopes containing uplifting proverbs, free meals or if you’re very fortunate a voucher for a cocktail from their outstanding Octagon bar.
Plenty of options therefore for you to have another go at celebrating a new year, enough to keep you going until Persian New Year in March. Get out there, welcome in the snake and give yourself a treat. January is a depressing enough month, this is a great way to generate your own sunshine.
