Happy Chinese New Year – 新年快乐 (xīn nián kuài lè)! This January 29th marks the beginning of The Year of the Snake and here are some places you can celebrate with a flavour of China right here in Galway…
Enjoy a Bubbly Start to the New Year
Celebrate Chinese New Year at Nana’s Tea this Wednesday by treating yourself to a meal of all things bubbly! By that, we of course, mean ordering Nana’s Tea’s popular bubble tea and bubble waffles. Their menu is packed with yummy flavours, from milky iced teas to zingy fruit drinks, each beverage is bursting with flavour, colour and their signature bubbles! Match your bubbly beverage with one of Nana’s famous bubble egg waffles and you’re sure to leave this pretty shop with a bounce in your step. Make sure to pop in this Chinese New Year and taste these yummy drinks along with a bubble waffle topped with all your favourite flavours, and start your Year of the Snake on the right foot.
Order some Chinese Street Food
For an authentic Chinese feast you're after, get your friends and family together and order a massive takeaway from Xi'an Street Food. Named for the central Chinese city of Xi’An, the restaurant’s array of noodles, dumplings and burgers are the tastiest way to be introduced to the region’s unique food culture and history. Menu highlights here include rougiamo (burger), their most popular dish - the spicebag, and the biang biang noodles. Biang biang noodles are named for the sound made when the large belt-like noodle dough is slapped against the counter as they are pulled. As you wait for your order we’re sure you’ll catch a glimpse of them being made in Xi’An’s open kitchen. We recommend ordering a few dishes to share with your friends/housemates/family so you can try a bit of everything from Xi’An!
Celebrate the New Year with a Delicious Meal
This Wednesday bring your family out for an evening of incredible dining at Ré Nao. Situated by Galway’s historic Spanish Arch, Ré Nao is an award-winning authentic Xi’an Chinese restaurant that offers delicious Chinese and Malaysian cuisine. All the dishes here are made with a genuine love for the cuisine and its tradition, and you can taste the quality in every bite. At Ré Nao there is something that will appeal to everyone, because not only do they offer an authentic Asian menu, but they also have a full vegan menu with its own separate kitchen area. Additionally, to complement your New Year’s celebration, their beautifully decorated bar offers an exciting selection of cocktails, expertly made in-house using fresh ingredients. Open for both lunch and dinner, reserve your table in advance at www.renaorestaurant.ie.
Toast The New Year with Xin Gin
Designed to be at the heart of gatherings, Xin Gin is the perfect beverage with which to welcome in the Year of the Snake here in Galway. Xin Gin is a product of Ahascragh Distillery, whose founders, Michelle and Gareth McAllister, have Irish blood and Asian hearts. After spending many years in Asia, with Xin Gin they set out to merge what they love most about their two homes. The word Xin itself means ‘heart’ or ‘feelings’ in Mandarin. The design of the bottle, with ancient Celtic swirls contrasted with a modern Eastern aesthetic reflects the liquid inside – a perfect balance of European and Oriental botanicals. The cross shaped label represents a promise to stay connected and a crossing point of the two cultures they love. Tap here to find out more, discover Xin Gin cocktail recipes and order a bottle for yourself.
above: photo courtesy of Ahascragh Distillery
Watch a Classic on the Big Screen
East Asia Film Festival Ireland (EAFFI) is delighted to present ‘Flowers of Shanghai’ (1998) in a beautiful digital 4K restoration for the Lunar New Year 2025: Year of the Snake at Pálás Cinema. Showing on Wednesday January 29th at 6.30pm, ‘Flowers of Shanghai’ is a hypnotic human comedy based on Han Ziyun’s 1894 masterpiece novel, Hai Shang Hua. Directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien (EAFFI guest of honour, 2017) and scripted by Chu Tien-Wen, it depicts life in the elegant brothels or ‘flower houses’ found in Shanghai’s foreign concessions in the late Qing dynasty in 1884, where prominent figures were received by ‘flower girls’, in an enclosed world with its own codes, money negotiations, romantic intrigues, and tensions. Told through a series of vignettes shot in exquisite long takes by Hou’s long time collaborator, Mark Lee Ping-Bing creates a ‘“glamorous realism” of lush, gilded, gas-lit interiors and close-range details of the smallest gestures and facial expressions. This classic is one of Hou’s most celebrated and most stunning works. Tickets for this screening are now on sale here.
Feature photo by Shreyaan Vashishtha, via Pexels
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