Where to celebrate the Lunar New Year in London

This year, the National Maritime Museum is hosting a series of events and workshops to celebrate the Chinese New Year. There will be everything from lion dance performances to martial arts classes, live music with traditional instruments, and more. The best bit? All of the activities are free; you just have to book online to guarantee entry, or you can chance turning up on the day.

On the eve of Chinese New Year, The British Museum is hosting a traditional lion dance by the London Chinatown Chinese Association in its Great Court. Believed to bring good luck and drive away evil spirits, the lion dance performances are free to attend and last 15 minutes each. There will be two performances in total.

Greenwich Peninsula is hosting a number of different events to celebrate the Lunar New Year. You can attend a ceramic workshop to craft a personalised pendant, learn woodblock printing and calligraphy, stitch your own indigo dragon, or learn to play mahjong. A dragon dance will wind its way around Peninsula Square and the surrounding area, and there will be exhibitions on Henan and by a contemporary tapestry artist to visit as well.

London's Lunar New Year Parade is undoubtedly one of the best ways to welcome the Chinese New Year. The celebrations are the biggest of their kind outside of Asia and will see thousands of people flock to the streets to watch as colourful performers in lion and dragon outfits and vibrant floats cruise through the city streets. The parade tends to start at Charing Cross Road and ends in Trafalgar Square.

Battersea's imposing brick building is hosting a traditional dragon dance and spiral paper dragon-making workshop in honour of Chinese New Year. In addition, several of the leisure destination's retail and dining outlets will be offering special products. For example, leather goods brand Mulberry is marking the Year of the Dragon with a colourful collaboration with designer Mira Mikati, while home and body products retailer Rituals is selling a limited-edition product line, The Legend of the Dragon.

This year, the Museum of the Home is celebrating the Lunar New Year with a fun family day of creativity and storytelling. Join them on 18 February for free events, including a reading of Eva Wong Nava's illustrated book "I Love Chinese New Year" by the author, a crafts workshop where you'll make Lunar New Year animal puppets using recycled materials, and the chance to create your own stories of home in the museum's interactive family playhouse.

Plum Valley is a family-run Chinese restaurant in the heart of Chinatown, serving classic Cantonese dishes with a contemporary twist. There are rainbow platters of dim sum with fillings like asparagus and prawn and chicken and corn. In honour of the Dragon, they've brought back their range of limited-edition custard buns resembling tangerines, a symbol of good luck and a better year ahead in China, along with other Chinese New Year specials.

Offering a smorgasbord of pan-Asian dishes, The Ivy Asia restaurants are prettily decorated venues with an upmarket feel to them. They're offering different menus in honour of Chinese New Year, including the Dragon Experience set menu, special Year of the Dragon cocktails, and limited-edition dim sum. If you're fortunate enough, you might even find a bespoke lucky gold coin in your dim sum basket – it entitles you to six months of free desserts with each meal.

Opt for a meal at Hakkasan, with their limited-edition Chinese New Year menu focusing on prosperity and fortune. Your meal will feature a signature cocktail and dishes crafted by executive chefs of Hakkasan restaurants around the world. The celebration will be accompanied by traditional lion dances, and you'll also be able to hang a wishing ribbon on a bespoke golden wishing tree.

The luxurious Park Chinois in Mayfair is celebrating the Year of the Dragon with 11 days of immersive entertainment, including a traditional lion dance and Chinese drumming, and a special menu featuring dishes like Wok-Fried Abalone and Roasted Suckling Piglet. The luxury Asian restaurant brings a touch of 1930's Shanghai to the festivities, offering Hennessy XO cocktails alongside its bespoke Chinese New Year Menu.

London's favourite steamed bun purveyors Bao will be giving out 88 of their classic buns for free at their Battersea Power Station outpost to celebrate the start of the Lunar New Year, with the number symbolising fortune in Chinese culture. In addition, Bao has come up with a special Year of the Dragon bun shaped like a dragon claw and filled with molten chocolate and cherry, available for a limited time only.

Bao isn't celebrating the Year of the Dragon just in Battersea. They're popping up at Dover Street Market in Mayfair too, offering not just food but merchandise as well. You can get limited-edition Year of the Dragon T-shirt made in collaboration with Carhartt here, as well as caps, lighters, and other branded products. The limited-edition bun will be available here as well, along with house sauces, noodles, and other food items.

Infamous all-you-can-eat dumpling purveyors Ping Pong are celebrating the Year of the Dragon with a limited-edition collection of four dim sum and a lavish drink, including dragon balls with spicy mango sauce, a giant soup dumpling, and green tea & mascarpone dorayakis. Some of them are also included in the chain's special set menus, and you can also order corporate catering for the whole office to celebrate the Year of the Dragon.

Led by Chef Andrew Wong, the Michelin-starred A.Wong is renowned for its sophisticated and authentic Chinese cuisine, serving a variety of à la carte and tasting menus that showcase diverse regional Chinese dishes. Their Chinese New Year's dining experience is a whopping 30-plate affair. It's presented in collaboration with Dom Pérignon, with the food paired with four of the high-end champagne brand's vintages.

If you want a traditional Chinese environment to enjoy your meal and ring in the new year, head to Phoenix Palace in Marylebone, a restaurant filled with lanterns, dragons and authentic Chinese decor. It's a popular spot to get your dim sum fix, with a menu crafted using the finest seasonal produce, including a limited edition Lunar New Year banquet. To celebrate the Dragon, they're serving a selection of celebration dishes, as well as a set menu for tables of at least eight people.

Pan Pacific is taking it up a level this year and celebrating the Year of the Dragon by hosting a delectable afternoon tea in partnership with the aforementioned Bun House. Featuring three buns, the afternoon tea served in the hotel's Straits Kitchen includes Bun House's signature pork bun filled with barbecue pork belly and yam, followed by a medley with flavours of white peach and milk Oolong, and pineapple and Szechuan pepper. Sip on Newby Tea's exclusive Chinese New Year tea blend as you enjoy the delicacies.

Globally renowned dumpling masters Din Tai Fung are welcoming the Year of the Dragon with a pair of exclusive drinks, the Fortune Fizz cocktail and the Prosperity Punch mocktail, both designed to go well with the restaurant's signature soup dumplings. In fact, if you order a basket of the xiao long bao to go with your drink, you might just find one of the 100 Golden Dragon Coins inside, meaning you get the basket on the house.

Thanks in no small part to Chef Chee Hwee Tong, Hakkasan and its parent group won Michelin stars and became a global culinary powerhouse. After leaving the group in 2019, Tong returned to London with Gouqi, an upmarket establishment where he utilises seasonal local ingredients to fuse pan-Chinese flavours with European haute cuisine. The Chinese New Year menu at this upmarket spot features dishes such as stir-fried lobster and double-boiled bird's nest soup.

The bamboo baskets at Bun House are filled with bao buns that are almost too cute to eat. This tiny spot in Chinatown serves pillowy Cantonese buns filled with BBQ pork belly, roasted veg, curry chicken and more. To celebrate the 2024 Chinese New Year, they've launched a limited-edition Chinese lantern bun, and it's adorable.

If you'd rather celebrate the new year in style, this ultra-swish Chinese restaurant perched atop the 33rd floor of the Shard is the place to be. It's named after Beijing's ancient hutongs - the narrow alleyways that crisscross through the city - and has a dramatic interior that blends old Chinese style with a splash of contemporary. Expect exquisite takes on authentic Chinese dishes and expertly crafted cocktails, along with entertainment in the form of a Chinese calligrapher, a dragon dance, a wishing tree, and more.

The award-winning Royal China Group's elegant Chinese restaurants in London, including the flagship Royal China Club, are going all-out for the Chinese New Year. Each of the branches will be hosting a lion dance performance on select days, and there's a special menu in the works as well. It includes exclusive dishes such as the Prosperity Treasure Pot for up to ten people to share.

The affordable Pho eateries are celebrating Tết, Vietnamese New Year, with exclusive menu items such as the Dragon Fruit Waffle or the Dragon Fruit Lemonade. In addition to the limited-time specials, the Pho restaurants will also be giving diners who join them on Saturday 10 February a lucky red envelope at the end of their meal, as per tradition. You could win a voucher or even a VIP card. The red envelopes will be added to any takeaway orders too.

Tooting's traditional Taiwanese eatery, Daddy Bao, is marking the Lunar New Year with a decadent feasting menu featuring their own take on classic dishes with special meaning. These include dumplings reminiscent of ancient Chinese ingots that symbolise fortune, a traditional rice cake representing prosperity, and noodle-wrapped prawns as a play on the traditional celebratory lobster noodle dish.

A sandwich might not be the traditional way to celebrate Lunar New Year, but pop down to Eggbreak if that idea takes your fancy. This on-trend breakfast spot in West London celebrates all things eggs, and for Lunar New Year they're offering a special char sui toastie that elevates your usual ham and cheese sandwich.