Hot pot and lotus root: foods surprising festival-goers at Chinese New Year in Moscow

The Chinese New Year in Moscow festival has launched in Moscow. It will run until March 1 as part of the Winter in Moscow project. The festival offers hundreds of events. You can find its venues all over the city, both downtown and uptown. In the coming days, you can enjoy theatrical performances, concerts, cooking and craft activities.

Traditional foods are a big part of the event, They are symbolizing wealth, abundance, longevity, and harmony in the family. Visitors can discover Chinese cuisine at Moscow cafes and restaurants. This year, the Chinese New Year in Moscow festival includes about 150 food outlets and 139 Vkusno i Tochka restaurants. Read the article to find out where to try Peking duck, crispy eggplants, smashed cucumbers, century eggs, chicken feet, and much more.

Food discoveries in the heart of Moscow

The main Chinese New Year in Moscow venues can be found on Manezhnaya Square and the passage to Revolution Square. Here you can enjoy spectacular shows and theatrical street performances or make traditional decorations at an arts and crafts workshop. After the cultural immersion, we recommend dropping in restaurants of the Central Administrative District to explore the food traditions of China. You can find 35 festival cafes and restaurants in this part of Moscow.

A variety of Chinese appetizers are served at Golden Dragon (4/3 Nizhny Susalny Pereulok). They include smashed cucumbers, wood ear mushrooms with vegetables, and lotus root with bell pepper. At Tom and Yam (1 Arbat St.), Beijing salad with mango and Sichuan-style squid are a must-try. Mr. Lee (52/55 Povarskaya St., bldg. 3) offers unusual dishes, such as crystalline ice plant salad. Try traditional Chinese foods like beef in black pepper sauce and Kung Pao chicken at China News (17 Novy Arbat St.). Old Sichuan (25/2 Lubyansky Proyezd) offers fried chicken with shrimp in cream sauce and pork dumplings with Chinese cabbage. If you like rice wine minced pork or Shanghai-style duck with goji berries, go to China Gramota (1 Sretenka St.). Chingdao (5 Yauzskaya St.) is a good place to try dishes such as Dongpo (braised pork in a pot) and shiitake mushrooms with Bok choy (Chinese cabbage). At Zolotye Palochki (1/1 Tishinskaya Square), our recommendation is hoisin roast beef and fried shrimp with pineapple. The Chiho chain of Chinese restaurants will offer Hainanese seafood soup and noodles.

Chinese cuisine flavors in every district of Moscow

Chinese New Year events will take place in many locations throughout the city. The festival venues can be found not only in the Central District, but also in other administrative districts of Moscow. You can follow the events on our website. After participating in unusual master classes and mesmerizing performances, you can relax and enjoy Chinese foods offered by cafes and restaurants near your home.

For example, there are 13 outlets in the Northern Administrative District of Moscow where you can find a taste of China. Rusalochka Sushi (20a Khodynsky Boulevard) serves crispy salad with chicken and honey-ginger dressing, as well as rich-broth pork ramen with flavored oil. Eywa (2 Khodynsky Boulevard), a pan-Asian eatery, will offer truffle ramen with beef tataki and wood ear mushrooms.

The North-Eastern Administrative District of Moscow is home to authentic Chinese restaurants such as Kitaysky Kvartal (38/1 Selskokhozyaystvennaya Street) and Pin Wei (11 Wilhelm Pieck Street). At the former, you can try a sour and spicy egg and mushroom soup. Traditional Chinese cuisine lovers will appreciate the food at Pin Wei as its menu includes jiaozi dumplings and Peking duck.

At Asia Inn (15 General Karbyshev Boulevard), the hits are sweet and sour carp with pineapple and duck spring rolls. The menu at the Michelle Vermicelle eatery (51/1 Dubravnaya Street) includes noodles with pork and black beans or shrimp and spices. You can find these outlets in the North-Western Administrative District of Moscow.

In the Eastern Administrative District, Hong Kong (24 Rusakovskaya Street) is worth your attention, as it serves signature Chinese dishes. Chinese New Year in Moscow festival-goers can try Hong Kong-style crab, Sichuan-style chicken, and a variety of appetizers called “Stairway to Heaven”.

Residents of the Western Administrative District willing to explore Chinese cuisine should visit Feifan (37/1 Vernadsky Prospekt). Visitors will be invited to cook hot pot, the famous Chinese dish. You will need to put fresh ingredients such as meat, seafood, vegetables, tofu, and mushrooms in a pot of boiling broth and cook them until ready. The restaurant offers a special selection of hot pot ingredients, including Shimeji mushrooms, beef, white tripe, ham, seaweed, chicken sausages, crab steak, chitterlings, and bamboo shoots.

In the South-Eastern Administrative District, you can meet with friends to cook hot pot together at Muslim (32/1 Ryazansky Prospekt).

Ju Yuan (21a Profsoyuznaya Street, South-Western Administrative District) serves traditional appetizers: century eggs, fish tofu, beef tripe, and others.

At Eastoria (2/3 Shchusev Street, Southern Administrative District), cooking masters hand-make longevity noodles. In China, noodles symbolize long life, so they must be long and eaten whole, without breaking or cutting them. The restaurant also serves traditional jiaozi dumplings, a symbol of prosperity and good luck in China.

Wood ear mushrooms with cucumbers and cashews in dong sauce or Singapore noodles with chicken curry — try these and many other unusual Chinese dishes at Ziamo (2 Nikolsky Proyezd, Zelenograd Administrative District).

And if you want something more familiar but with a touch of Asian vibe, drop in one of Vkusno i Tochka restaurants. They have prepared a special Chinese New Year menu featuring Peking BBQ sauce burgers, red dragon syrup latte, matcha and coconut macarons, and others.

The Winter in Moscow project is the highlight of the season, bringing together a variety of events running in the city until February 28. The project is focused on strengthening community and family ties, creating the feeling of unity, mutual support and help those currently defending the Motherland. Thanks to its various entertainment programs that feature culture, sporting and educational events, Winter in Moscow brings Moscow residents and tourists of all ages and interests together, creating perfect conditions for creative growth, outdoor activities and human warmth. Special attention is paid to supporting participants and veterans of the special military operation and their families, as well as all those providing assistance to the front.