Bring out the bagpipes and activate your poetry-reciting voice: Burns Night (Sunday January 25, the day Robert Burns was born in 1759) is almost upon us. Cue London’s restaurants going into haggis-neeps-and-tatties overdrive, uncorking the whisky and hauling out their copies of Robert Burns’s poetry. To sort your stovies from your shortbread and your Irn-Bru from your Cullen skink, we’ve rounded up some of London’s top spots to spend Burns Night supper. From a pizzeria with ice-cream flavoured with an instantly recognisable orange drink to pies at a beloved bakery, and classic haggis at new-wave bistros, here’s where to head.
Ria’s, Soho and Notting Hill
Detroit-style pizzeria Ria’s is bringing Burns Night buzz to its Notting Hill and Soho joints with a slate of specials. Most compelling is the Irn-Bru ice-cream, a creamy collaboration with Big Kid Ice Cream. Like the drink, the soft serve’s flavour is hard to pin down – and it goes extra hard on the Scottish inspiration with chunks of deep-fried Mars Bar and salted tablet. It’ll be part of a £35 Burns Night set menu – that also includes a haggis, neeps and tatties pizza pie – then available as a menu special the following week. And throughout February, Big Kid Ice Cream will be serving the sweet at its Kingly Court shop.
rias.world
Layla Bakery, Portobello Road and Acton
It may not be bringing out the bagpipes or reciting the Selkirk Grace, but Layla Bakery is putting its own spin on the celebration with its Burns Night Pies, which are on the counter from January 22 to 25. Golden pastry encases haggis and caramelised onion, and the whole Scottish-inspired shebang is topped with potato galette. Head in-store to pick up a mini version from over the counter, or pre-order via Layla’s website for a pie that serves two.
laylabakery.com
Dockley Road, Bermondsey
Gorgeous new Bermondsey diner Dockley Road is getting into the Highlands spirit with a Burns Night feast in collaboration with Farmer Tom Jones and recently founded Ryebourne Whisky. Co-owners, chef Emily Chia and butcher Alex Keys’s £75 menu will put a produce-driven, contemporary lens on classic fare, via dishes like grilled langoustines with shaoxing beurre blanc; haggis made with Farmer Tom Jones’s native breed lamb, with neeps and tatties; and clootie dumpling to finish. Burns Night without whisky is like neeps sans tatties, so Ryebourne’s English rye will show up in a chilli oil Old Fashioned to start and be served in dram form to finish and, in between, spike a semifreddo shortbread sandwich for dessert.
eventbrite.com
The Hoxton x Auld Hag, Holborn
The Hoxton in Holborn is addressing the haggis via a sandwich collaboration with Scottish scran specialist Auld Hag. Together they’re slapping together a sarnie that’ll be available in The Hoxton’s Holborn lobby until January 31. It involves battered chicken, Ayrshire bacon, haggis and a Lochlea Distillery Whisky sauce piled onto a soft milk bun. Handily the bar is pouring hauf’n’hauf: a half pint of Tennent’s with a dram of Lochlea Distillery whisky.
thehoxton.com
Dishoom and Permit Room, various locations across London
Scotland meets Mumbai in this rich and comforting interpretation of a classic – which is available on Dishoom and Permit Room’s breakfast menu from now until Thursday February 15. Dishoom’s pork haggis is piled into hot, buttered pau (a fluffy bread roll) and layered with Carluke’s bacon rashers, fried eggs, cream cheese and chilli chutney.
dishoom.com
The Cadogan Arms, Chelsea
Chelsea’s handsome Cadogan Arms is going proudly traditional for its tribute to Rabbie Burns, held on Sunday January 25 with sittings at 6pm and 8.30pm. Four-course set menus will be accompanied by a live bagpiper and a recital of Robert Burns’s Address to a Haggis. If that wasn’t enough to transport you to the Highlands, there’ll be a “Bonnie Bramble” welcome cocktail made with The Singleton 12 Year Old Whisky. On the menu? Whisky-cured Scottish salmon on oat cakes to start, of course – then haggis, neeps and tatties croquette, and a roast rump of Scotch beef with bone marrow gratin, smoked bacon, cabagge and red wine sauce. Whisky features once again in the dessert, with a dark chocolate and peated whisky tart.
thecadoganarms.london
Brigadiers, City
Scottish salmon tikka, Highlands venison biryani and neeps korma: Indian barbecue restaurant Brigadiers is serving an Indian-Scottish feast on January 23 and 24. On the Saturday night, live bagpipes will serenade diners as they sample creative hybrid dishes as well as much-loved dishes from the Brigadiers menu, like barbecue butter chicken wings. For dessert, there’s cranachan soft serve with toasted oats and whisky jelly – plus the option of adding a “Caledonian Whisky Flight” showcasing three Scottish distillers.
brigadierslondon.com
The Hunter’s Moon, Fulham
Swap your usual Sunday roast for a Scottish feast at this cosy Fulham pub, warmed by the kitchen’s original Aga. Book a table any time during the day for a two- or three-course meal featuring Loch Levan Smoked Trout and haggis with neeps and tatties – but the main event happens at 7pm, with the Address to a Haggis, complete with bagpipes.
huntersmoonlondon.co.uk
