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Evening Standard

National

Ben McCormack

Burns Night 2023: The best London restaurants to celebrate in, from Boisdale to The Berkeley

Burns Night London Robert Burns Scotland Carousel Mars

Tartan army: Burns Night lasts all week at Boisdale
(Picture: Press handout)

For a country of 5.5 million inhabitants — a little over half the population of London — Scotland has long punched above its weight culturally. Two of its finest exports — food and literature — come together every January 25 on Burns Night, the annual celebration of the national poet of Scotland and the finest Scottish ingredients.

Classic dishes includes Cullen skink to start, a thick soup made from smoked haddock, potatoes and onions named after a town on the North Sea coast, and cranachan, a dessert of cream, oats and whisky traditionally eaten in June to celebrate the Scottish raspberry season in the days before polytunnels.

Pride of place goes to haggis with neeps (mashed swede) and tatties (mashed potato). The haggis itself is a mince of sheep’s heart, liver and lungs with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt, traditionally steamed inside a sheep’s stomach. It sounds like hell for anyone who hates offal but the reality is more like a heavily spiced lamb mince. If it’s not love at first bite, a tot of Scotch poured over the meat should drown out the more savoury flavours.

A proper Burns Night involves the haggis brought in to the strains of a bagpiper and a reading of Burns’s poem “Address to a Haggis”. The full experience is on offer in several of the restaurants below, but there are also places attempting a more up-to-date interpretation with DJ sets instead of a ceilidh, plus chefs providing a creative take on Scottish cuisine.

Not such a poetry lover? We’ve added a list of restaurants where the food comes without any of the entertainment trappings, while if you’d rather toast Burns with cocktails not cooking, check out our guide to London’s best Burns Night bars. Slàinte mhath!

Barge East

Hackney Wick’s floating restaurant housed on the 120-year-old vessel, De Hoop, is in its fourth year of Burns Night celebrations, which now extend over three nights. The six-course menu includes the likes of Scottish langoustines, “neep-a-leekie” soup, an open pie of braised mutton, celeriac and horseradish, haggis, neeps and tatties, cranachan ice cream and Scotland’s greatest gift to the food world, deep-fried Mars bar. The arrival of the haggis receives the traditional toast to bagpipes, there’s also a toast to the immortal memory of Robert Burns and sets from live fiddlers.

When? January 25-27 (currently there is only availability on January 26)

How much? Six courses, £55

River Lee, Sweetwater Mooring, White Post Lane, E9 5EN, bargeeast.com

Galvin Bistrot & Bar

Paying tribute to the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland, the Galvin brothers’ Gallic-accented bistro by Spitalfields Market is offering a Burns Night tasting menu of classic dishes from north of the border. Expect Loch Duart smoked salmon, Cullen skink, haggis, neeps and tatties, Isle of Mull Cheddar and raspberry cranachan trifle, plus Scottish fudge with the coffee. Across town in Bloomsbury, there’s a similar menu at Galvin Bar & Grill on January 25 paired with whisky, bagpipes and poetry readings.

When? January 25

How much? Five-course menu, £60; wine pairings, £35 and £45

Entrance on Bishops Square, 35 Spital Square, E1 6DY, galvinrestaurants.com

Boisdale

It’s not Burns Night but Burns Week at Boisdale, the pair of tartan-clad restaurants in Belgravia and Canary Wharf owned by bon viveur extraordinaire Ranald Macdonald, the heir apparent to the chief of Clan Macdonald of Clanranald. The four-course menu includes the finest Scottish produce: Dunkeld smoked salmon, Cullen skink, Orkney herrings, Scottish dry-aged beef and Dumfriesshire Blackface haggis offered with a noggin of Aberfeldy. Each evening will include a Highland piper, piping and addressing the haggis as well as live music; there will also be a tasting menu lunch offered at Canary Wharf.

When? January 23-27

How much? Four courses from £69

15 Eccleston Street, SW1W 9LX and Cabot Square, E14 4QT, boisdale.co.uk

Skylight Peckham

For a less reverential take on Burns Night, head to this Peckham rooftop, where alongside poetry readings and live music there will be a menu of Scottish-inspired plates including haggis Scotch eggs, crispy spiced neeps and tatties, smoked cod’s roe fishcakes and mixed berry cranachan. The ticket price includes a whisky cocktail on arrival.

When? 25 January

How much? Tickets, £7; haggis Scotch egg, £6.50

120 Peckham Hill Street, SE15 5JT, skylightbars.com

Park Row

Only the biggest Batman fanboy or girl is likely to know that the Caped Crusader has a Scottish ancestor called Gaweyne de Weyne: never let it be said that the DC Universe, the moodboard behind this Batcave beneath Soho, does not have a finely evolved sense of camp. Wayne’s billionaire tastes are better known and the inspiration behind a three-course menu that kicks off with canapés of potato pancakes with whiskey-and-soy-smoked salmon and Scottish salmon caviar with crème fraiche ahead of Orkney smoked scallop with Cullen sink cream, haggis (piped in) with neeps and tatties, and cranachan. There’s the option to add a whisky pairing to each course, plus a ceilidh band and dancing.

When? January 25

How much? Three courses, £65; paired whiskies, £60

77 Brewer Street, W1F 9ZN, parkrowlondon.co.uk

1 Lombard Street

This grand City restaurant, opposite the Royal Exchange and Bank of England, is celebrating Burns Night over two evenings. On January 25 there is the classic experience of bagpipers and a haggis address washed down with barrel-loads of whisky. Unusually, vegetarian options of rumbledeethumps and veggie haggis are on offer if smoked salmon and sheep’s stomach are not to one’s taste. The food offering gets taken up a notch on January 27 with a five-course “Taste of Scotland” evening of grilled Scottish langoustines and venison fillet alongside the haggis and Cullen skink.

When? January 25 and 27

How much? Three courses, £55 (January 25); five courses, £120 (January 27)

1 Lombard Street, EC3V 9AA, 1lombardstreet.com

The Little Door

The Little Blue Door in Fulham and The Little Orange Door in Clapham are each hosting a Burns Night party complete with haggis, bagpipes and DJs. The three-course menu will be served family style and begins with Scotch broth with thyme-infused pulled lamb followed by haggis with neeps, tatties and whisky sauce and cranachan for pud. Bagpipes strike up at 10pm and are followed by DJ sets.

When? The Little Blue Door (January 26), The Little Blue Door (January 27)

How much? £34.50

16a Clapham Common South Side, SW4 7AB and 871-873 Fulham Road, SW6 5HP, thelittleorangedoor.co.uk and thelittlebluedoor.co.uk

The Bishop at The Berkeley

Burns Night is being marked with a one-off supper club at The Bishop at The Berkeley, the Knightsbridge hotel’s winter pub pop-up. Whisky cocktails and pub snacks at the bar will be followed by a four-course Scottish menu paired with malts from Highland distillery Aberfeldy. Expect classics of Scottish smoked salmon with heritage beets, Cullen skink, cranachan, and haggis with neeps, tatties and barrel-aged whisky sauce piped into the dining room by a bagpiper.

When? January 25

How much? £75

Wilton Place, SW1X 7RL, the-berkeley.co.uk

Carousel Eight Hands Dinner

Scottish chefs Tomas Gormley and Sam Yorke (Mike Guest)

Culinary incubator Carousel is hosting four of Scotland’s most promising chefs from three of the country’s most creative restaurants: Sam Yorke of the Heron in Leith, Colin Nicholson of Mingary Castle on the Sound of Mull and Tomas Gormley and Gordon Criag from Taisteal in Edinburgh. Each course will be prepared by a different chef: West Coast crab tart with preserved lemon, herb emulsion and sea herbs from Nicholson, venison loin with a venison pithivier, chicory, turnip purée and lightly spiced venison sauce from Yorke, and nougat parfait with honey cake, sour cherries and pistachio ice cream from Craig and Gormley. There will also be cocktails from Islay’s Botanist gin, whisky and readings of Burns’ poetry.

When? January 25

How much? Three courses, £75

19-23 Charlotte Street, W1T 1RW, carousel-london.com

Mount St Restaurant

Can’t make it to The Fife Arms, the Braemar outpost of the Hauser & Wirth art-and-food empire? Have a Highland fling with Mount St Restaurant’s one-night only Burns Night dinner instead. Ingredients from the Fife’s home of the Invercauld Estate will be put to good use in the likes of smoked haddock and potato soup with a poached egg, venison and haggis Wellington with crushed neeps, mashed potato and whisky sauce, and whisky cheesecake with raspberry sorbet. Groups of up to 26 should book the private tartan-clad Scottish Room to dine at a 9-metre oak table under an antler chandelier.

When? January 25

How much? Three courses, £80

41-43 Mount Street, W1K 2RX, mountstrestaurant.com

The Savoy

One of London’s most famous hotels is offering a five-course Scottish-inspired supper this Burns Night. The menu includes barrel-smoked salmon with potato scone, horseradish cream, oscietra caviar and watercress followed by haggis, neeps and tatties, braised beef fillet steak with marrow dumplings and whisky and mushroom sauce, and a whisky-soaked Savarin with raspberry sorbet, oatmeal and whisky crumbs. There will be entertainment and poetry readings to accompany the food, along with pairings of Bowmore whisky, and there’s a ceilidh afterwards.

When? January 25

How much? Five courses, £165

Strand, WC2R 0EZ, thesavoylondon.com

And if you’re only here for the food…

…these restaurants will let you enjoy your Burns Night neeps and tatties in peace without bagpipers or any chance of being invited to perform the Gay Gordons.