Hutong celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival

Award winning northern Chinese restaurant Hutong will be celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival this month, with a dedicated menu available from Monday 8th September to Sunday 5th October 2014. Falling on the 15th day of the 8th month in the lunar calendar during a full moon, the festival celebrates the legend of Chang’e, the moon goddess and Houyi, the archer and is a time for gathering, thanksgiving and praying. 

During the festival, family members traditionally gather to offer sacrifices to the moon, eat moon cakes and think about family and friends who live far away.  The Mooncake is the special food of the Mid-Autumn festival, its circular shape symbolising family reunion. Nowadays they are given to relatives and friends to express the wish of a long and happy life.

Hutong will be celebrating the Mid-Autumn festival with a special celebration menu priced at £68. The menu comprises eight dishes over four courses including: Seafood dumplings in spicy broth; King prawns with Sichuan chilli and ginkgo nuts; and Sichuan-style double-cooked Iberico pork loin. Hutong’s magnificent take on the Mooncake will be the culmination of the celebrations, accompanied by lychee sorbet, believed to bestow good fortune and a happy life on the eater.

To accompany the Mid-Autumn Festival Menu, Hutong's bar team and sommeliers have worked together to create an optional drinks pairing, showcasing Chinese wines and spirits and taking the moon as its inspiration. With appetisers guests can enjoy a 'Purple Eclipse' cocktail using Wuliangguobinjiu, a Chinese premium spirit, then a glass of Changyu red wine with the meat dishes. The seafood course is paired with a rare 'Ice Wine', made using juice pressed from grapes which have frozen on the vine; this is also an ingredient in the 'Dark Side Of The Moon' cocktail served with dessert. The optional Mid-Autumn Festival Menu drinks pairing is priced at £35 per person.

W: hutong.co.uk