To celebrate Chinese New Year 2026, acclaimed Islington restaurant Hainan House is introducing a limited-edition menu of Southern Chinese New Year specials, inspired by symbolism, balance and regional tradition. Running from 13 February to 3 March 2026, the offering culminates on the Lantern Festival and reflects the restaurant’s thoughtful, home-style approach to seasonal celebration.
Chinese New Year itself falls on Tuesday 17 February 2026, and the special dishes will be available alongside Hainan House’s seasonal à la carte menu, allowing guests to curate a personalised celebratory feast rather than commit to a fixed menu.
Located on Upper Street in Islington, Hainan House is an independent, female-owned, Chinese-owned restaurant specialising in Southern Chinese home-style cooking. Founded by Sunny (Cenlang) Wu, the restaurant is shaped by lived experience rather than a single regional tradition, with a focus on balance, clarity and restraint.
Sunny grew up across several regions of China, including Hainan and Shanghai, with family heritage extending into Hubei and Jiangxi. These influences come together in a menu built around warmth and everyday flavour, where familiar dishes are reinterpreted with care rather than reinvention for its own sake.
Traditional techniques such as braising, steaming, poaching and wok-frying underpin the kitchen’s approach, allowing ingredients to remain clear and composed. The menu evolves seasonally and is anchored by signature dishes, including the restaurant’s delicately poached Hainan-style corn-fed chicken, served with fragrant rice and balanced sauces. Weekday lunches from Monday to Friday also offer comforting staples such as house-made chicken and prawn wonton soup.
Hainan House opened its permanent Upper Street site in September 2023, following a series of successful London pop-ups, including at Carousel. The intimate restaurant offers 36 covers across two floors, creating a neighbourhood-focused dining experience.
A Calm, Considered Space in Islington
Designed by Gordon Young Architects, the interior mirrors the clarity and balance of the food. Natural materials such as stone, clay and timber create a tactile, grounded environment, while a colour palette inspired by Hainan — island greens, warm terracotta tones, soft sand shades and honeyed wood — establishes a sense of familiarity that feels instinctive rather than themed.
Counter seating sits alongside tables and chairs, with textured tiles, herringbone timber flooring and bespoke joinery contributing to a calm, quietly distinctive atmosphere — ideal for both everyday meals and seasonal celebrations.
As Sunny explains:
“Hainan House comes from many different places. The food is shaped by how I understand home, through memory, balance and everyday meals. We focus on warmth and clarity, bringing familiar dishes to life with sincerity and care.”
Chinese New Year 2026: Year of the Fire Horse
In Chinese Feng Shui culture, 2026 is the Bingwu Year, representing the Fire Horse — a symbol of vitality, movement and resilience. Hainan House’s Chinese New Year specials interpret these themes through a concise menu rooted in Southern Chinese tradition.
Highlights from the Chinese New Year Menu
Garlic Steamed King Prawns are gently steamed and infused with aromatic garlic, light soy, spring onion and chilli, while a second prawn dish symbolises moving forward together into the New Year.
Drunken Prawns Claypot is simmered with traditional Chinese herbal ingredients including jade bamboo, codonopsis, angelica, goji berries and cordyceps flower, enriched with premium Chinese rice wine to create a warming, nourishing dish.
Fish — a traditional symbol of abundance — features in the Fried Golden Pomfret with Spicy Sour Sauce, offering brightness and gentle heat. Meanwhile, Pickled Mustard Duck Soup, delicately sour and lightly spiced, brings clarity and balance, offsetting the strong fire energy associated with the year.
For dessert, Hainan House introduces a Chinese New Year edition of Red Bua (红气养人). The glutinous rice skin is naturally coloured using red rice yeast, symbolising good fortune and vitality, and filled with desiccated coconut, brown sugar, peanut and white sesame. Soft, nutty and gently sweet, the dish celebrates renewal and nourishment as the New Year begins.
How to Visit Hainan House for Chinese New Year
All Chinese New Year dishes will be available as specials alongside the seasonal à la carte menu, allowing guests to tailor their celebration to their own taste.
Hainan House
88 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 0NP
Website: https://www.hainanhouse.co.uk/
Instagram: @HainanHouse
Reservations: Via SevenRooms
Chinese New Year Specials – Prices
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Garlic Steamed King Prawns – £23.60
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Drunken Prawns Claypot – £19.60
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Pickled Mustard Duck Soup – £32.00
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Fried Golden Pomfret – £28.00
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Red Rice – £2.50
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Red Bua – £3.50 each
