We’re all set to welcome the 12 months of the Wooden Dragon (from Lunar New 12 months on 10 February 2024) in effective type with dragon-themed food and drinks – from cute buns and biscuits to spectacular spirits – as chosen by Wallpaper* entertaining director Melina Keays. Might your festivities be a roaring success.
12 months of the Wooden Dragon treats
The bao buns
Bao London’s candy dragon-claw treats
(Picture credit score: courtesy, Bao London)
Bao London is understood for its notably delectable Taiwanese Bao buns. How may you not need to take a scrumptious chew out of one among these little dragon claw buns, oozing with molten and cherry chocolate? And there’s the added delight of co-founder and artistic director Erchen Chang’s heartening message: ‘We’re wanting ahead to spreading prosperity this Lunar New 12 months by encouraging everybody to eat gua BAO for good luck,’ she reveals. A restricted variety of buns is obtainable on 10 and 11 February at BAO eateries – which now embrace BAO and Dover Road Market pop-up till 11 February, in addition to BAO Mary, which opened in Marylebone in 2023 – however be fast, as these little dragons will promote, fairly actually, like scorching truffles.
£22 for a field of 4, baolondon
The sculpture
Lalique’s beautiful Tianlong Purple Dragon
(Picture credit score: © Lalique SA)
Lalique places over a century of beautiful effective glass- and crystal-making into one thing very particular to commemorate this 12 months of the Wooden Dragon. That this legendary creature is created from glass is becoming, as each are related to warmth and hearth, and Lalique’s gorgeous Tianlong Purple Dragon Sculpture is born of sand and flame. It’s as meticulously crafted as you’ll anticipate a Lalique design to be, with a single piece of crystal requiring as much as 40 completely different processes to supply. The result’s a jewel-like murals.
Tianlong Purple Dragon Sculpture, £765 at Harrods
The whisky
21-year-old Gran Reserva 2024 Chinese language New 12 months limited-edition Scotch whisky
(Picture credit score: Courtesy, Glenfiddich)
The Wooden Dragon seems as soon as each 60 years within the lunar calendar, bringing notions of progress and renewal with it. Glenfiddich’s collaboration with artist Raku Inoue encapsulates the vitality of this lunar 12 months in its ‘A Present for Blossoming Futures’ assortment of limited-edition premium whiskies, with the Glenfiddich Reserva Rum Cask 21 because the star flip. An opulently golden providing, the Reserva Rum Cask 21 aroma is intense with vanilla, florals and hints of banana and fig, topped with a contact of leather-based and oak. Inoue has intertwined Glenfiddich’s conventional stag motif with the magnificent Wooden Dragon in an attractive presentation field, which could be personalised. ‘What higher approach to encapsulate the spirit of each than to mix facets of their characters on a journey that harnesses the magnificence of nature, petal by petal, ingredient by pure ingredient,’ says Inoue.
£195, at Selfridges
The iced biscuits
Iced biscuits to herald the 12 months of the Wooden Dragon at Fortnum & Mason
(Picture credit score: Courtesy, Fortnum & Mason)
This attractive field of buttery, vanilla scented biscuits, artfully iced in a wide range of charming designs, makes for a joyful reward to mark the Lunar New 12 months. Nibble one among these beauties with a cup of aromatic jasmine tea as you ponder the candy tate of hope the 12 months of the Dragon brings with it.
£19.95, Fortnum & Mason
The Cognac
Martell embraces the energetic spirit of the 12 months of the Wooden Dragon
(Picture credit score: Courtesy, Martell)
Martell (whose new L’Or de Jean Martell – Réserve du Château de Chanteloup we just lately celebrated) is now honouring the 12 months of the Wooden Dragon with the unique L’Or de Jean Martell Zodiac Version. The Assemblage du Dragon (following final 12 months’s Assemblage du Lapin) is as distinctive a cognac because the title Martell suggests however this 12 months, cellar grasp Christophe Valtaud has fastidiously chosen a number of very outdated eaux-de-vie drawn from earlier Dragon lunar years and mixed them with the unique L’Or de Jean Martell mix. Within the palms of a grasp blender, this celebratory spirit is a sublime stability of floral aromas, unique fruit, and heat spice notes. All of which is simply heightened by its lovely Baccarat decanter, finely adorned with 19ct gold, and topped with a dramatic sculpture of a dragon’s head. Out there in strictly restricted portions – fewer than 750 items, every individually numbered.
€9,900, Martell.com, accessible from thewhiskyexchange.com
Supply: Wallpaper
