Fusion Fun: Vancouver Gung Haggis Fat Choy Chinese New Year Dinner – January 27

Photo credit: Deb Martin

Vancouver shines during Chinese New Year, which takes place February 10, 2013. The  city comes alive with awesome fusion and traditional events. This year, we’re gearing up for the Year of the Snake.

Perhaps the best of the fusion Chinese New Year events is the annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner, which takes place Sunday, January 27 at Floata Seafood Restaurant in Chinatown.

The name is a mouthful, to be sure, and if you don’t immediately intuit the meaning, don’t strain yourself. We’ll break it down. The Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner combines Chinese New Year (February 10) with the birthday of Scotland’s “national poet” Robbie Burns (January 25) into a fusion holiday.

Vancouverite Todd Wong created the annual dinner in 1998 and the first party consisted of 16 people in a living room. As of 2012, the event included about 400 celebrants. As for the name, Gung Haggis Fat Choy is a play on words: haggis is a traditional Scottish food, while “Gung Hay Fat Choy” is a traditional Cantonese greeting for Chinese New Year.

Tickets to Gung Haggis Fat Choy are $65 for adults and $35 for kids 13 and under. The ticket price includes live entertainment – think fiddlers, poetry reading, bagpipes and more from Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian artists. You can also expect fun sing-alongs such as “Loch Lomand”, “My Chow Mein (Bonny) Lies Over the Ocean”, and “When Asian Eyes Are Smiling”.

Menu highlights include deep-fried haggis wontons, haggis pork dumplings (su-mei) and “neeps” served dim sum style in the form of pan-fried turnip cake.

Find details on how to book tickets here. Floata Seafood Restaurant is located at 400 – 180 Keefer Street in Chinatown. Doors open at 5pm on January 27. The reception starts at 6pm. Dinner runs from 7pm to 9:15pm.

Want more updates on Vancouver fun? Follow me on Twitter @TJerven

Article source: http://www.insidevancouver.ca/2013/01/20/fusion-fun-vancouver-gung-haggis-fat-choy-chinese-new-year-dinner-january-27/