LONDON, JANUARY, 6 2020 – Yauatcha will mark the start of The Year of the Rat this Chinese New Year, with eye-catching window illustrations and a special menu inspired by the age old zodiac legend ‘The Great Race’, available from Monday, 13 January until Sunday, 9 February, at its Soho and City of London locations, and all other locations globally. The limited edition menu will include an indulgent selection of dishes and the illustrations will cover the windows in both Soho and The City, as well as featuring on menus and patisserie boxes.

The Rat is the first of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac, embodying the qualities of wealth and optimism. According to the zodiac river crossing myth, the Jade Emperor sent an invitation to all of the animals in the kingdom to attend a great race, which would determine the zodiac order. To win the race, the sly and ambitious rat tricked the ox into giving him a ride across the river – jumping down and landing ahead of the ox, thus winning the race. Since then, the zodiac rat has been associated with the ability to turn unlucky events into fortunate ones.

Yauatcha Soho and Yauatcha City will bring the legend of the zodiac rat to life by showcasing intricate and beautiful origami-style stencils of each of the 12 zodiac animals in a stunning window display. The designs will also subtly feature on patisserie packaging and menus, championing this Chinese mythology in a way that is both charismatic and clever, with an element of surprise.

Alongside the great race inspired illustrations, Yauatcha will offer a limited-edition Chinese New Year menu for the season. The menu features a number of authentic and celebratory Chinese dishes, using auspicious ingredients. Highlights include Crispy rice and silver cod served with pickled golden beets and mango chilli sauce; a Lohan vegetable claypot with bamboo shoot, gingko nut, lotus seed, cloud ear mushroom, bean curd and black truffle; and a Wok tossed Wagyu beef with hand pulled noodles, courgette, bean sprout and red pepper. The Year of the Rat menu finishes with an extra special dessert, the Jade Emperor macaron (£9), a large macaron made with Yuzu curd, mandarin marmalade and candied ginger, with a rat stencilled on top. The seven-course menu is priced at £68 per person for a minimum of two people, with all dishes available to order a la carte as well as part of the set menu.

Yauatcha’s expert mixologists have created an exclusive Chinese New Year cocktail for the occasion, the Jìng sù Peony cocktail (£14) is made with Tanqueray no. Ten gin, Vermouth del Professore Classico, Champagne, lychee and a white peony tea infusion. In addition, Yauatcha’s pastry team has created 12 limited-edition macarons in different colours, each of the macarons comes in a different colour, representing a different zodiac animal.

For more information and reservations, please visit www.yauatcha.com

For any further press enquiries please contact:

Gabriella Hooper – [email protected]

Darcey Foulser – [email protected]