Bubbledogs celebrates Year of The Dog with Chinese cafe pop-up

On 20 February, Bubbledogs, the gourmet hot dog and Champagne bar in Fitzrovia, will become ‘Chappett’s Café,’ a Chinese café, for one night only, in celebration of Chinese New Year.

Sandia Chang of Bubbledogs, will be joined in her kitchen for the first time ever by husband, James Knappett, Head Chef of Michelin Starred Kitchen Table, the intimate chef’s table tucked behind Bubbledogs.

Waving goodbye to hot dogs for the night, the culinary duo have devised a menu of their favourite home-style Chinese dishes with a blowout menu including Taiwanese spiced fried rabbit; Satay roasted cauliflower; 3 cup English clams, marinated and cooked in sesame oil, Chinese rice wine, soy sauce and basil. In true Bubbledogs style, the Champagne will be flowing, with a carefully curated selection by Sandia.

The refreshing acidity of JM Seleque and Dhondt Grellet have been perfectly matched to counter the savoury, richness of the Asian ingredients, and special bottles of Marie Courtin will also be on offer.

Chang said, “James and I came up with the idea for Chappett’s Café as we always take it in turns to cook at home, so thought it would be fun cook together for once! Chinese New Year has always been a big tradition in my family and we usually spend it at home but as it’s the year of the dog this year, we wanted to bring the fun to Bubbledogs and celebrate with all our four legged friends!”

As in Chinese tradition, Hong Baos; little red envelopes containing money, are exchanged as gifts to friends and family. To honour the year of the dog, Bubbledogs will be giving a Hong Bao to any diner who visits with their hound, replacing the money with homemade dog treats.

A Chinese inspired hot dog, the ‘Lucky Dawg’, topped with “Lu Rou”, a Taiwainese pork belly mince, shiitake mushrooms, Japanese pickled daikon and coriander, will also be on the menu for the month of February.