Yes, you really can eat mouse-shaped steamed buns for Year of the Rat

This weekend the capital comes together to mark the start of the Chinese Year of the Rat. There are loads of fantastic ways to celebrate Chinese New Year in London, including limited-edition menus aplent. Bao, purveyor of London’s most in-demand steamed Taiwanese buns, has cooked up a new year special shaped like a mouse. (See what they did there?)

‘We didn’t want to make a Rat Bao for the Year of the Rat, so instead we made a Mouse Bao filled with Cheese Beef Shortrib,’ the team explained on Instagram. Tail or no tail, these buns are very appealing – and bound to be delicious.

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We didn’t want to make a Rat BAO for the Year of the Rat, so instead we made a Mouse BAO filled with Cheese Beef Shortrib. 25th & 26th Jan only to celebrate Chinese New Year. Limited portions @baobakerygoods

A post shared by B A O (@bao_london) on Jan 8, 2020 at 4:37pm PST

The bao are only available this Saturday and Sunday (January 25 and 26), in limited quantities, at Bao’s Fitzrovia branch, which houses the group’s bakery. If you miss out, don’t worry: there’ll also be an ‘X Factor’-style competition at the Soho site to find a brand new bao. For the rest of this month you can taste your way through the competitors, which include a banana and s'more bao, and a fondue one.

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An army of Cheese Beef Shortrib Mouse BAO 🐭 for the weekend of the 25th @baobakerygoods

A post shared by B A O (@bao_london) on Jan 9, 2020 at 7:11am PST

These are our pick of Chinatown’s best restaurants.

Looking for more great things to do in January?