This Wednesday marks Burns Night - a time for feasting and fun - but celebrations are being extended through the week so there is still time to join in the party.
Traditional Burns Night Suppers are making a comeback in style around Newcastle this January after the past two years saw much of that party mood spoiled by Covid. Burns Night - which celebrates Scotland’s national bard Robert Burns on January 25, the date of his birth in 1759 - is a popular celebration in the region, with annual get-togethers being centred around a traditional meal of haggis plus neeps and tatties (for the uninitiated that's turnips or swedes and potatoes) plus a tot or several of whisky.
After restaurants were closed to diners back in January, 2021 during the national lockdown when there were also bans on meeting up with friends, last year saw some Burns Night events resurface while others were replaced with virtual celebrations. And although those followed the traditional order of toasts and entertainment - and may well have been as much fun as it is possible to have online - regulars missed the likes of the haggis and cranachan dessert supper at Life Science Centre in Newcastle (then picked as one of the country's seven vaccine super-sites) and the celebration at Sage Gateshead which had been set to add a ceilidh band and bagpipes to the mix.
Read more: what is Burns Night all about?
Those might not be back on this year but elsewhere the party is very much under way, with several of the usual venues set to host Burns Night Suppers in January. To whet the appetite, here's a list of some upcoming Burns Night Suppers scheduled to take place this Friday and Saturday - and it begins with an idea of where to dine out on the big night itself, this Wednesday.
Some other Burns Night events got under way early, with Holiday Inn Newcastle at Gosforth Park hosting an event comprising a three-course dinner including cullen skink, haggis with whisky sauce and cranachan; an address to the haggis and Northumberland Ceilidh Band on January 21 for £35 (£135 for a couple for those adding an overnight stay and breakfast) and - on January 22 - The Cumberland Arms in Newcastle celebrating with piping, singing, reciting and kilts plus entertainment and a haggis supper buffet.
Burns Night Suppers 2023
Chef & Brewer
The pub chain is following on from its own traditions this Wednesday by offering a Burns Night menu. Served from 5pm on January 25, it comprises of four courses of modern British and Scottish classic dishes for £26; the options including traditional choices of cullen skink; haggis - with a meat-free options also available - accompanied by neeps, tatties and whisky cream sauce plus the likes of mains such as chicken stuffed with haggis and bacon; venison; cod and wild boar burger followed by desserts including cranachan sundae.
There are plenty other food choices plus options of a whisky cocktail on arrival and a wee dram afterwards. For the full menu see here. Local Chef & Brewer pubs include the Wellington Arms at Riding Mill and Black Bull at Corbridge, both Northumberland, plus Ravensworth Arms at Lamesley, Tyne and Wear. See here.
Blackfriars
The traditional Burns Night Supper with whisky tasting is back on the menu at the Newcastle restaurant on Friday, January 27. The restaurant is housed in a former friary and the supper will be served up in its Banquet Hall, with a dram of whisky - presented by The Whisky Lounge - served at each course and also for the occasional toast and Burns' poem.
All present and correct will be the Selkirk Grace and the address to, and cutting of, the haggis before a supper of traditional cock-a-leekie soup; haggis, neeps and tatties and cranachan and cheese. And expect to join in a rendition of Auld Lang Syne.
Arrival time will be from 7pm. Tickets cost £69.50 for the supper, whisky tasting and coffee. See here.
Grand Hotel, Gosforth Park
The Annual Burns Night Ball, hosted by charity NE Youth, will be taking place on January 27 and is set to be a lavish affair with a Champagne reception; traditional Burns Supper and a piper. There also will be live music from Discography; Burns readings and Scottish reeling to the Robert Whitehead Band.
A charity auction and raffle also will be on the night's programme. For tickets, costing £70, see here.
Arthur's Club
Note this event has now sold-out: The restaurant and music club inside Fenwick, Newcastle, will be hosting a Burns Night Celebration on January 27, from 6.45pm, and guests are invited to "revel in all things Scottish as we mark the work of the beloved Scottish poet". Running until 10.30pm, this over-18s party, with tickets costing £50, will include a pre-dinner cocktail followed by a four-course 'feast' of highland-inspired dishes such as Scottish smoked salmon terrine; haggis, neeps and tatties with whisky sauce; Venison Wellington with clapshot and kale then rhubarb cranachan with oat shortbread. Vegetarian alternatives are available.
Adding the entertainment will be the six musicians of Newcastle-based band Pons Aelius who are to perform two sets - featuring bagpipes, whistles, flute, tenor banjo and mandolin - during the evening. The club says: "Don some tartan, tune the bagpipes, tuck into haggis and swirl a dram of Scottish whisky. Heaped in wonderful traditions, Burn’s Night is a celebration of the life and work of 18th Century poet Robert 'Rabbie' Burns, the Bard of Ayrshire." See here.
Spanish City
Once again the Whitley Bay landmark is hosting a double Burns Night Supper celebration - one of which has already taken place (on January 22). The next is on January 27. It will be serving up a four-course meal in its St Mary’s Lighthouse Suite, accompanied by an official ‘address to the haggis’; a Scottish piper and a traditional ceilidh band, with a caller to help with dancing.
Previous events there have encouraged a smart dress code - and tartan is encouraged. Arrival will be from 7pm; the sit-down time for the meal is 7.30pm (vegetarian options available upon request) and the night will wrap up at 12.30am. For tickets, £40, book here or call 0191 691 7090.
Seventeen Nineteen
At this atmospheric venue in the former Holy Trinity Church in Church Street East, Sunderland, a Burns Night Chaotic Ceilidh is inviting revellers to dance the night away on Saturday, January 28. The event, starting at 7pm, is described as an "informal celebration of The Bard of Ayrshire, the Ploughman Poet, Robbie Burns' birthday" and the dancing side will get going around 7.30pm after people have had a dram to get them going. It says: "We'll be embracing the chaos."
And it adds: "A Chaotic Ceilidh is all about making as many mistakes as you can and having even more fun, so inexperienced dancers are in safe hands." There will be a pause at 8.30pm for a light buffet of haggis (vegetarian option available), neeps and tatties.
Then, after the addresses to the haggis, it will be back on the dance floor. Tickets cost £30, plus fees. See here.
Lumley Castle
Further afield, the castle hotel at Chester-le-Street in County Durham is planning a Burns Night Banquet on January 28 for £44.50: see here.
The event, described as a 'Medieval Burns’ Banquet & Ceilidh' to be hosted in the Barons Hall, is also available as part of an overnight package for £199 which includes overnight accommodation in a courtyard or castle 'classic' room and a full English breakfast. The night itself, which has a smart-casual dress code, will include a piping-in of the haggis and a tribute to the 'great Robert Burns' during what it says will be 'an evening of fun, laughter and merriment'. See here.
Britannia Hotel, Newcastle Airport
On January 28, Northumberland & Durham Caledonian Society will be hosting a Burns Night celebration dinner and dance, welcoming guests from 6.30pm for a 7pm start. The three-course meal will include Scotch Broth; Chicken Balmoral, or vegetarian option, with potatoes and seasonal vegetables and a Scottish raspberry roulade meringue or ice cream.
It will be accompanied by all the traditional ceremonies of addressing the haggis, the Immortal Memory and toast to, and reply from, the lassies. There also will be a raffle and dancing to the music of John Craskie before the evening wraps up at 11.45pm.
Tickets are £30: email: jandjcrystal@gmail.com or call 0191 266 3117 or 07759 679 670. See here.
Celebrating at home?
Those not planning to attend an organised supper and who are feeling adventurous could have a go at rustling up the traditional meal themselves. The neeps and tatties will be relatively straightforward and even the whisky gravy, for those that want it, should not be too taxing.
But there won't be many who fancy trying their hand at making haggis. Even the sound of the ingredients can be off-putting.
It's a type of sausage prepared in a sheep’s stomach that is minced with onion, oatmeal, suet (raw beef or lamb fat), spices and salt, all mixed with stock. So, that's best left to the local butcher - or else check out supermarkets or buy it online.
The traditional meal is then rounded off with a cranachan dessert, which is a mixture of whipped cream, whisky, honey and fresh raspberries, with toasted oatmeal. There's also the option of a Tipsy Laird (a whisky trifle) and dessert is followed by oatcakes and cheese, with another tipple of Scotch whisky which accompanies every stage of the meal.
Visit Britain has a recipe for cranachan here and there is a classic cranachan recipe on the BBC Good Food website here.
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