Chinese Lions Roar on Sweet Mandarin

A cabbage eating lion was brought in to assist the opening of Manchester’s new Chinese restaurant.
When Sweet Mandarin opened its doors by throwing a party for the city’s movers and shakers, they called on ancient tradition to bring wealth, prosperity and general all round good luck to the restaurant situated on Copperas Street. For that reason, a four man dancing lion took centre stage.
To the accompaniment of beating drums and silvery chime of cymbals the brilliantly coloured lion sashayed through the Northern Quarter to breathe his blessings on Sweet Mandarin. After ‘eating’ a big cabbage at the threshold to the restaurant the lion went on to ‘bless’ the kitchen and cashpoint, which the three lady partners who dreamed up the new restaurant, will be hoping will be ringing continuously.
The 200 guests who attended – a mixture of local business people, trendy urbanites, sports personalities, and cast and crew from the BBC TV series Cutting It – enjoyed dim sums and beef, chicken and vegetables curries (served in American style takeaway boxes with chop sticks), all washed down with wine, snake blood and bubble tea – a speciality of Sweet Mandarin.
In sharp contrast to the age-old superstitions surrounding the lion, DJ Chinky Afro played funky modern sounds while most stylish appearance of the evening was by Asian Babe winner, Tracy Yu who arrived in a Ferrari.
Co-owner Lisa Tsem, said: “While we are really proud that Sweet Mandarin is very chic and contemporary we thought it best to play safe and use a bit of Chinese tradition to bring good luck to our enterprise.”

Sweet Mandarin
19 Copperas Street
Northern Quarter
Manchester
M4 1HS
Tel: 0161 832 8848