Fine dining restaurants to book now for Burns Night

telegraph.co.uk:

Mayfair restaurant Bentley’s is as fine a showcase of Scottish ingredients as you will find south of Gretna Green.Orkney scallops with black pudding and celeriac will be followed by roast loin of venison with haggis, spring onions and clapshot (mashed swede and potatoes), ahead of flummery (a whisky-infused jelly) with marmalade and oat crumble, and Criffel cheese and spiced pear.The French-focused wine list, meanwhile, with its emphasis on Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne, is a splendid way to celebrate the enduring appeal of the Auld Alliance.11-15 Swallow Street, London, W1B 4DG; bentleys.orgBurns Night is to Boisdale what Christmas is to Lapland: the restaurant’s very raison d’être.

Reservations are already full for the 25th at the tartan-clad Belgravia original, but the four-course menu (£79) is running the whole week.Arbroath smokies will be followed by roast Dumfriesshire Blackface haggis, roasted sirloin of Buccleuch Estate dry-aged beef, a Valrhona chocolate and fudge tablet and Scottish cheese, with paired wines from the Loire and Bordeaux and single-malt whiskies from the Aberfeldy distillery.If only Burns Night itself will do, there is still space to celebrate at the Bishopsgate and Canary Wharf Boisdales, where in addition to bagpipers there will live jazz and swing bands.

Cabot Place, London, E14 4QT; 15 Eccleston Street, London, SW1W 9LX; Swedeland Court, 202 Bishopsgate, London, EC2M 4NR; boisdale.co.ukIndia’s love affair with whisky is well documented and this City sibling of all-conquering Gymkhana will be pairing a flight of four whiskies to its India-by-way of Inverness menu (£65) on 25 January while a bagpiper provides the soundtrack.