Deep-fried haggis wonton dumplings will be on the menu for one of Vancouver’s signature intercultural mashups. Gung Haggis 2025 will celebrate Robbie Burns Day and Lunar New Year at noon next Sunday (January 26) at Floata Restaurant (180 Keefer Street) in Vancouver’s Chinatown.
The event includes poetry readings—after all, Robbie Burns was one of Scotland’s greatest wordsmiths—as well as music, Scotch, and dim sum treats. Plus, the restaurant will serve Chinese chicken wings, chow mein, and haggis served with lettuce wrap.
Organizer Todd Wong—a.k.a. Toddish McWong—launched the first Gung Haggis Fat Choy in 1998 when Robbie Burns Day occurred two days before the Lunar New Year. Since then, it’s become an annual Vancouver tradition that’s grown from a small fundraiser of 16 people to a much bigger banquet in North America’s largest Chinese restaurant.
Along the way, BBC Radio Scotland has interviewed Wong several times. Canadian national media have also drawn attention to his efforts. Wong was even featured in a CBC TV special.
Every year, Robbie Burns Day falls on January 25. In 2025, Lunar New Year introduces the Year of the Snake four days later.
Gung Haggis offers reminder of B.C. history
On his website, Wong emphasizes that Gung Haggis is “more than just a fusion of Scottish and Chinese cultural events”. It’s also an acknowledgement of B.C. history, given that Chinese and Scottish migrants were the original non-Indigenous pioneers.
“Many of BC’s early explorers such as Alexander Mackenzie and Simon Fraser were of Scottish ancestry, as was the founding governor Sir James Douglas, and Vancouver’s first mayor Malcolm Alexander Maclean,” Wong states.
Moreover, by building the Canadian Pacific Railway, Chinese labourers helped prevented B.C. from being absorbed by the United States.
“I am also very interested in my Chinese-Canadian ancestry and Canadian roots,” Wong notes on his website. “My paternal grandfather arrived in Canada in 1882 and my maternal great grandfather in 1896. This has also led me to explore the history and contemporary culture of British Columbia with special interests in Chinese-Canadian and Scottish-Canadian as well as mixed-race culture.”
Tickets for Gung Haggis 2025 are available on Eventbrite. The banquet takes place at noon on January 26 at Floata Restaurant (180 Keefer Street). Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia and Bluesky @pancouver.bsky.social, as well as on Instagram @PancouverMedia. Follow Charlie Smith on Bluesky @charliesmithvcr.bsky.social.
