Where to book your Chinese New Year reunion dinner in Singapore: Set menus, buffets and more

If you haven’t already made plans for your Chinese New Year reunion dinner, then you’re lucky we’re here to remind you. If you’re luckier, you might even be able to snag a table at one of these excellent Chinese restaurants.

GRAND REUNIONS

Shang Palace at Shangri-La Singapore is serving eight-course set menus priced between S$198 and S$888 per person, with highlights including Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, braised bird’s nest broth, and steamed coral trout with matsutake mushroom sauce. If you’re after a grander shindig, book the Chinese New Year Reunion Gala Dinner (S$198 per person) at the hotel’s Island Ballroom, where CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala will be screened live, accompanied by Chinese instrumental performances and a bian lian (face-changing) act.

Jiang Nan Chun’s Chinese New Year set menus start from S$218 per person and include offerings such as steamed cod fillet with cordyceps flower and shredded pork, a Sea Treasure broth brimming with fish maw, dried scallops and shredded chicken, and wok-fried A5 wagyu.

At Cherry Garden by Chef Fei, expect dishes like basil broth with dried scallops and abalone, seared Xisha Island lobster with creamy garlic sauce, and steamed silver cod with Hainan chilli sauce in set menus that start at S$238 per person.

If you want to go big, head to Man Fu Yuan for chef Aaron Tan’s Celestial Auspicious Yu Sheng (S$1,288 feeds 10) that spans 88 cm and comes with a 1.2m horse sculpture presiding over the plate. Order from set menus that start at S$168 per person or choose from more abundant a la carte dishes, such as the roasted suckling pig with five-grain glutinous rice ($538) and Alaskan king crab steamed with 15-year-aged Chinese wine.

A homier affair awaits at Po at The Warehouse Hotel. Each meal begins with the restaurant’s signature popiah set that’s a family activity all on its own. Depending on the set meal you choose (from S$68 per person), you’ll also get dishes that draw from chef Desmond Yong’s Hakka-Peranakan heritage, such as itek sioh, braised pork belly with taro, and Nonya chap chye.

If your Chinese New Year party includes Muslim friends and family, head to Halal-certified Mutiara Seafood by Jumbo Group, where the menus feature Singaporean favourites like seafood doughnut tossed in salad cream and chilli crab with mantou alongside Chinese New Year specialities like 10-head abalone and fish maw braised in abalone sauce. Set menus start at $628 for 10 people.

ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT FEASTS

Abundance and excess are bedrocks of Chinese New Year, both of which are embodied in a lavish buffet. For an easy-going meal with something for everyone, head to restaurants like Estate at Hilton Singapore Orchard, where Michelin-starred Japanese-Sichuan restaurant Shisen Hanten has brought six of its signature dishes to the buffet dinner spread (from S$78 per person). These include its renowned Chen’s mapo tofu, steamed chicken with negi yuzu sauce, and sweet and sour pork with black vinegar.

Regional East Asian flavours are the order of the season at Ginger at ParkRoyal on Beach Road. The festive buffet (from S$68 per person) comes with all the mala abalone, Xinjiang meat skewers, Shaanxi rougamo (Chinese “burgers”), wagyu shabu shabu, and glutinous rice with dried scallops and Chinese sausages, as you can eat. There is plenty more besides, including fresh seafood on ice, sashimi and a bevy of hearty dishes.

Over at Asian Market Cafe, the buffet spread (from S$80 per person) features live stations serving Singaporean classics from laksa and chicken rice to beef satay and kueh pie tee. Linger a little longer over the assortment of Nonya kueh, pineapple tarts, fried nian gao and durian pengat at dessert.

DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY

Sometimes, getting everyone’s schedules and tastes to align requires a break with tradition. One might choose to reunite over an afternoon tea with busy family members or dine on something different to stem the abalone-everything fatigue.

To that end, the classic afternoon tea gets a Chinese New Year makeover at The Tea Room at St Regis Singapore (from S$65), with a selection of dim sum, salmon yu sheng kueh pie tee, and yuzu cream cheese chicken bak kwa coins, among other nibbles. In the same vein, The Four Gentlemen Botanical Afternoon Tea (S$64 per person) at Sofitel Singapore City Centre’s 1864 takes inspiration from four iconic ingredients from the Song dynasty. Plum, bamboo, orchid, and chrysanthemum flavour delicate bites like a prawn royale wrapped in katafi and perfumed with chrysanthemum gel, and Chinese wine-infused duck terrine with orchid tea jelly and plum salt.

Korean steakhouse Cote has a Feast of the Fire Stallion (S$178 per person) that opens with a soothing gogi cha (USDA Prime beef consommé) before five cuts of USDA Prime beef, Australian wagyu, and Korean 1++ Hanwoo BMS 9 Ribeye are presented for tableside grilling. Naturally, the meal comes with plenty of banchan, rice and a warming stew.

For a festive weekend lunch, head to Yi by Jereme Leung for the Lunar New Year Dim Sum set menus (only on Feb 21, Feb 22, Feb 28, and Mar 1). For S$88 per person, you’ll get a selection that includes siew mai with fish maw and orange peel, flaky puff pastries filled with black pepper wagyu and mochi, and pineapple hot and sour soup with prawn and Wen Si tofu.

At New York-style restaurant Madison’s, The Chinese New Year Sunday Bucket (from $68 for two people) offers a choice of chilli crab or scallion sauce that saturates your mix of tiger prawns, baby crayfish, lobsters and the like.

BRING THE FEAST HOME

More often than not, home is the best place to be with your extended family and loved ones, especially on such a widely celebrated occasion as the eve of Chinese New Year. While many restaurants don’t deliver on Feb 16 and Feb 17, some shrewd planning will get your food on the table before everyone arrives. Hot tip: Clear space in your fridge for that platter of yusheng and arrange to collect your food before 4.30 pm so that even if you get stuck in traffic, you’ll be home before dinnertime.

There’s a whole host of decadent offerings at Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant, including a S$1,088 Imperial Pot of Prosperity heaving with premium ingredients like three-head Australian abalone, fish maw, sea cucumber, goose feet, and crispy Sha-Jing oysters. Each ingredient is individually prepared and cooked before it’s all layered into the seemingly bottomless pot. Even with 10 people, you’ll have an abundance of leftovers for days.

A stalwart for vegetarian Chinese fare, LingZhi’s Vegetarian’s Take-Home Feast (from S$348 for six people) comprises a hearty line-up of celebratory dishes that include a vegetarian pen cai, yu sheng, sweet and sour “fish”, and glutinous rice with plant-based bak kwa. Li Bai is also offering an OmniMeat Fortune Pot ($348, feeds six people), layered with OmniMeat luncheon, Omni Tindle (plant-based chicken), bamboo piths, black moss, morels, and much more.

If you’re looking to amp up your yusheng at home, ask for a serving of osetra caviar ($80) on the side when you order the Prosperity Salmon Yu Sheng (from $78) from Shisen Hanten. Also on the restaurant’s takeaway menu is the wok-fried glutinous rice with luscious morsels of Canadian foie gras, Chinese sausage and black truffles from Yunnan ($75).

Among the selections at Carlton Hotel Singapore’s Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant is an Abalone Eight Treasure Duck ($208) that makes for an impressive centrepiece at the dining table. The duck is slow braised with a mix of abalone, sea cucumber, conpoy, pork and mushrooms, to yield a meltingly decadent main dish. There’s also the restaurant’s Alaskan Crab Lo Hei ($248) that’s always a Chinese New Year hit.