Cam Tay-Yap’s Go-To Spots for a Lunar New Year Feast in the City

The Year of the Horse gallops in on February 17, but the city is already humming with festive energy. Restaurant bookings are being made, menus are being drawn up at home and red packets are being stuffed with cash. 

The owner of Broadsheet Hot-Listed pop-up Pebble, Cam Tay-Yap moved to Australia from Malaysia when he was five years old. While his mum’s cooking remains his ultimate benchmark for Malaysian flavours, the chef has built a list of longstanding Melbourne favourites over the years.

From celebratory feasts to restorative congee, here are Tay-Yap’s best spots to eat and shop this Lunar New Year.

Lee Ho Fook

Festivities typically kick off with a reunion dinner on Lunar New Year’s Eve, when family and friends gather over symbolic – or simply comforting – dishes. For something a little flashier, Tay-Yap recommends booking the tasting menu at Victor Liong’s Lee Ho Fook (also on the Hot List). The old-school, carpeted Chinese diner tucked into Duckboard Place “re-energises” classic Chinese dishes across eight courses, Tay-Yap says.

Expect wok-fried rice noodles studded with mud crab and faux shark fin, the requisite Peking duck platter with a quince-infused hoisin sauce and jasmine rice ice-cream. Alongside an Australian-leaning wine pairing, each course can also be matched with brewed teas sourced across East Asia. Plus, two house creations: a kumquat-spiked sparkling jasmine tea and a fragrant blend of rose petal, silver jasmine and Fujian-style white tea leaves.

Tang Emporium

If you’re stocking up for a home-cooked reunion dinner, a specialist Asian grocer is essential – and Melbourne has them in abundance. Pebble’s menu draws inspiration from eight different countries, so Tay-Yap shops at Tang Emporium, where shelves are packed with ingredients from China, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and Korea.

Tang is also a reliable pit stop for Lunar New Year snacking. Look out for kueh (steamed Southeast Asian cakes), crispy coconut crepes (aka love letters) and fleshy durians – all essential for Tay-Yap’s celebrations.

Liyin Rice Roll Master

According to Tay-Yap, Cantonese cheung fun, or steamed rice rolls, are famously labour-intensive to make and relatively rare outside of yum cha carts. No one knows this better than Rowling Wu, who opened the first Australian outpost of Guangzhou-born franchise Liyin Rice Roll Master on Lonsdale Street. Her team starts prepping the rice batter from scratch at 7am, ready for steaming when the shop opens at 11am.

While cheung fun are most commonly filled with prawns, beef or char siu, Liyin offers close to 20 flavours. Tay-Yap’s standout is an umami mushroom and pork pairing. His advice: eat the rice rolls straight from the steamer.

Sanhe Congee

When Tay-Yap and his wife stumbled across Sanhe Congee a few years ago, he was battling a particularly brutal hangover. Just a few blocks away from Pebble, it’s since become their go-to when they’re “feeling a little bit dusty or run-down”, Tay-Yap says. “Sometimes you just feel like something warm, soft, with no texture.”

He usually orders a congee – often one with a shiitake mushroom base – finished with a light sprinkle of white pepper, alongside one of the restorative pork rib herbal soups. The broth is simmered with traditional Chinese herbs like jujubes, cordyceps, wolfberry and bamboo mushroom. Chinese doughnuts on the side are non-negotiable.

Secret Kitchen

Cantonese restaurant Secret Kitchen may be known for housing the biggest fish tank in Victoria, but the sprawling two-storey venue also turns into a Hong Kong tea house every morning. During the daily yum cha service, square steamers containing an ever-changing parade of dim sum are carted around on trolleys. There are larger plates in the mix too, including weekend-only specials like suckling pig and scallops baked with cheese.

The kitchen excels at classic flavours, particularly for traditional favourites. Tay-Yap recommends Secret Kitchen’s steamed beef tripe dish. Dressed with ginger and scallions it’s impressively refined, despite having “not a lot to hide behind”, he says – a sign of quality produce and meticulous preparation. The same goes for the chicken feet in black bean sauce.

Shanghai Street

Shanghai Street has been serving dumpling-lovers in the city for close to three decades, and the Chinatown stalwart is a nostalgic place for Tay-Yap: “It takes me back to being 15 and skipping class to eat dumplings.” The plates may be well worn and the tables packed at peak periods, but the dumplings still taste exactly the same.

As a self-confessed clumsy chopstick user, Tay-Yap always orders the pan-fried pork dumplings and xiaolongbao. “It’s not the soupiest xiaolongbao in the city, but it’s a comfortable medium where I don’t have to be super fussy about it … I just get to eat without having to think or try too hard.” His hot tip? Dunk them in vinegar and chilli oil.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with the City of Melbourne. Celebrate the Year of the Horse in the city.  Plan your visit at What’s On Melbourne.