Eight Lunar New Year Feasts You Can Get in Melbourne

This Friday, February 12, marks the first new moon of the lunar calendar and the beginning of Lunar New Year celebrations for 2021. While traditions and festivals differ across the many countries where the Lunar New Year is celebrated, it’s first and foremost about food and family. Here are a few spots where you can get involved in Melbourne’s Lunar New Year celebrations.

Lee Ho Fook
Victor Liong’s modern Chinese restaurant is celebrating the Year of the Ox for more than two weeks, with a special Lunar New Year menu of old classics and new dishes. It includes a prosperity salad with treasures of the land (pickled vegetables, herbs) and sea (ocean trout, kingfish, trout roe, abalone, spanner crab, scallops); crisp roast pork belly with soft steamed buns and sweet hoisin sauce; a half rock lobster with noodles and house-made XO sauce; a baked cheese tart in a white-chocolate shell; and mango pudding with coconut-and-lime sorbet. Plus, jasmine-infused custard gelato with burnt caramel, made in collaboration with Piccolina.

February 11 to 28. $188 per person for food only; $308 with matched wines. Pre-order recommended.
leehofook.com.au

Kisumé
The chefs at Chris Lucas’s ambitious Japanese restaurant have put together a menu available on February 12 only. Start with tuna and swordfish tataki with yuzu curd, then move on to Kisumé’s signature sashimi and sushi. Then there’s blue-eye tempura with a chilli crunch, an Angus-beef tenderloin with foie gras, and finally a hazelnut dacquoise (meringue cake) for dessert. Optional add-ons: jumbo oysters and yee-sang, a prosperity salad that’s mixed by tossing ingredients into the air – the higher the toss, the better your year will be.

February 12 only. $165 per person. Email bookings@kisume.com.au to book.
kisume.com.au

Spice Temple
Each of the nine dishes – and their ingredients – in Spice Temple’s Lunar New Year banquet have meanings behind them: there are red cherry tomatoes for prosperity; pippies with lap cheong (dried pork sausage) for fortune; and vegetarian lo han jai (or Buddha’s Delight) for good luck. There’s also raw kingfish yu sheng and prosperity toss salad; Hunan-style beef tartare; stir-fried spanner crab with mung-bean noodles; braised duck with nian gao (Lunar New Year cake); charcoal-roasted char siu with a Shaoxing glaze; and caramel ice-cream with praline.

Until February 20. $129 per person for food only; $214 with matched wines.
spicetemple.com.au

Din Tai Fung
Taiwanese dumpling specialist Din Tai Fung is welcoming the Year of the Ox with three new dishes. There’s a traditional yu sheng prosperity toss salad ($25.80); Wagyu beef dumplings wrapped in bright red skin – the colour of good fortune and luck ($18.80 for six); and for dessert, steamed buns in the shape of oxen wearing face masks (how 2020), filled with molten chocolate ($8.80 for two).

From February 8.
dintaifung.com.au

Super Ling
This playful Carlton restaurant is known for its non-traditional riffs on the classics, and its Lunar New Year banquet is no exception. Feast on pork-and-barramundi spring rolls, and beef tartare with mi goreng noodles and rice crackers. Also on the menu: steamed baby snapper; salt-baked chicken; gai lan (Chinese broccoli) with black fungu; lap-cheong fried rice; and a special dessert. You can also add on a salmon yee sang prosperity toss salad.

Until February 27. $68 per person.
superling.com.au

Hawker Hall
This vibing beer hall in Windsor, another Chris Lucas venue, is getting in on the Lunar New Year action with a yum cha spread. On the menu: prawn-and-ginger dumplings with soy-spiked caramel; barbeque pork buns; crisp fried school prawns with sambal mayo; and more. Plus, $3 Moon Dog lager and pale ale. There’s also another LNY special: Singaporean chilli lobster with fried bao, pickled cucumber and herbs.

February 12 to 14.
hawkerhall.com.au

Panda Hot Pot
Dine among dragons (and maybe even a lion) at this Carlton spot, which is known for its steamy hotpot and extravagant interiors. Ring in the Year of the Ox with special Wagyu or seafood platters for four to 10 people, in addition to the regular menu. There’ll also be violin and lute performances; traditional Chinese dances; and red envelopes (with surprise offers) for anyone dining in.

Until February 13.
pandahotpot.com.au

Niubi
Recently opened Chinatown restaurant Niubi has one particularly decadent, splash-out-worthy option for Lunar New Year. It’s serving lobster slow cooked, quite unusually, in buttermilk. The broth is flavoured with curry leaves and powder, chilli flakes and condensed milk – and it comes with deep-fried mantou (Chinese steamed buns). The team recommends pairing it with a crisp Aussie white.

Until February 14. $158 per lobster. Pre-order required.
niubi.com.au

Looking for more Lunar New Year options? Consult our guides to Melbourne’s best Chinese restaurants and best regional Chinese eats.