CNY takeaway reunion dinner menus

Singapore — The Chinese New Year wouldn’t get off to a good start without the all-important reunion dinner. It is the pivotal meal of the season as the family table is laden with auspicious eats that symbolise a prosperous year ahead.

In these busy times, however, many families have turned to restaurants for their reunion feasts. But while dining out has its merits (no need to do the post-dinner dishes, for starters), there is nothing like enjoying a meal around the family dinner table.

So an increasing number of restaurants are offering reunion dinner menus designed to be eaten in the comfort of home. Majestic Restaurant, for instance, offers a five-course takeaway set that comprises Atlantic salmon yusheng, roasted duck and steamed rice with Chinese sausages and preserved meats.

Its chef-owner Yong Bing Ngen said dishes like these are easy to handle and convenient to bring home. Most need to be heated up in the microwave oven before they are ready to be devoured.

Most restaurants say they started offering full reunion dinner menus due to popular demand. “We have a lot of regulars who live in the area and they’ve been asking about Chinese New Year menus since early December,” said Chef Tan Yong Hua, owner of Restaurant Home.

Naturally, these menus come with all the requisite CNY dishes such as yusheng, pen chai, and rice with waxed meats. To control the quality of the dishes, restaurants like Majestic offer only a limited number of takeaway sets.

“Having a sumptuous meal at home beats going to a restaurant, especially if you have lots of young children in the family,” said Pang Siew Wen, a Marketing Manager, whose family has ordered a four-course meal from its favourite Chinese restaurant.

“My mother used to cook a grand meal for the family, but now that she’s older, she can no longer do it,” she continued. “Most of us work, so it isn’t possible to whip up the same kind of feast that Mum used to.”

If you’re in the same predicament, here’s a list of restaurants offering grand, easy feasts that your family can bond over this Chinese New Year’s Eve.

JING (#01-02/03 One Fullerton, Tel: 6224 0088, http://www.jing.sg) One of the more affordable takeaway set menus available, this one features its Fortune Salmon Yu Sheng Lo Hei, dried abalone seafood pen chai, and Supreme Fried Rice with Chinese sausages and diced mushrooms wrapped in lotus leaf for S$288. The set feeds up to six people and comes with an early bird special of 20 per cent off if you order by Jan 27.

MAN FU YUAN (InterContinental Hotel, Tel: 6825 1062 /6825 1059, http://www.facebook.com/icsingapore). Two take-home set menus — vegetarian and non-vegetarian — are priced at S$198 each and are ample enough for five people. The lavish dishes include roasted meats, braised fish with eggplant and bean curd, fried rice with seafood and mushrooms wrapped in lotus leaf, and chilled pomelo sago with mango. The vegetarian set includes braised mushroom, white fungus and broccoli with preserved bean curd, and a vegetarian yusheng.

MAJESTIC RESTAURANT (31-37 Bukit Pasoh Road, Tel: 6511 4718, http://www.restaurantmajestic.com) The five-course Deluxe Treasures Claypot Takeaway Set (S$360 for six people) features dishes such as Atlantic salmon lo hei, Majestic Deluxe Treasures Claypot, roasted duck marinated with dang-gui and Chinese herbs, steamed rice with Chinese sausage and preserved meats, and layered mao shan wang durian nian gao.

PARADISE GROUP OF RESTAURANTS (Tel: 6286 8300, http://www.paradisegp.com). The Abundance Package comes with yusheng, Golden Herbal Chicken, lotus leaf rice, and the Paradise Treasure Pot filled with premium ingredients such as whole abalones, fish maw and dried scallops in a fragrant broth. The regular set goes for S$308 (for five people), while the large set is priced at S$528 (for 10 people).

RESTAURANT HOME (392 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Rail Mall, Tel: 6465 1698, http://www.restauranthome.com.sg). A set menu for 10 people is priced at S$678 and includes yusheng with Norwegian salmon, the restaurant’s speciality barbecued goose smoked with lychee wood, brown rice with preserved meat and dried scallops wrapped in lotus leaf, and white fungus, dried longan and black sesame glutinous rice balls. The Braised Treasures Combination pen chai that is part of the set comes packed with abalone, scallops, dried gluten, preserved belly sausage and lotus roots, among other delicious things.

SOUP RESTAURANT (all Soup Restaurant outlets, http://www.souprestaurant.com.sg). The four-course menu sets are priced at S$368 (for six people) and S$468 (for nine people). The restaurant’s well-loved Samsui Chicken gets turned into a cold dish with “three treasures” — namely jellyfish, bak kwa (barbecued pork jerky), and prawns with salad dressing. The highlight of the set is the Foshan Treasure Pot that comes in a white porcelain vessel filled with a stewed pig trotter, whole baby abalones, sea cucumber and mushrooms. You also get the Imperial Treasure Rice that brims with dried oysters, Chinese sausages, mushrooms and kai lan.

SUMMER PAVILLION (The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore, Tel: 6434 5286 , http://www.ritzcarlton.com/Singapore) Rather than a set menu, this upscale Chinese restaurant offers an extensive list of a la carte dishes for takeaway during the Chinese New Year period. Premium dishes such as braised superior bird’s nest in brown sauce served with supreme stock (S$138) and braised abalone with dried oyster and black moss in bean curd sheet (S$18) are priced per person, while simpler dishes like sauteed prawn with special sauce in yam basket (S$40) and crispy roasted chicken (S$56) will feed about four people each.

TUNGLOK RESTAURANTS (all TungLok restaurants except Tong Le Private Dining, Ruyi — Chinese Fast Food, and Slappy Cakes, http://www.tunglok.com). There are two options for TungLok’s Take-Home Feast. The Noble Set is priced at S$368 (for six people) and S$488 (for 10 people), while the Royal Set is priced at S$448 and S$688 respectively. These sets include pen chai, salmon yusheng, fried glutinous rice with assorted preserved meats, superior herbal chicken, and the choice of traditional, pandan or black sesame nian gao. A vegetarian version of the Take-Home Feast (S$218/S$298) is also available at LingZhi Vegetarian Restaurant.

BAR-ROQUE GRILL (#01-00, 165 Tanjong Pagar Road, Tel: 6444 9672,

http://www.bar-roque.com.sg). Non-traditionalists might love the idea of a reunion dinner with dishes rooted in Chinese symbolism but executed in French style. Chef Stephane Istel’s raw fish salad (S$88 for eight people) comes with salmon, scallops, French carrots, radish, walnuts, crispy lotus root and a ginger sesame dressing. His whole suckling piglet is stuffed with French chestnuts, mushrooms and pistachios (S$398), while a whole fish is done bouillabaisse style (market price).