[With Recipes] 2014 Chinese New Year Lunch Gathering With Relatives

This is the second year we invited our relatives over for Chinese New Year lunch gathering where everyone can mingles around as well as enjoy some homecook dishes and cakes prepared by my mum and myself. As usual we have a big group of relatives and to prepare a semi buffet for 30 people in a home base kitchen with gas stove and a microwave convection oven (my built-in oven was down) was rather a bit challenging for us. But thanks god we managed to get all the food up on time and everyone enjoys the array of food and family bonding time too.

So here is a long-winded post with photos of the food as well as related recipes (or recipe links) for your reference in case you need some inspiration on what to cook before the 15 days of lunar new year ends on Friday, 14 Feb 2014 (ooooo it's also Valentine's Day too)

[Wordless Wednesday] Celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year In Singapore

[Chinese Lunar New Year] Chinese New Year Ornaments

[Chinese Lunar New Year] Chinese New Year Ornaments

2014 Lunar New Year Bakes #1 - Cheesy Pineapple Roll and Black Gold

Chinese Lunar New Year is less than two weeks from now and you can see lot of festive goodies available in either supermarkets, bakery shops and even most of the households are busy with making their own expertise of bakes. Every year for my household, we only make pineapple tarts/rolls because they are our favourite and also when compared to the rest of the new year bakes (such as love letter, almond cookies, kueh balu, kueh lapis and etc) this is consider the most easiest with the help of ready-made pineapple paste.

Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) Festive Specials Available From 17 January 2014 plus Giveaway of Smoked Salmon Yu Sheng

[Din Tai Fung] Abalone Fortune Yu Sheng

From now till 28 February 2014, Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) is pleased to introduce a line-up of Lunar New Year specials which is available for dine-in or takeaway. And during this festive season, everyone loves to toss an auspicious New Year with Yu Sheng (鱼生) that brings healthy and prosperity for the new year.

Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) offers two different types of Yu Sheng such as:-
Salmon Prosperity Yu Sheng (富贵鱼生)
- Standard (serves 2 - 3 pax) @ SG$28.80++
- Deluxe (serves 4 - 6 pax) @ SG$48.80++
* Available at all outlets except Din Tai Fung at Parkway Parade

 Abalone Fortune Yu Sheng ( 财宝鱼生)
- Deluxe (serves 4 - 6 pax) @ SG$68.80++
* Available at Din Tai Fung at Paragon, Marina Bay Sands, Resort World Sentosa, Marina Bay Link Mall, BreadTalk IHQ and Raffles City only

Lunar New Year Lo Hei At Grand Park, City Hall

Chinese New Year is about less than a month from now and most of the hotels and restaurants are all coming up with lists of attractive Luna New Year Lo Hei menu catering for everyone preference and budget. And just last Saturday, I have attended a Media Lunch at Park Palace where I would share some of their highlight New Year dishes which you might be interested with.

金箔顺德黄尾鱼捞起
Golden Shunde Yu Sheng

This Spring Festival, Park Palace brings you the the art of tossing Yu Sheng where you would get a shimmering gold boost with its Golden Shunde Yu Sheng (S$88.00++).  As what shown above, their yu sheng was quite different from the usual one we had as they replaced shredded lettuces with crispy fried vermicelli. On top of it, this dish was also given the finishing touch with gold dust and gold flakes.

The Golden Shunde Yu Sheng also comes with two plates of Fresh Yellowtail rather than salmon slices.

Tossing our way "High Up (撈起)" together with a list of auspicious wishes hoping that each and everyone of it will come true soon.

Other than crispy fried vermicelli, Golden Shunde Yu Sheng also consists slices of ginger, spring onion, crunchy capsicums and finely grounded peanuts which tossed in their special combination of fragrant peanut oil and premium soya sauce.

乐宫乳猪皇
Imperial Suckling Pig (first course)

I am sure most of you love Suckling Pig especially it's thin and crispy outer skin which goes well with the steamed pancake and savory sauce. At Park Palace, the piglet used for the Imperial Suckling Pig (S$238.00++) weighs about 5kg and it was air-dried and roasted in the restaurant itself. So in order to avoid disappointment, guests are advisable to make reserve for the order at least one day in advance. 

Some of us were amazed by the thinly sliced cracking skin which we could hardly see any fats or meat on it. The skin was also flavoursome even without the accompany serving sauce and it leaves you craving for more servings too.

乐宫香茅翻烧
Imperial Suckling Pig - Oven Baked with Lemongrass (second course)

Other than the crackling skins, the left over portion (the meat) was then made into another dish by oven-baked it with lemongrass and other seasonings. Each piece of the meat was infused with lemongrass fragrance and the taste was also not too overpowering.

鱼跃龙门庆丰年
Golden Happiness Crispy Garoupa

Even though I am a fish lover, I don't really fancy this Golden Happiness Crispy Garoupa  perhaps it was a bit too dry towards my liking even though it was served together with some special sweet and sour sauce drizzling on it.

火焰乐宫团圆盆菜
Chinese New Year Flambé Pen Cai

Prosperity Flambé Pen Cai was the highlight of the day where it boasts 18 luxuriant ingredients and with a twist it was infused with Cognac, and flambéed to bring out the rich flavours and tastes of its ingredients with a tang of alcohol.

Prosperity Flambé Pen Cai is available for both à la carte and takeaway from 21 January to 24 February 2013 at:-

~ S$268++ (for six persons)
~ S$428++ (for ten persons)

As you could see from the above, this delicacy is brimming with 18 luxuriant ingredients including Sliced Abalone (鲍鱼片), Sea Cucumber (海参), Whole Conpoy (柱脯), Prawn Balls (明虾球), Scallops (带子), Roasted Duck (烧鸭), Roasted Pork Belly (火腩), Duck Web (鸭掌), Soya Chicken (油鸡), Sliced Sea Perch Fillet (鲈鱼片), Fatt Choy (发菜), Black Mushroom (北菇), Lotus Root (莲藕), Broccoli (西兰花), Radish (白萝卜), Beancurd Skin (豆筋), Gingko Nut (银杏), Black Fungus (云耳) and Tien Shin Cabbage (津白) with quality stock in a casserole pot.

The pot we had (refer to above) was actually for 6 persons serving and yet the 10 of us at the table can't even finished it! So you roughly could gauged there were indeed a lot of treasures in the pot and you might be surprised on what you could scoop out from it too!

鹅肝腊味糯米饭
Auspicious Glutinous Rice with Foie Gras And Preserved Meat

As usual the second last dish is always either noodle or rice, and on that day we had something fusion which served in individual portion that was known as Auspicious Glutinous Rice with Foie Gras and Preserved Meat.

Each glutinous rice ball was wrapped with diced preserved meat fillings, pan-fried till crispy at the base and served with a generous slice of Foie Gras on it.  The juice and fragrance from the preserved meat had definitely enhance the taste of the glutinous rice but most of us find portion of the rice was a bit too much for an individual serving.

南瓜庆团圆
Steamed Mini Pumpkin Dumpling with Green Bean Paste

Dessert was served in a bamboo steamer and when the lid was opened, everyone was in excitement because of the bright orangey pumpkin alike dumplings. These Steamed Mini Pumpkin Dumplings were made using the natural colour from the pumpkin puree and wrapped with generous amount of green bean paste which is lightly fragrance with tangerine peel or something similar.

Lastly I would like to thank Jean (Assistant Marketing Communication Manager of Grand Park City Hall) and Park Hotel Group for the warm invitation and hospitality at Park Palace.

If you are planning for family,  office gathering or business lunch this coming Chinese New Year perhaps you would like to take note of their Early Bird Special: Book now and dine in from 21 January to 07 February 2013 and enjoy 20% off Lunar New Year Set Menus and a la carte at Park Palace.

Chinese New Year Set Menus (view full menu details here)
~ $78++ per person (a maximum of two persons)
~ $288++ per person (for four persons)
~ $438++ per person (for six persons)
~ $588++ per person (for eight persons)
~ $788++ to $2388++ (# for ten persons)

*Orders to be made at least one day in advance
# Enjoy a complimentary bottle of house wine per table with booking of ten tables or more (ten pax per table)


PARK PALACE
Grand Park City Hall
Mezzanine Level (level 2)
10 Coleman Street
Singapore 179809
Telephone: (65) 6432 5543
Website: http://www.parkpalace.com.sg/