Too tired to cook reunion dinner? Outsource the work to these restaurants
If you're not keen on braving the reunion dinner crowds this CNY, these restaurants will do the cooking for you – and you can enjoy it all at home.
Many families have made the switch to catering instead of toiling in the kitchen, given that you can enjoy high-quality restaurant food in the comfort of your home. (Photo: Beauty In The Pot)
Reunion dinners with the family are a must at Chinese New Year. But often, the prospect of cooking an enormous meal at home for 20 people or jostling with the crowds at a restaurant is just too arduous a task for the faint of heart.
There’s always the option of engaging a caterer for your house party, but then again, you can’t always be sure of quality.
The good news is that it’s entirely possible to set up a festive meal from a restaurant or brand-name eatery in the comfort of your own home – and some of these will even bring the whole kit and kaboodle to your house, hotpot and all.
Here are some options for that perfect reunion lunch or dinner that will satisfy your palette as well as your perfectly legitimate desire to not leave the house.
READ: Yusheng upgrade: Go fancy with uni, swordfish and golden snapper sashimi
BEAUTY IN THE POT
If Chinese New Year is all about honouring tradition for you, then you’ll want a hotpot that the whole family can gather around and dip their ladles in.
Everybody loves a little Beauty In The Pot, so it’s extra awesome that the restaurant offers a home catering service, providing a steamboat pot, an induction cooker, a full set of tableware and a disposable tablecloth.
There are several Steamboat Set options to choose from, with the most affordable Set A priced at S$218 for five or S$368 for 10. This gets you the Beauty Collagen Broth (shark’s cartilage soup) and the Spicy Nourishing Broth (pork bone soup), along with a variety of seafood, meats and vegetables. Transportation costs S$50.
BROTZEIT’S PORK-SPERITY FEAST
Since it’s the Year of the Pig, naturally, you’ll be craving the porkiest of pork dishes. And for an interestingly different spin on things, you might want to consider turning to the Germans, who take their pork crackling as seriously as the Chinese do.
A good meal option on Brotzeit’s New Year menu is the Prosperity Brotzeit Platter, featuring Golden Roasted Pork Belly with moist bread stuffing, their signature crispy Pork Knuckle, a Duo of Ribs marinated with Bavarian honey sauce and apple cider with chilli flakes, and premium German sausages.
At S$188, the platter feeds six to eight people, and comes with sides of sweet potato fries, creamy Chinese cabbage and sauteed garlic mushrooms.
For dessert, you can opt for the Blissful Poached Pear with Chinese Herbs (S$8), a chilled, sweet pear poached in Brotzeit’s herbal wine essence that’s brewed with Chinese herbs.
Delivery is free with a minimum spend of S$135.
KAM’S ROAST
If a full-on pig-out sounds a bit much but you still like the idea of something roasty, crispy and crackly, and only the best will do for Chinese New Year, then it’s Michelin-starred meats that you’ll want to serve in your home.
Kam’s Roast, the acclaimed eatery from Hong Kong, offers a Kam’s Roast Prosperity Trio special takeaway set, for which delivery can be arranged upon request. It feeds four to six people for the special takeaway package price of S$108. You get a whole signature roast duck, iberico char siew and super crispy pork.
Talk about starting the year right.
ALMA BY JUAN AMADOR
If you’re looking to seriously splurge this festive season and you’d like to wow your guests with something a little more unexpected, consider Michelin-starred Alma By Juan Amador’s home chef service.
READ: How much money should you give in a hongbao this Chinese New Year?
For a minimum charge of S$5,000, one of the restaurant’s chefs will cook you a meal at home, and can create dishes with a Chinese New Year touch – great if you’re partial to Asian-influenced Modern European cuisine. Tableware is provided, too.
For more information, call 6735 9937 or +9119 8928 (events and non-operational hours).
MIN JIANG’S FESTIVE TREASURES TAKEAWAY MENUS
Known for its refined Chinese cuisine, Min Jiang in its two locations offers takeaway options for discerning feasters.
The Min Jiang Festive Treasures Takeaway 6-Course Menu includes Prosperity Yusheng; a Five Fortune platter featuring Deep-fried Shelled Prawns coated with Butter Milk, Chilled Mini Abalone with Sesame Peanut Plum Sauce, Coffee-glazed Spare Ribs and more; and a Prosperity Duo of Deep-fried Pork Knuckle and Slow-baked Honey Butter Ribs.
READ: How to enjoy Chinese New Year without gaining weight and feeling ill
The Min Jiang at One-North Festive Treasures Takeaway 7-Course Menu has Braised Pork Belly with Pan-fried Lotus Root Pork Patties and Sea Treasures in Claypot as a highlight.
Both menus are priced at S$532.85 and feed six. Available from Jan 18 to Feb 19 with a required advance order of five days. Last order is on Feb 15 at 12pm.
Contact Min Jiang at 6730 1704 or min_jiang [at] goodwoodparkhotel.com; and Min Jiang at One-North at 6774 0122 or mj1n [at] goodwoodparkhotel.com.
http://festivepromotions.goodwoodparkhotel.com
PARADISE GROUP’S BOUNTIFUL TAKEAWAY SET
For a full Chinese meal, there’s the Paradise Group’s takeaway set.
It comprises Paradise Abalone Yu Sheng for up to 10, a fresh yusheng salad that comes with a can of abalone; the Treasure Pot for five, which showcases 16 delicacies such as abalone, sea cucumber, fish maw, black moss, fermented pork trotter and duck wing; Black Truffle Kampong Chicken baked for 1.5 hours; and Fortune Lotus Leaf Glutinous Rice with mushroom and Chinese sausage.
The set is priced at S$328 (S$298 for Paradise Gourmet Rewards members) and can be ordered from any Canton Paradise, Paradise Dynasty, Paradise Classic, Paradise Hotpot or Beauty In The Pot outlets.
https://www.paradisegp.com/promotion/?id=63
FOLKLORE’S PERANAKAN POPIAH
If you’re gunning for a casual, fun session that allows for lots of interaction, nothing beats a popiah party.
One of the standout offerings on heritage restaurant Folklore’s Peranakan Lunar New Year special menu is the DIY Popiah Set. The recipe for this popiah has been passed down from Chef Damian D’Silva’s maternal Peranakan grandmother.
Everyone can dig in and get their hands dirty with the takeaway set, which costs S$321 for a minimum of 20 pax. It’s available from Jan 30 to Feb 19, and must be ordered a minimum of five working days in advance.
https://www.parkhotelgroup.com/en/destinationbeachroad/promotions/cny-2019
