Fancy tasting a slice of Chinese royal history? Try the classic CNY dish Poon Choy (pencai in Mandarin), translated as basin cuisine in Cantonese (a Chinese dialect). Tradition says that it originated during the late Song dynasty (circa 1278), when young Emperor Bing of Song fled to the area around Canton Province and Hong Kong to escape Mongol marauders.

To honour his majesty, the locals then gathered their best ingredients and cooked them for the royal and his army. Short of bowls, they served the meal in large wooden washbasins.

These days, the elaborate delicacy is prepared with an assortment of premium ingredients braised in a savoury brown sauce for long hours, and served in large claypots. Try the Poon Choy at Hai Tien Lo, an award-winning contemporary Cantonese restaurant. This luscious dish includes whole abalone, fried fish maw, poached chicken, fresh prawns, sea cucumber, and premium mushrooms.

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This raw fish salad is, without doubt, the most fun Singapore CNY dish. Why? Because you get to play with your food!

Lo Hei means “tossing up good fortune” in Cantonese, while the name of the dish Yu Sheng is a homophone in Mandarin for raw fish and abundant life. Eaten mostly in Singapore and Malaysia, and traditionally on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, the popularity of the dish has now made it readily available any day from Chinese New Year’s eve to the 15th day of the CNY.

The Lo Hei experience starts with a group of family and friends gathered at a table. Ingredients like raw fish, pomelo sacs, spices, oil, shredded carrot, shredded green radish, shredded white radish, peanut crumbs, sesame seeds, plum sauce, and fried flour crisps are prepared and placed aside.

As each ingredient is added to a big round plate, the host often says an auspicious idiom wishing bountiful blessings for those present. When all the ingredients are on the plate, everyone tosses them into the air with chopsticks, shouting even more propitious sayings. The higher you toss, the more blessings you will receive, so you can imagine the resulting hilarity and mess after each lo hei session! And of course, everyone tucks in to the sweet salad afterwards.

Lo Hei can be found in most Chinese restaurants and supermarkets. While raw wolf herring was the traditional choice of fish, it was subsequently replaced by the more popular salmon sashimi. Innovative chefs (such as the ones at our fine Japanese restaurant Keyaki and award-winning Hai Tien Lo) have taken the gastronomic license to stretch it further, substituting the fish with gourmet seafood ingredients like tuna, sea urchin, abalone, and lobster.

View Keyaki Japanese Restaurant’s signature dishes
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Snackers, this is the best time to stock up on your stash. There are dozens of CNY cookies, pastries and tidbits for sale during the festive season—you can get yours at Chinese restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets, and the popular CNY night market in Chinatown (one of the most famous places in Singapore for tourists).

New to CNY snacks in Singapore? Here are three must-buy items to bring home a taste of the occasion.

Pineapple tarts: This buttery biscuit is filled with or topped with sweet pineapple jam, and no CNY celebration would be complete without a tub of these bite-sized pastries. One is never enough, but be warned, the caloric count of just five tarts is equivalent to a burger!

(Our selection at Hai Tien Lo comes in three mouth-watering flavours: Traditional Pineapple Tart, Charcoal Pineapple Tart with Korean Yuzu Tea, and Japanese Matcha Tarts with Red Bean.)

Bak kwa, or barbecued meat slices: The Chinese equivalent of jerky, this smoky BBQ snack, usually pork, is another CNY staple. Ask for a sample before buying, as the quality and taste varies quite substantially between brands.

Spicy dried shrimp rolls: These deep-fried mini spring rolls pack a punch with the special chilli paste known locally as sambal. Each mouthwatering golden morsel comprises shredded shrimp skillfully blended and mixed with chilli paste, and wrapped in a crispy paper-thin skin of flour. Once opened, be sure to store the rolls in an airtight container to keep them crunchy.