Toronto restaurants are ringing in the Year of the Snake with sumptuous Lunar New Year specials. Here are 10 celebratory—and auspicious—set menus to choose from.
This long-standing family-run Hakka restaurant is offering two Lucky Lunar New Year dinners, each featuring dishes meant to bring diners prosperity, wealth, health and happiness in the coming months. Highlights include double butter and scallion lobster on fried rice, Hakka wonton garlic noodles, Manchurian fish, and sizzling chili chicken. Each meal also comes with pop, a bottle of wine and—for the entertainment portion of the evening—a dragon dance. Available January 25 and 26, with service starting at 5 p.m. $250 (eight courses for four people) or $350 (10 courses for eight people)—book before January 19 and save $30.
Related: How a family bond is keeping Toronto’s first Hakka restaurant alive
Chef Eric Chong is offering a limited-edition 10-course tasting menu at his brand-new restaurant. The first course (which is actually made up of five auspicious vegetarian snacks) is followed by a parade of Chong’s modern interpretations of Lunar New Year dishes like lo bak go, fat choy, fish, abalone and eight-treasure duck. Available January 30 to February 13. $275 per person (plus $135 for wine pairings).
Related: What’s on the menu at Akin, chef Eric Chong’s new restaurant with a 10-course blind tasting menu
This cheese shop and Singaporean café is offering a celebratory six-course affair that includes yu sheng prosperity tossed salad, three-egg spinach, barbecue sambal skate wrapped in banana leaf and—Singapore’s national dish—Hainanese white chicken. Available at 6 p.m. from January 24 to 27. Reservations must be made via Instagram by January 17. $88 per person, minimum party size of four.
Choose your Lunar New Year adventure at Shangri-La: afternoon tea or boozy cocktails. Loose-leaf lovers will delight in the hotel’s limited-edition afternoon tea service of dainty snacks including nori cheese scones, Wagyu beef bao, lobster banh mi and sweet egg tarts (January 23 to February 9, $108 per person). For those seeking something stronger than oolong, head to the lobby lounge for signature cocktails like the Snake’s Nest, a potent blend of gin, sake, fortified soju and soursop juice (January 20 to February 9, $25 and up).
Related: Toronto’s best afternoon tea experiences
For one night only, Mimi Chinese is collaborating with Café Boulud to celebrate the Year of the Snake. The respective executive chefs, Braden Chong and William Kresky, will work together to fuse Chinese and French flavours into one very special four-course menu including a collection of canapés, Sichuan green chili steamed scallop on the half shell and—get this—lobster ravioli and sticky rice with truffled-stuffed chicken wing. January 29, $255 per person (includes wine pairings).
Related: Where chef Braden Chong eats Chinese food in Markham and Richmond Hill
Chefs Nuit Regular and Eva Chin are teaming up for a one-off eight-course Lunar New Year meal made up of Thai and neo-Chinese dishes including steamed fish, lotus leaf rice and prosperity noodles. Available at 7 p.m. on February 2, $188 per person.
Related: Sort-of Secret: Yan Dining Room, chef Eva Chin’s new neo-Chinese dinner series at Hong Shing
This bustling Markham buffet is now offering a different all-you-can-eat dinner special every day of the week in addition to its regular roster of dishes. The unlimited specialty creations include crab legs on Sundays and Mondays, Wagyu beef on Thursdays, oysters (fresh and grilled) on Fridays, and half-lobsters on Saturdays. Lunch starts at $28 per person, dinner at $48 per person.
A festive four-course meal for two at this Financial District steakhouse includes Wagyu short rib, lobster bisque, a roster of lavish sides (hello, Dungeness crab fried rice) and oolong tea panna cotta for dessert. Available January 27 to February 11, $220 for two (plus $40 for wine pairings).
For the CCCGT’s Spring Festival Banquet, chef Jacky Young is serving up eight courses of Lunar New Year favourites like roast suckling pig, whole abalone with Japanese mushrooms and baked lobster with e-fu noodles. Available at 6 p.m. on February 1, $98 per person.
The all-day dim sum menu at Pearl’s Yorkville location will include a few special offerings like Peking duck, Hong Kong–style BC crab, lamb with cumin and braised goose feet with snow pea leaves. Visit February 1 for celebratory lion dances (11:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m). Prices vary.
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Tiffany Leigh is an award-winning freelance journalist with degrees in business communications and education. She has a culinary background, is a recipient of the Clay Triplette James Beard Foundation scholarship award and has worked in restaurants such as Langdon Hall. In addition to Toronto Life, her pieces have been read in publications such as Forbes, Vogue, Eater, Dwell, Elle, Business Insider, Playboy, Food & Wine and Bon Appétit.