Chinese New Year Dinners: seven delicious spots to ring in the Year of the Horse

This weekend, Chinese New Year will usher in the Year of the Horse, and families all over the GTA will engage in raucous celebrations—dancing with elaborate dragons, exchanging little red packets of cash, and of course, feasting together on traditional delicacies. Here, seven great restaurants offering mouthwatering menus for the occasion.

1. Lai Wah Heen
Lai Wah Heen’s has two indulgent special menus for the New Year. The Luxury Dinner for eight people features roasted duck, wok-fried prawns, roasted chicken in a black truffle sauce, twin lobsters and foie gras. There’s also the Chinese New Year Menu for four people, where you can feast on the controversial shark’s fin soup, crispy deep-fried chicken, steamed freshwater bass and braised pork.
108 Chestnut St., 416-977-9899

2. The King Edward Hotel
The King Eddie is offering a more low-key Chinese New Year brunch. For $53 a pop, guests can enjoy the traditional hotel brunch, plus some key Asian additions like lobster congee, sweet and sour soup and suckling pig.
37 King St. E., 416-863-9700

3. Xam Yu
The classic Cantonese kitchen’s Chinese New Year menu includes whole steamed bass with ginger, which symbolizes the beginning of a new year, and lobster stir fry, which stands for strength and prosperity.
339 Spadina Ave., 416-340-860

4. Drake One Fifty
The non-Asian restaurant is still getting in on the festivities by offering a very Asian menu, available only on January 31. On it, you’ll find fried quail, hoisin and charred green onion appetizers, prawn lettuce cups, whole fried trout and crispy sweet-and-sour pork hocks.
150 York St., 416-363-6150

5. Gourmet Malaysia
This Scarborough family-style restaurant offers a pescatarian-friendly menu for six to eight people, including the fish-and-veggie salad dish Yu Shang (a traditional New Year’s dish in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore), Malaysian bean curds, lobster, curried fish and coconut rice.
4466 Sheppard Ave. E., Unit 101, 647-764-1188

6. Asian Legend
The well-known and reliable chain offers a variety of set menus for the holiday, from the Spring Happiness menu ($228) all the way up to the Royalty Dinner ($498), which features a five-pound lobster to share.
418 Dundas St. W., 416-977-3909

7. Chung King Garden
This Markham restaurant’s Chinese New Year feast doesn’t neglect its signature dish, Peking duck. The various set menus for the festival are based around the duck and crispy beef.
4394 Steeles Ave. E., 905-513-8788