Eat well on Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is family time, especially when it comes to dinner (held on Chinese New Year’s eve). Even with calls of a financial crisis still reverberating, some are trading in mom's home-cooked dishes for Chinese delicacies and private rooms, and dragging their broods to some of Shanghai’s classiest dining locals to start a new Chinese New Year tradition -- out of the kitchen. 

Dining out for Chinese New Year, the equivalent to eating Thanksgiving or Chistmas dinner at a restaurant, would’ve been unheard of in some families only a few years ago, but now restaurants that would normally close over Chinese New Year are staying open to accommodate this new family tradition. And in true Shanghai form, if you’re going to live it up, do it large.

"This [Chinese New Year dinner] is a new phenomenon for us, only in the past two years" says Michelle Chui, a manager at Fook Lam Moon, which operates nine high-end Cantonese restaurants across Asia, to the Wall Street Journal. "The mainlanders have a lot more money these days."

Sarah Li, marketing manager at Elite Concepts, a restaurant group that runs several eateries on the mainland echoes this view. "Traditionally, we have dinner at home with the family, preparing and making dumplings together," she says. "Things have changed in recent years.

Where to eat for CNY

If you’re looking to embrace Shanghai’s new tradition, City Weekend magazine recommends four upscale options for you -- if you can get a reservation.

Classic: Tang Court (Langham)
For RMB 4,980 (plus 15 percent tax) for a table of 10, enjoy complimentary drinks before digging into “Chinese delicacies like steamed prawns, double-boiled turtle soup" and babaofan.

Budget: Emerald Garden
RMB 488-688 here gets you a rang “of classically Cantonese dishes” by Chef Feng.

Lux: Park Hyatt
Choose your perfect set menu and dine on high  (from the 86th floor) in one of Park Hyatt's "Chinese Private Rooms.” Possibly one of the best places in the city to catch the New Year's fireworks displays. The most challenging part of the evening will be choosing to ring in the New Year with their steamed leopard garoupa or king prawns.