The best of Chinese New Year dining in Hong Kong

• Chinese New Year dining often features auspicious foods, such as dumplings for wealth and whole fish for abundance

• Lo hei, or 'prosperity salad', is regularly featured on menus; diners gather to toss the shredded ingredients for good fortune

• Many harbourside restaurants are offering firework-view menus on the second evening of Chinese New Year

Read more: Fun family events not to miss this Chinese New Year

*Firework views*

Island Shangri-La

Chinese New Year dining in Hong Kong - toss your personally curated lo hei at Cafe TOO

Read more: These are the best Hong Kong restaurants to open this winter

At the hotel's Cafe TOO, diners are being offered the chance to toss together their own lo hei at a special lo hei station this Chinese New Year. Each ingredient carries an auspicious meaning to welcome abundance and prosperity in the new year; premium ingredients include salmon, tuna, octopus, jellyfish and all requisite vegetables and flavourings. Meanwhile, take in the fireworks at Island Shangri-La's stunning Petrus restaurant on the top floor. A multi-course celebratory menu accompanied by the Lunar New Year Firework Display over the harbour includes highlights like carabinero red prawn, salmon and premium A5 olive wagyu. Elevate the event with sommelier-curated wine and champagne pairings.

Restaurant Petrus’ Firework Feast, 7pm onwards, February 18; Lo Hei Station at Cafe TOO, February 16 to 22.

Island Shangri-La, Pacific Place, Supreme Court Road, Central; 2877 3838.

Read more: Tasty new Hong Kong brunches for the new year

The Park Lane Hong Kong

Chinese New Year dining in Hong Kong - PLAYT at The Park Lane presents a menu celebrating past and present

The Hong Kong Island hotel’s PLAYT restaurant is collaborating with the city's 100-year-old Hang Heung Cake Shop to reimagine centuries-old classic dishes for Chinese New Year. Blending tradition and innovation, the culinary team has come up with a festive menu that celebrates Hong Kong’s past and present. The Park Lane’s Matt Chan and pastry chef Roy Lau have transformed Hang Heung’s premium preserved meats and classic pastries into creative - and tasty - buffet offerings. Highlights include spicy salads, pastas, pizzas, duck dishes and fried rolls combined with Hang Heung’s famous preserved sausage and duck. Puddings have also undergone a recreation, with ‘wife cake’ (a popular Cantonese flakey pastry) gelato, mini walnut cake and nutella chocolate, and mini egg roll with passion fruit ganache. Guests are invited to hang their wishes on the wishing tree at the restaurant entrance.

Festive Chinese New Year Fusion Menu, 11.45 to 2.30pm (lunch and brunch), 6.30 to 9.30pm (dinner), available from February 2 to March 15; from $458 per adult and $308 per child.

PLAYT, Park Lane Hong Kong, 310 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay; 2293 8888.

*Firework views*

Hutong

Chinese New Year dining in Hong Kong - celebrate with an 'elevated' lo hei lobster salad

Embrace Chinese New Year dining traditions with spectacular views over Victoria Harbour at Hutong. The restaurant invites diners to toss ‘Lo Hei’, a traditional Lunar New Year dish of vegetables, crackers, walnuts and plum sauce - the higher the toss, the better the fortune. Meanwhile, Hutong’s three-course Yum Cha Lunch Menu showcases festive flavours with a modern twist, like seafood Chinese turnip cake and Longjing jian dui, a delicate pastry infused with the fragrance of Longjing tea to symbolise harmony and prosperity. And the eight-dish Chinese New Year Dinner Menu includes an ‘elevated’ lo hei with lobster and more, wok-fried dishes like crispy-skin chicken, stir-fried tiger prawns and wok-fried A5 beef tenderloin, with mandarin mousse for pud.

Lo Hei, available until February 28, $1,280 for four; Yum Cha Lunch Menu, $388 per person, February 9 to 28; Chinese New Year Dinner Menu, February 9 to 28, $4,200 for four.

Hutong, 18/F, H Zentre, 15 Middle Road, Tsim Sha Tsui; 3428 8342.

*Firework views*

The Bayside

Chinese New Year dining in Hong Kong - take in the Lunar New Year Firework Show as you dine

Enjoy the Lunar New Year fireworks at this harbourside dining spot. The Bayside is offering a six-course Chinese New Year Fireworks Dinner in timing with the firework display. The menu kicks off with a selection of four appetisers, including crab claw meat with toasted crostini and smoked wagyu beef tartare on brioche. The main course offers four options; Seafood Treasure juicy rice features scallops, prawns, mussels and clams cooked in a lobster bisque, or there’s lobster juicy rice topped with half a Boston lobster, king prawn egg cream curry of dry-aged wagyu sirloin. Puds features a cheesecake topped with festive red fruits. 

Six-Course Chinese New Year Fireworks Dinner, 6pm onwards, February 18; $498 per person.

The Bayside, Shop G1, Ground Floor, 18 Tak Fung Street, Whampoa Garden, Hung Hom; 2123 2177.

Duddell’s

Chinese New Year dining in Hong Kong - tuck into an eight-course festive feast at Duddell's

One Michelin-starred Duddell’s presents an eight-course Chinese New Year Tasting Menu alongside festive dim sum selections and à la carte New Year options to welcome the Year of the Horse. The eight-course meal features a smorgasbord of symbolic dishes, beginning with caramel-glazed barbecued pork paired with honey-glazed semi-dried oysters, followed by pork soup with dried black moss. Further highlights include fresh local lobster in salted egg yolk sauce, braised Australian abalone, and concubine chicken with conpoy. To finish, there’s glutinous rice with Chinese preserved meats and a festive Lo Hei festive pudding with coconut shreds. The New Year Dim Sum Selection includes six new dim sum items, such as goldfish-shaped shrimp and garoupa dumplings and crispy puff pastries with crab meat and seafood.

Chinese New Year Tasting Menu, February 2 to March 3; $1,888 per person, minimum two guests; the New Year Dim Sum Selection is available at both lunch and dinner service.

Duddell’s, Level 3 & 4, 1 Duddell Street, Central; 2525 9191.

Dim Sum Library

Chinese New Year dining in Hong Kong - enjoy ox tongue dumplings with black pepper sauce for good luck

This Pacific Place-located dining spot is serving Bites of Prosperity this Chinese New Year. The curated creations include six dim sum delicacies, each inspired by auspicious greetings and symbolic wordplay. The hand-crafted bites include steamed golden dried oyster and black moss bun for wealth, deep-fried ox tongue dumpling with black pepper sauce for luck, xiao long bao for vitality, baked barbecue pork bun for prosperity, steamed abalone with onions and shallots for new beginnings and braised yellow croaker with crab meat and milled rice broth for abundance. Further festive items include traditional turnip cake and ginger and osmanthus water chestnut pudding. 

Bites of Prosperity, February 17 to 23; prices from $78.

Dim Sum Library, Shop 124, Level 1 Pacific Place, Admiralty; 3643 0088.

Hopewell Hotel

Chinese New Year dining in Hong Kong - celebrate the new year with a festive red velvet cheesecake

The Wan Chai hotel’s Lobby Café will be serving a Chinese New Year Festive Semi-Buffet over the Chinese New Year holiday period. The semi-buffet features fresh seafood and salads as well as specially prepared dishes with auspicious meanings. There is also a carving station offering unlimited serves of succulent roast US beef ribeye, perfect for sharing with family and friends to welcome the Year of the Horse. The hotel’s patisserie will also be serving a selection of Chinese New Year cakes, including red velvet cheesecake and petite mandarin mascarpone cake.

Chinese New Year Semi-Buffet, 12 to 2.30pm and 6 to 9.30pm, February 17 to 19; $398 per person.

Lobby Café, Hopewell Hotel, Level 19, Hopewell Hotel, 15 Kennedy Road, Wan Chai; 2620 2765.

The Chinese Library

Chinese New Year dining in Hong Kong - an auspicious eight-course feast at The Chinese Library

The team at The Chinese Library has reimagined signature new year recipes to create a lucky eight-course Chinese New Year Dinner Tasting Menu. Highlights include Five Blessings in Harmony, an auspicious platter of pan-seared scallop, grilled Alaskan king crab leg, BBQ pork loin, chilled tomato with tangerine peel and ‘four blessing’ jasmine tea-smoked bean curd roll. Meanwhile, a duo of ‘racing crab’ dumplings with steamed black cod and egg white and mustard spring rolls emphasises wealth and endless abundance. More menu items include giant tiger prawn in soy and scallion sauce, crispy chicken with spring onion oil and braised rice with sea cucumber and abalone sauce. Then milk foam pistachio dew is a light and frothy way to end the meal.

Chinese New Year Dinner Tasting Menu, February 13 to March 3; from $4888 for four people. 

The Chinese Library, Police Headquarters Block 01, Tai Kwun, 10 Hollywood Road, Central; 2848 3088.