Welcome the Chinese New Year and the year of the snake with dinners served at some of Philadelphia's most renowned Asian restaurants, featuring auspicious treats and snake-themed cocktails.
The beginning of Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, celebrates the end of the winter and the start of the spring. This year, the new moon that marks its start will occur on January 29. Celebrations will stretch on for days or weeks after this date, varying according to different cultures. While not every east or southeast Asian culture celebrates the new year at the same time -- Khmer New Year is April 24 to 25 this year; Tibetan New Year is February 28 to March 2 -- you'll find Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysian, and other communities with significant Han Chinese influence celebrating the new year at the end of this month.
Lunar New Year foods tend to be extremely literal: You eat spring rolls because they look like gold bars, wontons because they resemble gold ingots, long noodles for long life, and sweet things to ensure your future is sweet. At restaurants, expect firecrackers outside, lion dances inside and out, special dishes, and everyone wearing new, red clothing. You may see a number of restaurant closures, since the Lunar New Year is a time for families to come together, but some Philly restaurants and chefs are cooking up dishes that signify good fortune.
Here are some noteworthy specials and collaborations for the holiday, though this list is not exhaustive -- at a number of restaurants in Center City and the suburbs, chefs were still deciding what their New Years' specials will be, including Gabriella's Vietnam, Mei Mei, and Dim Sum Mania in Berwyn.
This list may be updated as new information becomes available.
Emei and Ember and Ash's collaboration dinner "Fire and Fortune" on January 30 (and specials January 27-31)
This is the fourth year that Scott and Lulu Calhoun, the couple who own hearth-cooking-focused Ember and Ash on East Passyunk, are celebrating Chinese New Year with dumplings, turnip cakes, noodles, and special cocktails. The Calhouns will be using recipes inherited from Lulu's grandmother, and the specials will be on the menu for both reservations and walk-ins from January 27 through 31. For one night only, they will welcome Chinatown institution EMei for a feast entitled "Fire and Fortune" to collaborate on dishes like char siu porchetta and mapo tofu with crispy eggplant.
Tickets on Resy are $75 per person, not inclusive of tax and gratuity.
Com.Unity's Philly Tết Dinner on January 27 at Le Viet
On January 27, food series Com.Unity will host its second annual Tết dinner at Le Viet, ringing in the new year with lion dancing (not actual lions prancing, but extremely athletic dancers wearing traditional Chinese garb) performed by the Philadelphia Suns and a six-course menu prepared by chefs Andrew Dinh Vo (Café Nhạn), Tuan Phung (Banh Mi & Bottles), Tay Cao (Le Viet), Victor Nguyen (Ba Le Bakery), Jacob Trinh (Little Fish), and Thanh Nguyen (Gabriella's). The menu will feature five-spice roasted duck and salted egg fried prawns.
Tickets on Resy are $108 per person, not inclusive of tax and gratuity.
Kampar's Yee Sang, a Year of the Wood Snake tasting menu, January 29 to February 1
Kampar will be serving a four-course tasting menu, the highlight of which is the yee sang (prosperity salad), an 18-ingredient salad in which every one signifies luck, following chef Ange Branca's mother's recipe. Also on the menu is poon choy -- basically a clay pot that Branca stuffs with whole prawns, scallops, and the best ingredients she can get her hands on that one eats layer by layer. There will be salted fish fried rice on the side and tong sui, a delicate Cantonese sweet soup made with longans and snow fungus, for dessert.
Reservations can be made on Tock for $138 per person, not inclusive of tax and gratuity.
High Street Hospitality and Grace Young's "A Night to Support Chinatown" on February 3 at High Street
This benefit dinner was originally planned by Ellen Yin of High Street Hospitality and the Wonton Project as a call to action against the Sixers arena. The event will proceed as planned, featuring talks from cookbook author Grace Young, a recipient of the James Beard Foundation's Humanitarian award for her advocacy for Chinatowns, and other community activists. Six chefs, including EMei's Yongcheng Zhao and Vietnam Restaurant's Benny Lai, will come together to serve individual dishes from stations. Tickets include a drink from sponsors Love City Brewing or Riboli Family Wines, but there will also be a full bar with cocktails for purchase.
Tickets are available on Eventbrite for $120 to 180 per person.
Luk Fu at Philadelphia Live! Casino's Lunar New Year specials, available January 29 to February 9
Luk Fu, one of the restaurants at Live! Casino, will be serving specials like a braised abalone and broccoli in oyster sauce; a lucky stir fry with lotus root, pork belly, Chinese sausage, and wood ear mushrooms; and a long list of special New Year-themed cocktails like a Snake Bite (Hennessy and ginger lemon tea) and the Luk-y Buddha (tequila, orange liqueur, guava nectar).
Reservations can be made on OpenTable.
Caphe Roasters' drink and entree specials and a bakery pop up on January 25
The new year means a new dish at Caphe Roasters. "Mắm Ruốc Ragu is inspired by a traditional salty/savory dish called thịt kho mắm ruốc, originating from Hue, though it has iterations throughout other regions in Vietnam," said owner Thu Pham.
There will also be a new drink -- the sweet potato Einspänner -- inspired by the feeling one gets celebrating the holiday with family. "This drink is just the definition of warm," Pham said. "Think going to HMart in Elkins Park to grab ingredients for Lunar New Year dinner. If you are lucky, there's someone outside of HMart roasting sweet potatoes and packaging them up in a brown lunch bag for you."
Caphe Roasters will host Asian American bakery Moonflour Bakeshop on January 25, and there will be Lunar New Year cookie sets containing red bean and matcha cookies for sale in addition to their regular menu.