Intimate feasts

The eight-person cap on visitors this year may make for a relatively quiet Lunar New Year, but Min Jiang’s delicacies are sure to delight your guests

With the pandemic on everyone’s minds, the Lunar New Year festivities may not be as loud and free-spirited as in previous years.

Still, as is Chinese custom, most families will anticipate the new year with a reunion dinner, though the feasting hardly stops over the subsequent fortnight.

Looking to fill the dinner table at home is Min Jiang, with its plethora of takeaway and delivery options offering sumptuous delicacies and delightful snacks. Available from Jan 24 to Feb 26 at Min Jiang’s locations in Dempsey and Goodwood Park Hotel, the restaurant offers its signature Cantonese and Sichuan cuisine as a triumphant start to the Year of the Ox.

Singaporeans have been advised not to holler well-wishes when tossing yusheng this year, so why not let the dish itself do the talking? Min Jiang offers a “more is more” take on the raw fish and vegetable salad with its massive Auspicious Abundance “Lo Hei” ($268++ for dine-in, $286.75 for takeaway/delivery at Min Jiang at Dempsey).

Featuring steamed Alaskan crab leg meat, baby abalones and flying fish roe, the yusheng swaps out the golden crackers for deep-fried Vietnamese rice paper — target practice for chopstick-wielding diners. Contributing to the mound of shredded vegetables are romaine lettuce, wild arugula, yellow frisee, red, white and green radishes, pickled ginger and fresh pomelo — a vibrant and colourful salad unlike any other.

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Garnishes include deep-fried gluten, yam and sweet potato strips, crushed peanuts, sesame seeds and pine nuts; and the elaborate centrepiece of every Lunar New Year dinner is surrounded by peach segments and doused with plum sauce, rosella jam and lime juice.

A hearty start to the feast arrives from the soup course. The Double-boiled Abalone Soup and Eel Fish Maw with handmade Prawn Dumplings and Minced Pork Balls in Claypot ($265.35 for six) is flavourful and rich in collagen. Available for takeaway or delivery at Min Jiang at Goodwood Park Hotel, the three-hour simmered chicken broth is boiled with baked and dried sole fish and white radish and garnished with Chinese parsley.

The prized abalone makes another appearance in the Braised Pork Belly, Meatball with Crabmeat in Beancurd Pockets and Sea Treasures in Claypot ($393.75 for six). Available for takeaway or delivery at the restaurant’s Dempsey location, each of the star ingredients in the pen cai are cooked separately to perfection, showcasing abundance in a pot. The pork belly, for example, is braised for 2½ hours, strained, and steamed for another 2½ hours. The now-tender meat is then deep-fried and added to chicken stock, ready to shine in the pen cai.

As a nod to the Year of the Ox, the Slowbraised Spicy Oxtail with Pickled Mustard and Enoki Mushrooms in Claypot ($254.65 for six) is a mouth-watering, Sichuan-inspired ode to the year ahead. Available for takeaway or delivery at Goodwood Park Hotel, the oxtail is infused with aromatics such as Sichuan peppercorn, fermented chilli bean paste, red chilli, star anise, cinnamon sticks, garlic and onions.

Aside from having dishes to go, guests can also enjoy the Stewed Rice with Minced Chicken, Dried Scallops, Baby Abalone and Liver Sausage in Stone Pot at Min Jiang at Goodwood Park Hotel ($78++ for small, $128++ for large). A popular Cantonese dish, claypot rice originates from Guangdong province in China. Min Jiang brings the traditional staple to the dining table with the signature liver sausage, while adding baby abalone and shredded dried scallops to elevate the Cantonese classic.

For dessert at Goodwood Park Hotel, the Steamed Cassava “Nian Gao” with Fresh Coconut ($28++ for six pcs) is topped with edible gold flakes, a sure sign of fortune in the year ahead. Housemade “nian gao” is layered with cassava blended with coconut milk for richness, and garnished with salted fresh grated coconut, akin to the popular local favourite, tapioca kueh.

For an even sweeter start to the year, the Bountiful Box of Sweet Blessings — Assorted Petit Pastries ($80 for 15 pcs) offers a delicate treat for each day of the Lunar New Year. Available for takeaway and delivery from The Deli, nibble on Chocolate Almond Tarts, Pineapple Crumble Tarts, Baked Cheesecakes, Orange Chiboust Cakes, and Coffee Vanilla Sponge Cakes while ushering in the new year.

The Deli at Goodwood Park Hotel also offers unusual snacks like the Crispy Kang Kong with Cheese and Sour Cream ($28.80/ bottle) and Maple Butter and Almond Garlic Lotus Root Chips ($36.80/bottle). Perfect as midday snacks, they are available for takeaway and delivery alongside traditional favourites: “Chiku” Arrowhead Chips ($28.80/bottle) and the quintessential Bak Kwa ($56/600g, $88/kg). Guests may place online orders www.goodwoodparkfestive.oddle.me for delivery or self-collection.