{"id":3019,"date":"2021-02-11T13:06:33","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T13:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eatmcr.co.uk\/?p=3019"},"modified":"2021-02-16T13:51:04","modified_gmt":"2021-02-16T13:51:04","slug":"manchesters-lunar-new-year-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eatmcr.co.uk\/guides\/manchesters-lunar-new-year-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester’s Lunar New Year Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"
This Friday 12 February marks the start of the Year of the Ox in the East Asian lunar calendar.<\/p>\n
While celebrations will be scaled back this year – there will be no dragon parade and families won’t be able to get together in large groups as they normally would – Manchester’s restaurants will still be there to help celebrate at home.<\/p>\n
Though most commonly referred to as Chinese New Year, the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival is also celebrated in neighbouring countries including Vietnam, Korea and others.<\/p>\n
New Year is one the most important holiday in these countries and customs vary between them, and indeed even regionally within countries.<\/p>\n
Here, we take a look at some of the traditional foods eaten around this holiday and some of the best places to go to find them in Manchester.<\/p>\n
In China, new year’s celebrations last 15 days and culminate in the Lantern Festival. The new year is marked by fireworks, the exchanging of gifts, of traditional red clothing, as well as specific flowers and foods.<\/p>\n
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Manchester has a large Chinese community and a wealth of Chinese restaurants to order from.<\/p>\n
Yang Sing<\/strong><\/a>, a stalwart restaurant of Manchester’s Chinatown, will be bringing in the new year with a special takeaway menu including; a whole roast suckling pig with the traditional sides; Poon Choi<\/em> – a Hakka-style family celebration dish with all the traditional ingredients including abalone and black moss; a traditional New Year’s Mooli<\/em> Cake; and a DIY dumpling kit to make Beijing style pork dumplings at home with a video tutorial.<\/p>\n Bonnie from Yang Sing said: “It was during Chinese New Year last year that the impact of Covid began to trickle through; businesses like ours have been impacted. Over the last year we\u2019ve converted from restaurant and events to become a shop, a community hub, worked hard behind the scenes on community support, and of course operating a take away. For everyone who works in restaurant we have all been more things than Madonna; those who have stayed open, will have mustered up every ounce of energy to keep going and I wish the absolute very best, they\u2019re heroes.<\/p>\n “Chinese New Year marks over a year of us all living this sort of half-life, and I for one am ready to give my head a wobble and really enjoy the positive things that the Spring Festival reminds us to appreciate. We will be celebrating- by eating of course! The simplicity and familiarity of food and traditions is always a comfort.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n “Through all this week we are serving up amazing dishes like Poon Choi, prosperity toss, Mooli cake, New year cake and lots of other things too to mark the new year of the ox. All the old classics are still available but being able to offer our dumplings kit to someone to make at home is an evocative thing for me. In normal times it is an activity that is so tied up with tradition, family & the home and alludes to the very relevant idea that only in working together we can produce a positive outcome.”<\/p>\n Orders can be made via WhatsApp on 07798661166<\/a> or email info@yang-sing.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n