The commencement of the Lunar New Year on January 22 is a cause for celebration, feasting and spending quality time with your loved ones, and there's no better way to do all three of these things than with a decadent multi-course meal at Melba Restaurant.
Located within the luxurious Langham Hotel (which sits in a prime possie on the banks of the Yarra River, so you know the views are going to be spectacular), Melba Restaurant is showcasing a very special Lunar New Year menu curated by executive chef Tomas Rappl. It features an array of authentic Chinese dishes, plus a truly incredible spread of bite-sized desserts by Markus Bohm.
You’ll begin with the traditional ‘Yee Sang’ prosperity toss salad, which involves mixing up a platter of raw salmon, peanuts, pickled vegetables, crispy dumpling wrappers and pickled ginger topped with a yellow plum dressing and sesame seeds. Be sure to toss enthusiastically, as the height of your toss is believed to correlate to your good fortune in the coming year.
What comes next is a seemingly never-ending roll call of deliciousness: pot sticker pork and cabbage dumplings, super-cute rabbit-shaped sushi, Tassie oysters with XO chili sauce and spring onions, bao buns with marinated barbecue pork scotch fillets and braised abalone with fish maw, shiitake mushroom and shao shin wine.
But wait, there's more! Larger dishes include West Australian lobster with egg noodles, drunken steamed king prawns, ginger poached chicken with gai lan, crispy garlic and oyster sauce, and the pièce de résistance: a whole steamed garopa fish served with ginger and spring onions.
For a sweet ending, you can sample desserts like a jujube tea cake with yuzu chocolate, a black sesame and cherry matcha opera cake or a kalamansi tart with chickpear meringue. And make sure you leave room for an egg custard tart – these bad boys are served warm, and trust us when we say one is simply not enough.
Melba Restaurant's Lunar New Year feast is available for lunch and dinner from January 21-27. Prices range from $85 to $155, depending on your session time. As part of the dining experience, you'll also have access to the wider banquet offerings. To make a booking, head to the website.