7 NYC restaurants with Lunar New Year specials

Wilson Tang’s downtown Chinese restaurant is starting the Lunar New Year right. On Lunar New Year’s Eve, Tuesday, January 28, the restaurant will host a special cocktail party and happy hour. Alongside Red Oil Wontons, Prosperity Salad and Char Sui Duck Longevity Noodles on offer, the festivities will include a lion dance at 7:30pm, ensuring good luck for the year ahead. If you can’t make it for the kick off, the restaurant will hand out red envelopes stuffed with redeemable Cha Cha Tang dollars for the entire two weeks. 

The highly anticipated Din Tai Fung landed in New York last year and is celebrating its first Lunar New Year in the city. Taiwanese American artist James Jean will be taking over the subterranean space, peppering the restaurant with his dreamlike artwork. Among such soothing environs, the restaurant will distribute red envelopes, stuffed with deals from free appetizers to family recipes straight from the restaurant’s matriarch, Pen-Mei Lai. Feeling lucky? Five guests will receive a Golden Ticket that will grant them access to Din Tai Fung’s VIP Reservation Concierge, guaranteeing them access to reservations for parties up to six through the end of the year. But even if you don’t get picked, there’s plenty to celebrate in the form of Shanghai Rice Cakes and Noodles with Diced Beef & Szechuan Peppers.

Another chain from China debuted in New York last year: Grandma’s Home. From January 25 to February 2, the Flatiron restaurant will have a lineup of a la carte dishes, including the Jade Treasure Box with spinach tofu and mushrooms and the steamed lobster with sticky rice found in the Dragon’s Last Dance. Limited-time desserts will be on offer plus a specialty cocktail: the shochu and elderflower River Snake Blessing. Eating with a group? Opt for the special tasting menu, available for four or more people, priced at $68. 

Kancil is honoring the Year of the Snake with a feast rooted in Malaysian Lunar New Year traditions. Starting January 29 to February 8, chef Simpson Wong’s menu will include Yu Sheng (Yee Sang), a colorful platter of spiced plums and pomelo for the traditional "lo hei" ritual, a Whole Fish Dish that represents abundance and unity and Malaysian madeleines, Kuih Bahulu, for dessert.

Both the Lower East Side and Brooklyn locations of Kings Co Imperial will be offering specials for the holiday. The a la carte menu includes Ocean Wealth Imperial Spring Rolls filled with shrimp, squid and cilantro and Gold Coin Chinese Vegetables. Honoring the reigning animal, the restaurant will feature the Snake Bite Cocktail, a whisky-based cocktail crafted with lime juice, Campari, yuzu sake, ginger-turmeric and a black pepper agave. Even better? You can order the large format version of this drink, ready for sharing with your crew. 

Opening in September of last year, Nin Hao focuses on the underrepresented cuisines from the Fujian region. Celebrating its first Lunar New Year in Prospect Park, the restaurant is prepping several dishes, sure to bring abundance to your table. From January 28 to February 12, the menu will include Ginger Scallion Live Scallop, Cantonese Braised Pork Belly and Grandma’s Braised Asian Sea Bass. And if you’d rather celebrate in the AM, the restaurant just launched its Dim Sum Brunch this week, offering Steamed Buns and Shrimp Meat Wonton Balls to Eight Treasure Rice for the taking. 

Every year, this Chinatown mainstay restaurant drops a t-shirt to celebrate the holiday, and this year is no different. While you can special order their “Year of the Snake” t-shirt online, we highly recommend stopping by this James Beard Award-winning restaurant and getting an order of chow mein to go with your swag. But keep in mind, they’ve already sold out of the shirt once already, so get while the getting is good. 

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