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Guide · Chinese New Year
The Chinese New Year reunion dinner, at a restaurant.
The reunion dinner is the meal of the year that everyone comes home for. Many families hand it to a restaurant — a round table, a set menu, a whole fish nobody had to steam. Here is how to book it, what the dishes on the menu mean, and how to order so every wish is on the table for New Year’s Eve, Friday, February 5, 2027.
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In short
The Chinese New Year reunion dinner is eaten on New Year’s Eve — Friday, February 5, 2027, the night before the Year of the Goat begins on Saturday, February 6. To eat it out, book as soon as restaurants post their set menus, expect a minimum number of diners and timed seatings on reunion eve, and make sure the table has a whole fish (surplus), dumplings or spring rolls (wealth), nian gao (a higher year) and long noodles (long life).
Checked
The date
When is the reunion dinner in 2027?
Chinese New Year 2027 falls on Saturday, February 6, 2027, the first day of the Year of the Goat (also called the Sheep or Ram). The reunion dinner is eaten the night before, on New Year’s Eve: Friday, February 5, 2027. The date moves every year because it follows the lunisolar calendar; the celebrations run to the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day.
Because the eve is a Friday, expect the evening seatings to go first. If the family is scattered, a reunion lunch on the eve or a dinner the weekend after works too.
Know the menu
How restaurants serve the reunion dinner.
In Singapore and Malaysia most reunion menus start with yusheng, a salad of raw fish and shredded vegetables that the whole table tosses high with chopsticks — the lo hei, calling out wishes for the year as it rises.
| What you get | Good for | Ask | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Set menu | Several fixed courses with the lucky dishes built in | Most families | Minimum number of diners? Is yusheng included? |
| Banquet table | A round table of ten with a larger set, sometimes a pen cai (layered treasure pot) | Big families | Private room? Deposit? |
| Buffet | A hotel spread with festive dishes | Mixed ages, picky eaters | Seating times and how long the table is yours |
| Takeaway feast | The set packed to eat at home | Families who want the dinner at home without the cooking | Order deadline and pickup slot |
Book it
How to book a reunion dinner out.
- Book when the menus appear. Restaurants publish Chinese New Year sets weeks ahead, often with an early-bird discount that ends before the holiday.
- Reunion eve has fewer, timed seatings. Some restaurants run two fixed seatings that night. Know when you need to arrive and when you need to leave.
- Check the minimum. Sets are often priced for at least two or four diners, banquet tables for more.
- Give the real headcount, including the grandparents and the cousin flying in.
- Ask about halal or vegetarian versions if anyone at the table needs one — not every restaurant has them.
- Ask for a round table. It is the shape of the occasion, and nobody ends up at the far end.
- Confirm the day before, and check whether a deposit is needed.
On the table
What the reunion dinner dishes symbolise.
These meanings are folk wordplay, and tables vary: northern families build the night around dumplings, while southern and Cantonese tables lean on steamed whole fish, roast meats and nian gao. Order the dishes your family cares about, not the whole list.
| Dish | What it stands for | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Whole steamed fish | Surplus every year | The word for fish sounds like “surplus”. It is often served last and some is left over, so the year ends with more than enough. |
| Dumplings | Wealth | Shaped like old silver ingots. Central to the northern Chinese reunion dinner. |
| Spring rolls | Wealth | Golden and shaped like gold bars. |
| Nian gao (sticky rice cake) | A higher year | The name sounds like “higher year by year”: a better job, a better grade, a taller child. |
| Longevity noodles | Long life | Served uncut — the longer the noodle, the longer the life. |
| Whole chicken | Wholeness and togetherness | Served whole, head and feet included. |
| Tangyuan (sweet rice balls) | Reunion | Round, and the name sounds like togetherness. |
| Prawns | Happiness | In Cantonese the word sounds like laughter. |
| Oranges and mandarins | Luck and success | The word for orange sounds like “success”. |
| Yusheng | Rising fortune | Tossed high together in Singapore and Malaysia. |
At the table
Ordering so every wish is covered.
- On a set menu, read it against the list above and ask to swap in the one dish your family would miss.
- Ordering à la carte, build around a whole fish, one wealth dish (dumplings or spring rolls), long noodles, a whole chicken or roast meat, greens, and nian gao or tangyuan for dessert.
- Let the eldest order, or at least approve the order. It is their night as much as anyone’s.
- Bring mandarins to hand around at the end, if the restaurant does not mind.
- Leave a little of the fish. It is the one dish where an empty plate misses the point.
Copy this
Your reunion dinner plan.
- ☐ Restaurant: ___ · booked on: ___
- ☐ Date: Friday, February 5, 2027 · seating ___ to ___
- ☐ Party of ___ · round table / private room
- ☐ Format: set menu / banquet / buffet / takeaway
- ☐ Fish · dumplings or spring rolls · noodles · chicken · nian gao or tangyuan
- ☐ Yusheng? yes / no
- ☐ Halal or vegetarian needs passed on: ___
- ☐ Deposit paid · confirmed the day before
- ☐ Mandarins for the end of the night
- ☐ The table photo, before the first toss
Keep it
A reunion you can look back on.
Take one photo when the table is full. PlateDiary cuts the fish, the dumplings and every other dish into separate saves on your phone, files them under that restaurant and that night, and keeps everyone who came on the companions row — the year your grandmother picked the restaurant, the year the new baby joined. The place page keeps every visit, so next year you can see exactly what you ordered. Eating out again over the holiday? Our dim sum guide and hot pot guide help with the days after.
Sources
Where the facts come from
Questions
Questions people ask.
When is the Chinese New Year reunion dinner in 2027?
On New Year’s Eve, Friday, February 5, 2027. Chinese New Year itself — the first day of the Year of the Goat — is Saturday, February 6, 2027.
What food is eaten at the reunion dinner?
Usually a whole fish (surplus), dumplings or spring rolls (wealth), long noodles (long life), a whole chicken (togetherness), nian gao (a higher year) and, in Singapore and Malaysia, yusheng. Dishes vary by region and family.
Why do you leave some fish at the reunion dinner?
The word for fish sounds like “surplus”, so leaving some on the plate is a wish to have more than enough in the year ahead.
Can you have the reunion dinner at a restaurant?
Yes, and many families do. Book as soon as the Chinese New Year menus appear — reunion eve seatings are limited and timed — and check the set’s minimum number of diners.
What is lo hei?
Lo hei is the tossing of yusheng, a raw fish salad, at the start of a Chinese New Year meal in Singapore and Malaysia. Everyone stands, tosses it high with chopsticks and calls out wishes for the year.
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