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SCMP Series

The Year of the Tiger 2022: predictions, food & celebrations

4 of 5

Year of the Tiger 2022: is your luck in or out? Zodiac sign predictions

Feng shui experts reveal which zodiac signs will bring the most and the least luck in the fast approaching Year of the Tiger. Illustration: Adolfo Arranz

Year of the Tiger: what does 2022 hold in store for your Chinese zodiac sign?

What is the Lunar New Year chuen hup, or candy box?

Chuen Hup or candy box for Chinese New Year. Photo: Kerry Hotel

7 new Lunar New Year puddings: sweet and savoury delights to try

Seafood lovers will enjoy trying out the crab roe sticky rice cake at Sexy Crab in Tsim Sha Tsui. Celebrate the Lunar New Year with the Post’s pick of tasty puddings.

Year of the Tiger 2022: How to avoid bad luck this Lunar New Year

To attract good luck and minimise bad luck, worshippers make offerings on the first day of the Lunar New Year at Hong Kong’s Wong Tai Sin Temple. Photo: Sam Tsang

Lifestyle Food & Drink

7 new Lunar New Year puddings to enjoy from The Peninsula Boutique, Sexy Crab, China Tang and more – sweet, savoury and classics with a twist

The Peninsula Boutique’s savoury turnip cake mixed with dried conpoy, air-dried meats and its famed XO sauce comes topped with a whole South African abalone
Vegan chef Tina Barrat at Ma … and The Seeds of Life has created an umami-flavoured turnip cake using Japanese daikon combined with a variety of mushrooms

Food and Drinks

Bernice Chanin Vancouver

Published: 5:15pm, 17 Jan 2022

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The Year of the Tiger is around the corner and despite the recent cases of Covid-19 variant Omicron in Hong Kong, people are still keen to celebrate the Lunar New Year by eating new year puddings.

Aside from the classic savoury steamed turnip or radish cake with Chinese sausage, and the sweet glutinous rice pudding with brown sugar, this year there are some new options for foodies to sample.

Not only do these puddings make delicious gifts for loved ones to wish them a happy and healthy new year, they’re also a nice treat to enjoy at home.

Here are some of the newest flavours that are creating a roar this year.

Savoury turnip pudding with abalone and XO sauce, at the Peninsula Boutique.

1. The Peninsula Boutique

The hotel has several new flavours on offer, including a savoury turnip cake mixed with dried conpoy, locally made air-dried meats and the hotel’s famed XO sauce, topped with a whole South African abalone for HK$668 (US$80). There is also a new red date and longan pudding at HK$208.

The Peninsula Arcade, Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, tel: 2696 6969

Crab roe sticky rice cake at Sexy Crab, in Tsim Sha Tsui.

2. Sexy Crab

Seafood lovers will enjoy trying out the crab roe sticky rice cake at Sexy Crab. It took months for the chefs to figure out the perfect ratio of 30 per cent crab meat, 70 per cent crab roe. The glutinous rice cake absorbs the fragrant crab flavour and it has a golden colour too. It comes in a set with a black truffle turnip cake for HK$588.

Shop 401A, 4/F, K11 Musea, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, tel: 6655 7629

Turnip pudding with dried tiger prawns and local preserved meat from China Tang in Central.

3. China Tang

Executive chef Menex Cheung and dim sum chef Mok Wing-kwai have created two new Lunar New Year puddings. One is turnip with dried tiger prawns and local preserved meat, the other a sweet handmade rice pudding with Taiwanese brown sugar, and crunchy organic purple rice sprinkled on top to contrast the chewy smooth texture. The puddings are priced at HK$388 each.

China Tang Landmark, Shops 411-413, 4/F, Landmark Atrium, 15 Queen’s Road Central, Central, tel: 2522 2148

Auspicious Chinese New Year dishes and the homesick chefs making them

4. Tsui Hang Village

This traditional Cantonese restaurant offers a new chilled pudding featuring white peach jelly and creamy coconut that has a refreshing sweet taste for a welcome start to the Year of the Tiger.

To make it more environmentally friendly Tsui Hang Village also has a box-free option at HK$159, otherwise, it’s HK$182.

Tsui Hang Village, L5, Mira Place 1, 132 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, tel: 6929 9950

2/F, New World Tower, 16-18 Queen’s Road Central, Central, tel: 69699951

Coconut milk pudding with red bean and Ceylon tea at Ying Jee Club, in Central.

5. Ying Jee Club

The two-Michelin-star restaurant marks the Year of the Tiger with a new flavour: coconut milk pudding with red bean and Ceylon tea. The coconut milk is infused with red beans and finished with the fragrant notes of Ceylon tea. This soft and delicate pudding costs HK$238.

Shop G05, 107 and 108 Nexxus Building, 41 Connaught Road Central, Central, tel: 2801 6882

Aged tangerine peel turnip cake from Dashijie.

6. Dashijie

Known for her brand of sauces, noodles and cookies, Dashijie, or Theresa Yiu, first became famous for her Lunar New Year radish cakes. This year she has teamed up with Chinese executive chef Wong Wing-keung of Man Wah to create the aged tangerine peel turnip cake. It features 15-year-old dried tangerine peels from Jiangmen, China, to give the turnip cake a tangy twist and is priced at HK$486.

Mandarin Oriental online shop or CitySuper, Times Square Basement 1, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay, tel: 5131 3230

Vegan turnip cakes with mushrooms from Ma ... and The Seeds of Life, in Central.

7. Ma … and The Seeds of life

Vegan chef Tina Barrat has created an umami-flavoured turnip cake using Japanese daikon combined with lots of mushrooms, including morels, shiitake and porcini. The cake, priced at HK$298, goes best with Barrat’s own vegan XO sauce.

Shop 11, 1/F, H18 Conet, 23 Graham Street, Central, tel: 3165 1717

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