The Best Things to Do, See and Eat During Melbourne Chinese New Year 2019
Celebrate the Year of the Pig with bustling night markets, five-course feasts and free tai chi classes.
The Best Things to Do, See and Eat During Melbourne Chinese New Year 2019
Celebrate the Year of the Pig with bustling night markets, five-course feasts and free tai chi classes.
Every year, Melbourne comes alive for Chinese New Year. While Tuesday, February 5 is officially the first day of the new year, festivities start on Friday, February 1 with some running through to the end of the month — and the schedule for the next few days is packed. Whether it's spent attending a free tai chi class at the art gallery, roaming through a bustling night market or making your way through a five-course Chinese feast, this weekend is a great opportunity to celebrate Melbourne's rich cultural diversity and help ring in the Year of the Pig.
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Spend your Saturday celebrating Chinese art and culture when the NGV rings in the Chinese New Year with a full day program of workshops, tours, performances, music and food. It’ll all go down on Saturday, February 9 from 10am–4pm — and it’s absolutely free. Start off with a guided tour of the gallery’s Chinese and Asian art collections — it spans a whopping four millennia of culture and history through artist mediums such as sculpture, ceramics, jade, calligraphy and prints. They’ll be running throughout the day, with a curator’s tour at 11am. Traditional paper cutting and good luck couplet making workshops will also run in the morning, with no booking necessary. Musical acts DJ Small Fry and The Film School Collective will each perform, too — the latter combines contemporary electronic music with traditional Chinese acoustic instruments in a performance that’s a mix of composed and improvised work. In the afternoon, relax outdoors in the Grollo Equiset Garden and learn the ancient art of tai chi in an introductory class. Then chow down on dumplings, noodles and desserts, which will be on offer in the Great Hall throughout the day. For the full list of events, check out the NGV International website.
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Windsor’s Singapore-inspired Hawker Hall is celebrating Chinese New Year with the return of its weekend yum cha sessions. Every Saturday and Sunday in February, diners can feast on a whole six courses of dim sum for just $38 per person. As yum cha is traditionally a breakfast or early lunch meal, the deal is available from 11am–4pm each day. You can choose six dishes from the many bamboo steamer baskets on offer — think the requisite barbecue pork buns, spring rolls and fried rice, plus five-spiced chicken ribs, shiitake mushroom mapo tofu, fried squid and seafood-stuffed Chinese doughnuts with plenty of chilli oil. Apart from the eats, the venue is slinging four cocktails ($12 each) that have been designed to drink aside dim sum. There’s the Enter The Dragon — a tropical concoction of tequila, pineapple, lime, guava and mint — as well as The Green Lantern, with jasmine-infused vodka mixed with peach, lemon and cucumber. Since it’s yum cha, the courses will, of course, be on the smaller side, but the price is hard to beat regardless.
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If you’re keen to celebrate this Chinese New Year in a big way, Melbourne’s Chinatown has you covered. The city’s bustling strip of restaurants and bars is ushering in the year of the pig with workshops, museum open houses, lion dances, roving performers and lantern lighting ceremonies — and that’s just to name a few of the things happening from February 2–10. Festival highlights include an outdoor cinema, which will take over Chinatown Square with pig-themed movies and beanbags on Monday, February 4 from 6–9pm. For those prepping at home, the February 4 bazaar is the time for purchasing supplies, decorations and new year treats, and its followed by mahjong games under the stars, too. Food lovers should make their way to Russell Street on Sunday, February 10, when pop-up hawker stalls will line the length of the street from 10am–9pm. They’ll offer traditional new year eats like mooncakes and nian gao (rice cakes), along with other hawker-style favourites from China, Singapore and Malaysia. The main dragon parade will also take place on the Sunday, and it offers a chance to see this colourful, traditional dance in full swing. All of the Chinatown activities are free, too. To check out the full list of festival events, head here.
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Melbourne’s Asian rotating market HWKR is celebrating its one year anniversary with a four-day Chinese New Year blowout, featuring DJ sets, lion dances and a whole lot of food. It’s happening from Thursday, February 7 through Sunday, February 10, when HWKR will offer a Chinese-inspired banquet, which has been curated by all its latest pop-ups. The collaboration dinner features five-to-six courses for, a rather reasonable, $50 per person. For mains, there’s thit kho (pork belly casserole) by Ms Kim Vietnamese eatery, which is run by 2018 My Kitchen Rules grand finalist; Peking pork tacos and tofu ‘dominos’ by Kung Fu Burger; a poke bowl by Aburi sushi stall The Modern Eatery; and chilli prawns by Malaysian kitchen Junior Tan. For dessert, there’s also a taro bingsu (Korean shaved iced) from Scoopy Milk Bar. Apart from the banquet, sponge dessert specialist HS Cakes will sell a special creation throughout the weekend, and not-for-profit bar Manymore is offering a specialty cocktail menu inspired by Asian flavours. Alongside the meal will be entertainment aplenty, including DJs on from 6–10pm each night, traditional lion dancers offering four performances (7pm Thursday, 1.15pm Friday, 1pm Saturday and 7pm Sunday) and a free photo booth to boot. Bookings and walk-ins are welcomed. For the full menu and to book, head to the website.
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Batman Market is once again celebrating the Year of the Pig with its annual Chinese New Year night market. Taking place on Saturday, February 9 from 3.30–9.30pm, the usual market lineup will be replaced by Chinese-inspired eats, tunes and entertainment. Expect the likes of xiao long bao, pan-fried dumplings, wok-fried dishes and Chinese-style barbecue to be on offer. Plus local acoustic acts will take the stage throughout the day, with a special focus on traditional Chinese music and other cultural entertainment. Batman Market favourites will also be in tow — think stalls selling crepes, gelato and plenty of Chinese fare to snack on, along with a full stocked bar. And the usual local makers will sell art, cosmetics and boutique fashion items, too. All ages and doggos are welcome and entry is free, as always.
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As one of Melbourne’s largest Chinese communities, Box Hill’s Chinese New Year celebrations always go off. Over 80,000 people are expected to turn out to party into the turn of the season with a marathon 14-hour festival that stretches from 11am right through to 1am the next morning. It’ll take over Box Hill Central and spill out onto Whitehorse Road. Local vendors will serve some of the city’s tastiest Chinese cuisine, while traditional lion and dragon dancers entertain the masses. The highlight will be the Parade of Choi Sun, the Chinese God of Fortune, which will give you a change to get in on some of the Year of the Pig’s good fortune and prosperity.
Top image: Kimberley Moore.
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