The Best Things to See, Do and Taste at Melbourne Chinese New Year 2016

With money to burn, the folks at Crown Casino are hosting one seriously lavish party. Set up along Crown Riverwalk by the Yarra, this three-day festival includes tons of great food and cooking demonstrations, as well as music and arts and crafts. Performers will be roaming the crowd during daylight hours, while a fireworks display on the Saturday evening should guarantee you a happy and prosperous New Year.

The Hotel Windsor’s fancy afternoon tea is getting tweaked for Chinese New Year. Forget about finger sandwiches and scones with jam and cream, and instead scoff down dishes made with classic Asian ingredients, such as pastries with peach, lychee and kumquat, dim sum-inspired savouries, and a wide range of specially brewed teas. Hotel guests will also notice an array of Asian pastries making their way onto the hotel’s dessert buffet — and frankly, we’re thinking of checking in ourselves just so we can have a good feed. The Chinese New Year afternoon tea will be available for two weeks starting from Monday, February 8.

A highlight of both the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Chinese New Year programs, the annual Chinese New Year concert is back for 2016. Conducted by Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer Tan Dun, the performance will combine classical music from both east and west, including Dun’s work inspired by the ancient village music of southwest China, The Map.

Celebrate Chinese New Year with a feast fit for an emperor, as some of Melbourne’s best Asian food trucks descend on Queensbridge Square. The Hungry Panda, White Guy Cooks Thai, Nem N’ Nem Vietnamese Street Food, Flying Wok, the Korean Fried Chicken Truck and Caliko BBQ are just some of the tasty vendors who’ll be on hand for Southbank’s New Year festivities. In addition to the food, visitors will be able to see performances from members of Melbourne’s Chinese community, and marvel at various illuminated installations, including the four-metre high Monkey Arch Corridor and the Chinese lanterns set up along Sandridge Bridge.

From rooftops in Hawthorn to convents in Abbotsford and the sun-kissed shores of St Kilda Beach, Melbourne is a city obsessed with outdoor cinemas. It’s little wonder, then, that the organisers of this year’s Chinese New Year festivities wanted to get in on the action. Popping up for one night only in Chinatown Square, Chinese cinema lovers will be able to sink into a beanbag and enjoy an evening of specially curated Asian short films. The screen flickers to life at dusk, which should translate to about 8.30pm. BYO popcorn…although dumplings would probably be more appropriate.

Ring in the Year of the Monkey with a little bit of monkey business at Queen Victoria Market. From February 16 to 20, the market is hosting a series of Chinese New Year food, music and cultural events, along with a pair of artistic installations. See traditional lion and dragon dances, take part in a guided market tasting tour, and celebrate with Yuan Xiao Jie: a lantern festival complete with live entertainment and a variety of Asian food stalls. Whichever event you decide to attend, make sure you walk down Queen Street Parade — where 14 columns have been erected featuring traditional Chinese opera masks — and pay a visit to Shed A which will be lit up with 70 red lanterns.

Dumpling masters Din Tai Fung are offering new limited edition ‘Monkey Buns’ for the month of February and they are literally the cutest food we’ve ever seen. Just look at them. Din Tai Fung are famous for their dumplings and are known to release beautiful and novelty dumplings for special occasions (check out these adorable little lamb buns from last year). The monkey bao buns are steamed-to-order and stuffed with a sweet filling of chocolate and banana. They’re part of a series of new dishes being added to the menu from February 1 including crispy golden seafood roll, braised Szechuan sliced beef noodle and vegetarian egg fried rice with mushroom and truffle oil. The only problem we can foresee is that eating those sweet little monkey faces may be hard…but we’ll probably manage it.

One of the main events of Chinatown’s annual Lunar New Year festivities, the Dragon Parade is truly a sight to behold. At 11.30am on Sunday, February 14, the Dai Loong (“big dragon”) will emerge from its home at the Chinese Museum and make its way through the streets of Melbourne, heralding the New Year and the beginning of the Spring Festival. There’ll be dancing and drumming and colourful costumes as far as the eye can see. And if all the parading leaves you feeling peckish — well, you’ll be in Chinatown now, won’t you?

As one of Melbourne’s largest Chinese communities, Box Hill will celebrate the turn of the season with a marathon 12-hour festival that stretches from 1pm until well into the night. 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.

After a successful debut in Sydney last year, the Lunar Markets are making their way to Melbourne. The Docklands Harbour Esplanade will transform itself into a pop-up food festival of Asian cuisine for 11 nights from Thursday, February 4. Wander through over 20 food stalls, featuring Night Noodle Market regulars like Hoy Pinoy, Everybody Loves Ramen (selling their famous ramen fried chicken) and the always amazing Wonderbao.

Black Star Pastry and N2 Extreme Gelato are teaming up to create the mighty ‘Gong Xi Fai Cai Cake Smash’: strawberry watermelon cake smash with fire crackers, and the ‘Hipster Cookies and Cream’: almond and pineapple gelato with almond sesame cookie. Paired with live music and roaming performers, this is the perfect Chinese New Year date.