Here's 'huat' yu sheng you should eat this Lunar New Year

Smoked salmon, raw salmon, abalone, fish skin, veggie jerky (really) — there’s a yu sheng for every taste out there this year. We waded through the choices to bring you this shortlist.

Abundance Abalone Yu Sheng from Din Tai Fung

If you prefer abalone to raw fish, Din Tai Fung has a new Abundance Abalone Yu Sheng ($88.80, serves six) that also comes with slivers of smoked salmon.

Apart from the usual melange of colourful veggies, this one has crispy strips of yam for added crunch. All this gets doused in a tangy plum dressing before the toss.

The best part: You can order extra crispy yam strips ($4.80), smoked salmon ($14.80 for 60g) or fried salmon skin ($5.80). Abundance is a CNY buzzword, after all!

LeVel33 Special Lo Hei

LeVel33 isn’t the first place that comes to mind for Chinese New Year feasting, but it does make a good case for yu sheng, especially if you prefer a more ang moh-style salad (bonus: the leaves are locally grown too).

The Special Lo Hei ($88, feeds six) features a base of salad leaves and pickled veggies, strewn with slices of sustainably farmed Australian trout and kingfish sashimi. For crunch, there are LeVel33 Stout beer crisps and spiced nuts. To finish, a lager and orange dressing.

Did we mention that the restaurant has one of the best views of the city too?

Ultimate Kinki Yu Sheng

This one’s for the maximalists, thanks to its variety of sashimi and happy jolts of umami from ingredients like ikura (salmon roe), tobiko (flying fish roe) and sakura denbu (fish floss).

The Ultimate Kinki Yu Sheng ($88, serves six) features pretty rosettes of sliced salmon, tuna and swordfish with other distractions like strips of deep-fried crabsticks, dried wakame, pickled daikon, and diced beetroot. All that gets tossed in a truffle oil and sesame dressing.

Just thinking about it makes our mouths water!

Nutritious Prosperity Vegetarian Yu Sheng

Sure you could simply remove the yu from yu sheng if you’re vegetarian, but why not order a yu sheng made for vegetarians.

In place of fish, vegetarians get vegetarian jerky in Hai Tian Lo’s Nutritious Vegetarian Yu Sheng (from $68). There are also ice plant and garden greens to keep this fresh and tender.

Premium Dragon Dance Yu Sheng from Jade

Huat if you have $988 to splash out on yu sheng? Lucky for you, there’s the Premium Dragon Dance Yu Sheng from Jade.

This beautifully wrought yu sheng depicts a traditional dragon dance with fresh abalone marinated in rose wine, king prawns, Norwegian smoked salmon and gold champagne jelly cubes.

What if you don’t have $988 to blow on yu sheng? Then you can still luck out with the Gold Rush Dragon Yu Sheng (from $78), which is a colourful heap of vegetables and fish set against an illustration of a dragon and Chinese greeting written with cinnamon powder.

Harvest Yu Sheng from Peach Blossoms

If simply tossing your yu sheng is too basic for you, then Peach Blossoms’ Harvest Yu Sheng (from $188) bestows another step to the ritual.

Before tossing, you get a nitrogen-frozen rose whose petals splinter as you rap it against the dish. That done, you can toss to a delicious New Year with ingredients like kanpachi, abalone, crispy whitebait and organic mixed fruit.

ALSO READ: Chinese New Year goodies and snacks 2024 price guide: Pineapple tarts, kueh lapis, love letters and more

This article was first published in Wonderwall.sg.