Hakkasan New York Unveils Opulent Chinese New Year Tasting Menu

The New York outpost of Hakkasan, the upscale London-based Chinese restaurant, has launched their Chinese New Year tasting menu, and it's a wonder to behold. Elegant, opulent, and full of flavor, the menu offers a great way to celebrate the new year in style while enjoying some expertly prepared Chinese specialties.

The Michelin-starred restaurant's eight-course tasting menu, available for parties of two or more, costs $138.88 per person, but most of the dishes are also available a la carte. The tasting menu, which the restaurant invited us to sample, begins with a platter of the Hakkasan's famous dim sum, followed by spicy lamb lupin wraps — similar to egg rolls — with a tangy hoisin sauce. Alongside the dim sum and wraps are spicy fried prawns served with red chili and curry leaf. Next come five main dishes (which diners can have one at a time or in one fell swoop): spicy prawns with lily bulb and almond; the restaurant's famous stir-fried chunks of ribeye with black pepper and merlot; a richly lacquered Chilean sea bass with honey (top); stir-fried French beans with lily bulb, preserved olive, and dry chili; and fried rice with abalone, mushroom, and scallop. Make sure you save room for dessert, however, because the kumquat "wishing tree" with chocolate ice cream, kumquat sorbet, caramelized macadamia, and cocoa "rocks" will leave you licking the plate. We suggest you wash it all down with Hakkasan's special Chinese New Year cocktail, the "kumquatcha," made with cachaça, Campari, kumquat, lime, and simple syrup; it's a delicious spin on a caipirinha. At the end of the meal, guests are invited to write a wish for the new year on a card, which is then hung up "wishing tree" style.

If you're looking for an upscale and lavish way to celebrate the Chinese New Year in a big, ultramodern, and ornate dining room, keep Hakkasan in mind; this menu will be available until March 1.