Tucked within the trees on Bourke Street in Surry Hills, Arthur has well and truly earned its status as a neighbourhood gem. And for this Lunar New Year, the Arthur chefs are defying tradition, serving up a limited-edition menu that reimagines classic Chinese dishes through a distinctly Australian lens – think dishes like picture-perfect zucchini flower siu mai and szechuan kangaroo tartare. Our favourite dish on the menu? The bug toast, served with salted egg yolk, brioche and (optional) caviar. The special menu is available from 29th January to 17th February 2025, with two separate options priced at $120 and $160 per person. Find out more at arthurrestaurant.com

Every year, the pastry wizards at Black Star Pastry conjure a limited-edition Lunar New Year dessert that’s as pleasing to the eye as it is to the palate. In partnership with Lotus Group, this year’s is a trio of cubed cakes representing wealth, prosperity and longevity. Packed in a red envelope-inspired box, there’s a coconut and pomegranate cake coated in raspberry chocolate; a yuzu chocolate-wrapped number filled with pineapple and passionfruit; and a dark chocolate cake with oolong tea-infused kumquat marmalade. Find them at any Lotus Group venue, or pre-order for pick-up from all six Black Star locations until February 9. blackstarpastry.com

The Haymarket outpost of Ho Jiak is one of four owned by Malaysian-born chef Junda Khoo. Inside, you’ll encounter the hustle and bustle of a packed restaurant that mimics the energy of a hawker market. Its extensive menu is equally dynamic, with highlights like char koay teow, nasi lemak, nasi goreng (six ways), dim sum and Malaysian shaved ice topped with red bean, creamed corn and peanuts. Its Lunar New Year menu is available until February 2, and stars six specials, including yee sang – a rainbow-hued prosperity salad with salmon sashimi and trout roe.

Lunar New Year is all about abundance, so why limit yourself to one restaurant? With more than 50 vendors under one roof, the neon-lit Burwood Chinatown hawker hall sprawls over two levels, with covered and open-air seating. Divide and conquer to pile your table with fortuitous street-food snacks, from Siroo’s Korean rice cakes and the daily dim sum at Cha Dim House to delicate pastries filled with red bean and egg yolk at Lelesu. Roaming performers, giveaways and fireworks over Friday, January 31 and Saturday, February 1 will usher in the New Year.

Relaunching with a new look and menu in late 2024, chef Andy Evans’ Spice Temple has served up regional Chinese fare in the CBD for 15 years. Until February 5, the moody basement restaurant’s usual menu of hot pot, prawn toast, live lobster and Zodiac-themed cocktails will be complemented by a Lunar New Year banquet ($159). Each of the nine dishes features ingredients symbolic of luck and prosperity, including greenlip abalone with mung bean noodles, red noodles with braised beef and pork money bags.

It was a sad day when Golden Century closed after 30 years of serving its world-famous XO pipis. But four years later, the beloved Cantonese restaurant is back, reopening in Barangaroo’s Crown Sydney this week – in time for Lunar New Year. While the location is new, the menu pays homage to the original, with live lobsters, snow crab and greenlip abalone on display, an 80-dish yum cha offering, peking duck and those pipis. For the occasion, Golden Century will also offer specials like lo hei (prosperity toss salad) and nian gao (sweet New Year rice cake).

Gelato Messina have created two flavours in collaboration with iconic sauce brand, Lee Kum Kee, for Lunar New Year. The first – caramel gelato with soy sauce brownie chunks, which true aficionados of soy’s extra-savoury bite (and, we’re guessing, fans of certain Dutch liquorices) would find a salty heaven. The second – and the brave delicious. tasting team’s favourite – is coconut and makrut lime gelato with chilli oil peanut crisp. You can try both these unique flavours for free on Saturday 15 February, exclusively at pop-ups taking place in Sydney’s QVB, Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall and Brisbane’s Town Square Fish Lane during Chinese New Year.