Salmon roe

Goong hee fatchoi Happy Chinese new year

It’s a Thursday night in Canberra and it’s the (Lunar) Chinese New Year.

Even though I’m Chinese I have no idea about the traditional aspects of how this is celebrated. I just know it’s a good time to eat, there are lots of lanterns on display, dragons may appear and did I say it’s a good time to eat?

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Bron, Li Peng, Peter and I, went to celebrate the Lunar Chinese New Year at the Lanterne Rooms in Campbell. The Lanterne Rooms are part of the Chairman group of restaurants in Canberra and it was doing a special dinner menu to ring in the new year.

I booked a table via http://dimmi.com.au for 6.30 pm. It’s a very dark restaurant and my mind went to poor available light for food photography (as it does). I arrived a few minutes early and the wait staff were very friendly and helpful. While I was sitting three of them approached me to ensure I was okay and to find out if I wanted a drink. I was asked about food allergies and any special requirements.

Lanterne Rooms on Urbanspoon

With the arrival of Bron, Li Peng and Peter we agreed on the special set menu and waited to be served delicious yummy Chinese food with a twist of which the Chairman group of restaurants is known for.

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The first dish was longevity noodles with cured trout, eshallots sauce and salmon roe. I LOVE salmon roe. Lovely salty balls of happiness that pop when you gently bite down on them.

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The second dish to come out is Tom Yum infused crispy prawns with rock melon and apple slaw. The prawns were cooked perfectly.

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The next dish is a duck roll with kaffir lime chilli dressing. The duck was yummy.

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Then we get three dishes with some rice. This part of the dinner consists of blue eye cod with pickled mustard leaf and ginger broth, shanghai rice cake with caramelised pork and scallions and to round off some warm roasted vegetables. The fish was nice and the rice cakes had a really intriguing texture.

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The final flourish included more rice and a dish of slow cooked blackmore wagyu, pork ribs with smoky black dates, jackfruit and pickled green chilli and some greens, i.e., sauteed sugar snap peas in XO sauce.

 

Every dish was good, some better than others. I really liked the noodles and trout, the prawns, duck rolls and pork ribs. Towards the end I forgot to shoot photographs of the dishes as they were arriving. Sorry about the messy photographs.

It was a pretty filling meal and I woke up feeling quite full 


It was a good meal with good company and a really nice environment to enjoy the Chinese new year.

Did you do anything to celebrate the Chinese new year?