Bino

The upcoming Chinese New Year in 2021 which will be the Year of the Ox will fall on the 12th of February 2021. Despite the current situation, there will undoubtedly be an abundant selection from some of the top Chinese restaurants and hotels for yu sheng (lo hei), pen cai and other traditional delicacies for your reunion dinner. This year will be slightly different in the sense that more establishments will be offering takeaway or islandwide delivery services for Chinese New Year reunion dinners. If you choose to dine-in, do note that under current regulations, the maximum number of people in a table is 8. You will also be required to don your mask while tossing yu sheng.

Without further ado, I’ve tried my best to list them down here for your convenience. This list will be expanded over the next few days as new establishments come onboard with their Chinese New Year 2021 reunion dinner and takeaway offerings so do bookmark it for future reference.

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Search for the keywords “Catalan restaurant Singapore” over the internet and you’d most likely be directed to Restaurant Gaig – a casual eatery in Singapore’s CBD. To the uninitiated, Restaurant Gaig is not a local invention but is actually the local outpost of a Michelin-starred restaurant in Barcelona. The Singapore outlet is owned by the same family that owns the original one. Up until the current situation, the owner – Carles Gaig – would fly to Singapore almost quarterly to even bring some fresh produce to our shores.  Perhaps, that partly explains why the eatery in quiet Stanley Street remains to be the most authentic Catalan restaurant in the country.

restaurant gaig

Restaurant Gaig has been in Singapore for more than three years now and despite the generally above-average reviews it has received since opening, the establishment has mostly been under the radar – perhaps reflecting the similar subdued qualities of the street it is located in. Stanley Street pales in comparison with neighboring Telok Ayer and Amoy in terms of buzz and foot traffic but recent dining outlets that have moved in such as Laut and Miznon is gradually changing that sleepy reputation.

Catalan cuisine is best described as surf and turf. In Spain, this is known as mar y montagna or mar i muntanya in Catalan. As the region occupies the eastern coast of the Iberian peninsula, one gets plenty of seafood (think: paella topped with plenty of squid and prawns) while the Pyrenees mountains to the north provide ideal grazing areas for livestock. Sometimes, one can find both meat and seafood – even in the same dish! In Restaurant Gaig, some recipes date back from the 19th century, with modifications done here and there to suit the local palate. As such, dishes are lighter and less salty as what one would find in Barcelona.

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