Spice Up Your Chinese New Year At Nara Thai
PUBLISHED January 15th, 2016 04:00 am | UPDATED June 22nd, 2020 07:44 pm
Tired of the same old dishes every Chinese New Year? For those ready to leave the traditional tastes behind, Nara Thai might just be the sort of place you’re looking for this spring.
From the tangy spiciness of Nara’s special Yusheng to the sweet and salty flavours of their famous Mango Sticky Rice dessert, the full flavours of this festive menu takes the familiar Chinese elements we all know and love one delicious step further. In a nutshell: if you’ve wanted to have a reunion meal in Thailand, this would be it!
Check out the highlights of their Golden Lotus Set Meal:
Spicy
Begin your reunion with Nara’s Prosperity Yu Sheng (from $26.80), featuring a spicy and tangy Thai-style sauce and fresh air-flown Norwegian salmon. For something more unique, how about tossing crabs instead? Their Rolling Gold Yu Sheng (starts from $30.80) is chock-full of crispy golden soft shell crab in all its fragrant, fleshy glory.
No proper Chinese meal is complete without soup – in this case, look forward to a piping hot bowl of spicy-sour Tom Yum Kung, which Nara fills with huge and succulent prawns.
Did you know? Thai and Chinese cuisines are similar in that they can have a full spectrum of flavours all at once in a dish. Good examples would be Tom Yum soup and Chinese Sweet & Sour Pork.
Sweet
One thing the Chinese share with the Thai people? Definitely the great love of rice. Enjoy a fragrant plate of Kao Phad Sapporod, better known to us as Pineapple Fried Rice – think fluffy golden grains with cubes of juicy pineapples, plump raisins, and a sprinkle of toasted cashews on top.
Other savoury dishes with a tinge of sweetness is the aromatic Kaeng Kiew Wan Gai (Green Curry with Chicken) and Gai Hor Bai Toei (Pandan Chicken). For dessert, the Thai staple of Thub Thim Krob, or Red Ruby with Coconut Milk, will help cool your palate, especially after a hot meal.
Did you know? With its history as an empire and spice trade leader, China’s culinary arts have included most, if not all, Asian cuisines. Travelling merchants from Thailand would ‘bring home’ Chinese food methods and styles they found exotic.
Sour
To ensure a complete year of prosperity, a whole fish (a homophone which sounds like the Chinese word for abundance) is usually eaten during reunion meals. Instead of steamed fish Hong Kong-style or Teochew-style this year, have Nara’s famous Pla Kra Pong Nung Manao (Steamed Whole Sea Bass with Chili Lime Sauce) – guaranteed to stimulate your taste buds with its tart and spicy flavours!
Eating noodles during Chinese New Year is also a norm as it is said to bring longevity. Well, be sure to slurp up all the Phad Thai Kung (Stir-fried Thai Noodles with Prawns) you can get your chopsticks on.
Did you know? Cuisine in northern Thailand is more heavily influenced by Chinese food as the Chinese province of Yunnan borders Thailand in the north.
Savoury
Specially whipped up for the festive period, Five Treasure Trove is probably as Chinese as this meal gets. Savour the combination of Shiitake mushrooms, broccoli, pacific clams, tofu, and fat choy blanketed in a luscious seafood sauce.
Rather than traditional Chinese desserts like mango pudding, how about one that’s both salty and sweet? Kao Neaw Ma Muang (Mango Sticky Rice) – you knew this was coming – offers up honey-sweet mangoes alongside soft sticky rice with a touch of savoury flash-fried mung beans.
Priced at $158.80++ (3-4 pax, 8 courses), $268.80++ (5-7 pax, 9 courses), and $388.80++ (8-10 pax, 11 courses), The Golden Lotus Set Menu is available from 23 January to 22 February 2016. To see the full set menus, please click here.
Prosperity Yusheng and Rolling Gold Yu Sheng are also available for dine-in and takeaway from 23 January to 22 February 2016.
This article is sponsored by Nara Thai.
