Gattopardo Reunion Dinner on Lunar New Year Eve!

Saying goodbye to the year of Dragon and hello! to the Snake year!

Last year saw a rise in the number of babies population because of the Dragon year! In Chinese culture, dragon is thought to be a symbol of power, strength, and good luck. Therefore, dragon is usually a popular year to have babies. :)

Now that the Dragon year is gone, I guess we'll see less pregnant women around! :P

Anyhow, yesterday was the eve of the Lunar New Year. On this day, every year, Chinese from all around the world will head back home for a reunion dinner with their families. As most of the countries around the world (except Singapore) is still cold, most families will have steamboat to keep themselves warm (it's suppose to be a warmth event anyway!:)).

My Family's steamboat Reunion Dinner Last Year!

In Singapore, although it is summer all year round, most families do follow the tradition and have steamboats too. Others will either cook out a big feast or go out to Chinese Restuarants for dinner.

Steamboats is a meal where there is a large pot of boiling soup base (usually chicken) to cook the raw meats, vegetables, seafood, etc. prepared. Everyone will add their choice of food into the pot to cook.

Apart from the main dinner, most families will start off with a 'lo hei' (Prosperity toss) to welcome the new year due to it's symbolism of good luck. The 'lo hei' dish is usually known as Yusheng.

Yusheng is made out of raw fish (stripes of salmons), shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments. Each ingrdient has its own auspicious meaning. 

For example: Yusheng literally means "raw fish". The pronounciation of 'Yu' also sounds alike to "abundance", therefore the raw fish often carries the meaning of an increase in abundance and is a symbol of prosperity.

During the prosperity toss, all diners at the table will toss the shredded ingredients into the air with chopsticks while saying auspicious wishes out loud. It is believed that the height of the toss reflects the height of the diner's growth in fortunes. Therefore, the prosperity toss is often a messy affair with much of the dish landing on the table at the end of the toss.

Okay, back to yesterday, my family and I added a new twist to the traditional reunion dinner. We had it the Italian style! Yes, you heard me right! Well, the large pot at home was not working and one week before yesterday, most of the Chinese restaurants are fully booked. Hence, my sister who is a regular at Gattopardo, made a reservation there for our reunion dinner.

Gattopardo is an Italian Restaurant located in Hotel Fort Canning. The Chef, Lino Suaro, cooks out really good Sicilian Cuisine. Sicily is the largest Italian Island in the Mediterranean Sea and therefore, the crusines usually consist of seafood.

Gattopardo serves really fresh seafood dishes. Chef Lino even created a Sicilian style "yu sheng" for this Lunar New Year.

Sicilian Yusheng consist of Raw Salmon, Cavier, fresh Oyster, shredded vegetables and capellini

Really creative, isn't it? And it was the best yusheng I ever had. We had our prosperity toss in a really classy manner. LOL. Can't scream that loud but still we "HUAT" our way through. :)

After the "lo hei" we started our dinner with a fresh scallop appetizer. 

 



Great presentation, great fresh taste. The scallop was presented in its shell with shredded carrot. The scallop was so fresh, you don't get the usual scallop-ish taste when eating.

Next up was the main course. We had pasta.

I had prawn rivoli. It tasted like Wantons imo. Not bad but I would have prefered the usual chessy rivoli.

 Mum and sis' spicy wild mushroom Tagliatelle.

Next up we had a Salted baked Mediterranean Sea Bass.  Again, it was very fresh. Sweet and tender fish meat with a fuse of olive oil, home-made mayonnaise, pickles and lemon.

It was really interesting they hammered the shell open and show you the whole fish before serving the fish to each diner on individual plates.

By this time, although we were all very full and satisfied, women being women, we need to end off with some desserts. So we had a tiramisu and Cannoli Siciliani with pistachio ice cream  to share.

Cannoli Siciliani is a crispy espresso-infused wafers filled with ricotta cream and amedei mousse. This is the first time I'm having it and I can't stop raving how good it was. The tiramisu on the other hand, served in a huge cup, was a little too creamy after a filling meal. Still the cake was really well infused with Espresso and tastes really authentic.

Overall, it was a really good and peaceful reunion dinner. The chef and the staff were all very attentive and helpful. When we left at 10pm, the restaurant was still buzzing with many diners.

Gattopardo has both indoor and alfresco dinning area. Gattopardo makes a really nice environment for a romantic dinner date. :) Do give them a try.

Gattopardo:
11 Canning Walk
Hotel Fort Canning
 Singapore 178881
Tel: (65) 6338 5498
Email: reservations@gattopardo.com.sg

This is just the beginning of a 15 days lunar eating festival.*gosh*
So much of my disciplined exercise routine that I blogged here... That's all for now!

Happy Lunar New Year to all! :)

xoxo