Chinese Reunion dinners are traditionally held on the eve of Chinese New Year (CNY). It was very much the case in the past, but this year I noticed that the reunion dinners were as early as two weeks before Chinese New Year.
Belinda had her reunion dinner early because her mother came over to Singapore, and it was a good time to have a family reunion dinner. She had a home-made Chinese New Year dinner with traditional dishes with ingredients which symbolize abundance and prosperity like fish, chicken, pork and abalone. There was the Prosperity Toss of raw fish salad (yusheng), a must in Singapore.
I can understand why the CNY Reunion dinners have to be advanced in many cases in Singapore and Malaysia. People in Singapore often have family members in Malaysia and vice versa, so there is travelling involved to have a reunion.
I was grateful to Belinda for her contribution to this post. I have been busy with studies and exams, and didn’t have much time to plan the CNY post. Somehow she always comes to my rescue.
Chinese New Year is an exciting time. To get into the CNY mood, I went to Chinatown, the best place to feel the atmosphere. Stall owners in the hawker centres usually go on their long holiday during the CNY season. One stall owner in Chinatown said his family is going to Taiwan, another stall owner said his family is going to Japan. The fact is that if you stay behind in Singapore during CNY, it is hard to eat out. Most restaurants and food stalls are closed on the first and the second day of CNY. Some food stalls close for up to two weeks.
I wasn’t sure about when my family CNY reunion meal would be this year, as the younger members of the family are studying abroad and there were travel plans. We decided quite late to have a CNY Reunion lunch on the first day of CNY. Most Chinese restaurants are closed on the first day, so I thought I would try to make a reservation at a Thai restaurant. To my surprise, the Thai restaurants I called said they would be closed too. Then I remembered my brother saying that Indo Chili, an Indonesian restaurant, is good. That was where we ended up today for lunch. Not the traditional CNY lunch, but there was CNY music and the food was really good. We had satay, beef rendang, tahu telur, kang kong and oxtail soup. I suppose what matters is that we had a reunion lunch.
Wishing you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous Lunar New Year.
By Chayo, HomSkil Editor 1, 17 February 2026
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