Millennium celebrates 'Imlek' with 'Yu Shang'

Millennium celebrates 'Imlek' with 'Yu Shang'

Jim Read, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Have you ever experienced the thrill of tossing a pancake on
Shrove Tuesday, wondering whether it will turn over exactly as
planned, break in mid-air, or land back in the frying pan in a
crumpled heap?

Something akin to this exhilaration is on offer at Hua Ting
Chinese restaurant, Millennium Hotel, Central Jakarta, which will
be celebrating upcoming Imlek (Lunar New Year) with a special
menu available for the next ten days or so.

Yu Shang lucky salmon raw fish salad starts out as plates of
smoked salmon plus a large dish of broken krupuk (crackers) and
seven or eight types of shredded vegetables, each in small piles,
which can include carrots, bean sprouts, green and red peppers,
and radish. A couple of small bowls of oil and plum sauce are
also to hand.

Diners (the more the merrier), using chopsticks, then jointly
toss the mixture like a salad after the liquid ingredients have
been added.

The tossing, known as lo hei, should be done with great vigor
-- the higher the better -- all the while making a wish for good
luck for the coming year. The resultant mixture is a slightly
sweet-tasting salad that whets the appetite for the courses to
come.

The Yu Shang tradition originates from Singapore and spread
subsequently to Malaysia and Hong Kong, but these days Chinese
from many parts of Asia participate in it.

Hua Ting is offering Yu Shang lucky salmon as the first course
in an eight-course special set menu for tables of 10 diners at Rp
1,680,000++ per table. The menu is deliberately aimed at families
or large groups of diners who traditionally come together to
celebrate Lunar New Year.

Other courses provided by chef Chen Hann Furn, who comes from
Singapore, incorporate ingredients that have special symbolic
value for the time of year.

These include braised shark's fin soup with dried scallop and
crab meat, wok-fried prawns Gon Po style in a yam ring, deep-
fried grouper fish in soy sauce, and braised dried scallops and
Chinese mushrooms with green vegetables.

Prawns, for example, symbolize luxury, and are prized at New
Year and on special occasions. They are therefore eaten in the
hope that they will bring prosperity.

The dishes are all appetizing and provide a good range of
complementary flavors and textures.

Millennium director of business development Ong Siong Kai, who
is a Chinese-Singaporean, says of lo hei, "the tradition is now
found as far away as the U.S. and UK, and, although something of
an enigma, is a very tasty one indeed!"

Hua Ting Chinese restaurant
Millennium Hotel Sirih Jakarta
Jl Fachrudin 3
Jakarta 10250
tel. 2303636, fax. 2300028

The hotel is also offering Imlek stay packages