Lunar New Year Restaurant Specials and Set Menus 2027

Lunar New Year is the first day of the first month of the lunisolar calendar. It moves every year with the new moon and lands between January 21 and February 20. Celebrations continue to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day, and many restaurants run their special menus for one or two weeks around the date.

It is a fixed multi-course meal priced per table or per group, usually for 4 to 12 people. The dishes are chosen for names or ingredients linked to luck and plenty, such as whole fish, prawns, chicken, long noodles and sticky rice cake. Most restaurants ask for a minimum number of guests and a deposit to hold the table.

At banquet-style Chinese restaurants, yes. New Year's Eve and the first weekend of the new year are among their busiest nights, set-menu tables often need a deposit or prepayment, and private rooms can carry a minimum spend. Book as soon as menus are published, which is usually in January.

No. Lunar New Year is not a general holiday under the Canada Labour Code or a provincial statutory holiday, so there is no holiday closure or holiday pay rule. Each restaurant sets its own hours, and regular deals follow the weekday the date falls on.

Common Chinese choices are a whole fish, because the word for fish sounds like the word for surplus, dumplings shaped like old silver ingots, long noodles for long life, sticky rice cake (nian gao) and tangerines. Vietnamese families eat square sticky rice cakes (banh chung) for Tet, and Korean families eat rice cake soup (tteokguk) for Seollal.

Poon choi is a Cantonese feast layered in one large basin, with ingredients such as abalone, prawns, chicken, dried seafood, mushrooms and vegetables. Restaurants sell it in sizes for about 4 to 10 people, usually by pre-order only, for pickup or dine-in around Lunar New Year.

Both names are used. Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, is the Chinese celebration. Lunar New Year is the wider name that also covers Vietnamese Tet and Korean Seollal, which fall on the same day in most years.

Not yet. As of November 13, 2026, no restaurant in the cities we cover has published a Lunar New Year 2027 special on its website, app or social channels. Specials are added here with their price, dates and source once a restaurant announces one.