Why Singapore's real ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ toss lobster sashimi yee sang in the air for Lunar New Year luck
We check out four luxurious varieties of the fish salad dish, also called ‘yusheng’, in the Lion City’s top Chinese restaurants, Shang Palace, Cassia, Jiang-Nan Chun and Shisen Hanten
It’s time again for the colourful yee sang or yusheng – raw fish salad – for yet another year of riotous lo hei.
Yee sang, is a hugely popular tradition associated with Lunar New Year, particularly in the yee sang-mad Lion City of Singapore.
The occasion involves the tossing of the salad with chopsticks – “lo” means mixing, and “hei” up, so “lo hei” literally means “tossing up good fortune” in Cantonese – as people say auspicious phrases for good luck.
As we gallivant towards the Year of the Pig, our appetite for traditional new year delicacies intensifies.
No longer confined to just the 15 days of the Lunar New Year, festive feasting in Singapore is ushered in with the proffer of yee sang in most Chinese restaurants about two weeks before the advent of the Spring Festival.
A lively affair that combines the Chinese love of auspicious meanings and zesty bursts of flavours, yee sang has come a long way from its creation in the 1960s to become one of the most significant new year dishes for ethnic Chinese in Singapore, Malaysia and parts of Indonesia.
How to enjoy yee sang?
