Gung Hay Fat Choy

Gung Haggis Fat Choy

Happy Year of the Ox.

I think local Chinese New Year’s celebrations are a little more modest this year. In year’s past several restaurants hosted large banquet dinners. Lion Dance’s, acrobats, Elvis impersonators and other sundry entertainers. This year, you’ll still be able to find some lion dances (see schedule) and I’m sure you can arrange a special meal at your favorite Asiatown restaurant.

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Wu’s Shanghai (pictured above) is in Cleveland’s historic Chinatown. It’s a little bit Wast of what most people think of as our Chinatown, the area now being branded as Asiatown. There isn’t much evidence that it exists at all. There’s a sign and the building that houses this restaurant. The building has some Asian ornamentation and the words “on leong.” On Leong was a tong. In the early decades of the 20th Century, they were involved in a violent competition with the Hip Sing tong. In 1925, the Cleveland police reacted to a murder by arresting the entire Chinese population of the city. By the 30′s, the two groups were cooperating.

Several restaurants will also be offering special menus. I’ll be joining a large group of friends for a 10 course banquet at Wonton Gourmet. Last year, I made it through most of Siam Cafe’s special New Year menu. In addition to the dishes pictured in the slideshow, their menu includes: braised seaweed and sun dried oysters, assorted seafood in bird’s nest, fried stuffed tofu and stif fried conch meat, oysters with golden minced garlic, and steamed live tilapia.

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The cross-polination between Chinese cuisine and the other cuisines of the world is endlessly fascinating. Peruvian, Indian, Caribbean, Japanese, American. Every intersection yields delicious new combinations. There’s one combination might not be quite as natural and organic but it looks like a lot of fun. For the past six years, a guy in Vancouver has held a Scottish Chinese New Year celebration. That siu mai below? There’s haggis inside. Gung Haggis Fat Choy!