Lunar New Year is about a lot of things: reflection, renewal and setting intentions for the year ahead.

It’s also about food – lots and lots of food. And some Brisbane’s best restaurants, food precincts and markets are getting in on the action.

Here’s a pick of what to check out this year.

Donna Chang, CBD

One of Brisbane’s best Chinese restaurants kicks off its Lunar New Year celebrations with two banquet menus.

There’s an $89 per person Racer Snake Banquet express lunch, which includes crispy school prawns with chilli and Sichuan pepper, scallop and prawn wontons in black vinegar and chilli, and stir-fried wagyu with king brown mushrooms and black pepper.

In the evening the $138 per person Golden Serpent banquet takes over (with a $69 Little Serpents menu available for kids) and features dishes such as Singapore chilli crab with mantou, roast Chinese duck with Davidson plum sauce, and mandarin cheesecake with osmanthus jelly.

Early and late sittings are available. Prizes will be on offer for dinner guests, with a dragon dance snaking its way through the restaurant’s handsome heritage digs. Both banquet menus run through until Saturday, February 1.

Stanley, Howard Smith Wharves

Howard Smith Wharves’ stellar riverside Cantonese restaurant does Lunar New Year in style.

This year celebrations take place from Wednesday, January 29, to Sunday, February 2 with limited-edition dishes available for lunch and dinner in addition to the restaurant’s a la carte menu. Lunar New Year dishes include mixed seafood dumplings with shaved European truffle, whole southern rock lobster with XO sauce, crispy noodles, coriander and shallots, and whole steamed Queensland coral trout with black bean, garlic and soy. Traditional lion dancers will perform at 6.30pm and 8.30pm each night.

Fat Noodle, Queen’s Wharf

Star chef Luke Nguyen has created a limited-edition Lunar New Year banquet and cocktail menu for his Fat Noodle restaurant, which recently relocated to The Star Brisbane. Diners can order a six-course banquet that features dishes such as a zesty wok-tossed lemongrass beef, traditional turmeric spatchcock and Vietnamese braised pork belly with quail eggs. Across the precinct you can expect interactive wishing trees, vibrant lion dancers and various cultural performances.

Food Discovery Tour, Sunnybank Plaza and Sunny Park shopping centres

Experience Sunnybank, which oversees both Sunnybank Plaza and Sunny Park shopping centres in Sunnybank, is throwing an all-in Lunar New Year celebration with cultural activities, family-friendly entertainment and of course a whole lot of food, with 70 dine-in and takeaway outlets across both malls.

A key activity is the Sunnybank Food Discovery Tour, with chef Tony Ching conducting a three-hour food trail through Sunnybank Plaza and Sunny Park that covers some of the best places to eat and shop across the two precincts. Along the way he dishes out insights on choosing the best produce, and offers advice on essential ingredients for different dishes. Each tour ends with a meal – typically yum cha or a progressive dinner that takes in several restaurants. There are tours each morning this week until Sunday, with extra afternoon sessions on Saturday and Sunday. Bookings are essential for this one.

Lunar New Year at Mount Gravatt Street Food, Mount Gravatt

This Saturday, Mount Gravatt Showgrounds will turn Mount Gravatt Street Food into a Lunar New Year celebration. Expect stacks of Asian-inspired street food alongside live entertainment, roving performers and a K-pop dance final.

Southside, South Brisbane

This enormously popular South Brisbane restaurant is celebrating Lunar New Year with a banquet menu priced at $105 per person that runs until Sunday, February 9.

Dishes include yellowtail kingfish sashimi with green chilli, kombu and wasabi, Peking duck pancakes with condiments, and crispy wagyu with Peking sauce and condiments (which can be upgraded to a nine-score wagyu cube roll with red date jus and goji berry for $15). There’s also a special wine menu that features four drops from China, available for $18 a glass or $88 by the bottle. Aim to book for Friday, February 7, if you can, when the restaurant will feature a lion dance performance.

Emily Yeoh Restaurant, Paddington

Emily Yeoh’s eponymous restaurant is running two Lunar New Year banquet menus until Wednesday, February 12.

A $138 per person option includes Yeoh’s take on lo hei (a raw fish salad traditionally eaten during Lunar New Year), Singaporean chilli or black pepper tiger prawns, crispy skin Peking duck with mandarin pancakes, and Hainan chicken.

A premium banquet is priced at $198 per person and adds pork, lobster and mushroom xiu mai and a Queensland prawn wrap, while upgrading the prawns to mud crab and offers to upgrade the Peking duck to goose. This place often pumps so be sure to book.

Superbowl, Fortitude Valley

Fortitude Valley’s Chinatown will be a hub of activity for Lunar New Year. But if you have to pick one restaurant to celebrate, maybe make it this popular Wickham Street joint.

Superbowl is offering a $908 banquet for a table of 10 that includes banana king prawn with Pekinese sauce, Shandong crispy skin chicken, and steamed fish with ginger and shallot. The banquet is available this Friday through to Sunday.

Supernormal, CBD

One of 2024’s biggest openings is celebrating Lunar New Year by running a pair of specials alongside its usual a la carte menu: whole roast suckling pig with house condiments, ferments and pickles, and Queensland mud crab with black peppercorn sauce and egg noodles.

The specials kick in Wednesday, January 29, and will run for the whole week. If nothing else, it’s a good excuse to check out the restaurant’s outside dining area if you haven’t already since it opened towards the end of spring.