Lunar New Year of the Dragon 2012 is on Monday, January 23 and several restaurants around town are honoring this occasion with specially created menus symbolic of what Chinese New Year means to those of us who celebrate it.
AnQi at South Coast Plaza is offering a 5-course prix fixe (or a la carte) menu designed with the principles of feng shui in mind. I sampled a few of the items featured on the prix fixe — mind you, these are tasting sizes and may not be proportionate to what you receive.
Since 2012 is the year of the water dragon, it is only fitting that the first dish, Dragon Food — crispy salt and pepper lobster tail — starts your meal. Lobster is a symbolic “dragon food” and here, the crustacean is tender with hints of citrus and truffle.
From The Sky — long life somen noodles with shredded bamboo and quail egg in a garlic chives and broth — represents health and longevity. Noodles are used a lot in Chinese culture especially to celebrate birthdays and here, it signifies long lasting health for the year.
From The Earth — five spice butter roasted game hen, wok tossed garlic Asian greens, baby radish and crispy prawn cracker is different to the sampler we received, however, chicken is readily used during Chinese New Year to bring you a year of richness and abundance.
Finish off with Sticky Red Rice, Tangerine Custard and Lychee — a subtly sweet dessert with the lucky ‘red’ evident in any true celebratory event in my culture. I enjoyed this very much.
Five-course prix fixe dinner is $63 (tax and tip not included) or $81 with Shaolin kung-fu masters performance followed by a contemporary dragon dance show and Asian pop music (7.30pm Saturday Jan 21 ONLY!)
Chinese New Year prix fixe and a la carte menus are available until Monday, January 23rd.
AnQi
3333 Bristol Street
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Tel: 888-351-1376
Thank you for this post! We’re sharing this on our Facebook Page!