Good food, good luck this new year

COLOUR, culture, cuisine, and celebration are all on the menu this weekend, as Sovereign Hill brightly rings in the Lunar New Year.

On Saturday, 5, and Sunday, 6 February, the living museum and the Chinese Australian Cultural Society Ballarat will mark the new Year of the Tiger with parades including the traditional, iconic dancing lions, with music, activities, and lantern-lined streets.

CEO Sara Quon said food is a particular focus of the festival this year, packed full of good new year luck.

A range of dishes inspired by traditional Chinese migrant fare have been organised by Trudi Gray, the Peter Rowland Group’s head chef based at Sovereign Hill.

Gray’s grandfather was originally from Hong Kong, and she has worked in Asia.

“The ever-popular Hope Bakery has a Chinese Char Siu pie, which is a celebration of the mixing of different cultures, with pork, bok choy, mushrooms, and baby corn,” Ms Quon said.

“We have an LNY@Night event on Saturday evening with dumplings, roast pork buns, noodles, and classic sweet tarts, and a sit-down Lunar New Year Banquet in the New York Bakery.

“We’re really using food to express lots of different cultural traditions, and we’re really fortunate that Trudi has a deep cultural connection to Chinese culture. She’s really relished designing these menus.”

LNY@Night will be accessible to anyone with a day pass, while the Lunar New Year Banquet on Saturday evening is its own ticketed event at $59 for adults and $25 for children.

The sit-down dinner will include starters and soup, meat and fish, rice, desserts, and Chinese teas.

Sovereign Hill will be open until 9pm on Saturday, 5 January. Visit bit.ly/3KV54l0 to book places at the banquet.