Raw fish for abundance. Pomelo for luck. Cucumber for eternal youth and plum sauce for profits. Now, throw it all in the air with a table of your nearest and dearest, raise your voice in the name of prosperity and watch the good fortunes roll in.
Yusheng (鱼生), or yee sang, is a cold salad of raw fish and raw vegetables enjoyed at Lunar New Year. It’s become a common sight on the Lunar New Year menus of Melbourne in recent years, and, like many Lunar New Year dishes, it’s as layered with flavour as it is meaning: “yu” in Mandarin is a homophone for abundance, making a yusheng both a festive centrepiece and a magnet for prosperity.
Each element of the yusheng comes with its own accompanying chengyu, or idiom. They’re designed to help the good fortunes flow, and diners are encouraged to speak them loudly as the elements are being laid down on the plate – “da ji da li”, or “good luck and great prosperity”, when the pomelo hits; “jin yin man wu”, or “may your house be filled with silver and gold”, as you scatter peanuts atop the salad. Once the ingredients have been arranged in their specific order, the chengyu spoken and the plum sauce drizzled in a clockwise motion, diners then go about the tossing phase. Each person uses their chopsticks to toss the salad, lifting vegetables and fish high into the air – roughly a foot, but the higher the better – and mixing them about, uttering the yusheng idioms again as they go. Then, salad tossed and New Year’s bounty summoned, it’s time to feast.
Melbourne has seen a big increase in the number of restaurants serving yusheng in the last few years. Maybe you’re planning your own yusheng party, but on the off chance you’re not, here are eight excellent ways to experience it yourself in Melbourne as we welcome the Year of the Snake.
M Yong Tofu
First things first – if you haven’t had the pleasure of eating M Yong Tofu’s stuffed tofu, put your dinner in the fridge and make a beeline for Flemington. Once that’s out of the way, order the yusheng; they’ve been doing it for years and it’s a hit no matter the zodiac. Toss it high, toss it loud.
M Yong Tofu, @myongtofu
Lee Ho Fook
While chef Victor Liong’s yusheng (pictured) stays closer to the classic brief than Spice Temple’s, the sheer amount of ocean trout bordering this thing is going to make for heavy tossing. Gong xi fa cai, indeed.
Lee Ho Fook, leehofook.com.au
Mid Valleys
The inbound Snake hisses in delight at Mid Valleys’ Lunar New Year banquet, and with good reason. We’re talking 10 courses of prosperous deliciousness: lobster, ginger and shallot noodles; XO sauce scallops with glass noodles in claypot, and of course, a cracking yusheng among them. You can order the yusheng by itself, too, and you can even add abalone for extra blessings. *Hisses in approval*.
Mid Valleys, 259-261 Bay Rd, Cheltenham, midvalleysrestaurant.com.au
Miss Mi
For the most tangibly prosperous dish of the lot you’ll need to head to the ground floor of the Movenpick Hotel. Southeast Asian charmer Miss Mi’s yusheng presents more as a roe-bejewelled prosperity wreath. But know this: in 2025, select yusheng hide a prosperous secret. Find a gold coin in your yusheng and you’ll win an overnight stay at the Movenpick with breakfast included and dinner for two at Miss Mi. Find a silver coin and a $100 voucher to Miss Mi is yours. Prosperity (breakfast included) at Movenpick.
Miss Mi, missmimelbourne.com.au
Spice Temple
Southbank’s high house of regional Chinese food loves a seasonal celebration, and this year they’ve gone all out on a yusheng that’s almost too pretty to toss. A tuna-rich affair, it forms part of the restaurant’s Chinese New Year banquet, a nine-course epic, each dish representing a different fortune: luck, wealth, longevity and happiness among them.
Spice Temple, spicetemple.com.au
CC Wok
North Melbourne’s Malaysian favourite CC Wok welcomes the inbound snake with a classic yusheng available in two sizes. The regular will do six-to-eight prosperity prospectors, the large 10-to-12. CC Wok pumps at the best of times; order ahead to avoid disappointment.
CC Wok, ccwok.com.au
Tian38
Big. Colourful. Beautifully arranged. Prosperous. Singaporean-Chinese restaurant Tian38 calls theirs a deluxe yee sang, and we’re inclined to agree.
Tian38, 350 Flinders Ln, Melbourne, tian38.com.au
Red Emperor
Chinatown’s Red Emperor is hosting two Lunar New Year events in February for two of Australia’s tireless prosperitymongers: a dinner for the Australia China Business Council on Tuesday 11 February, and a lunch for the Australia Malaysia Business Council on Wednesday 12 February. Both welcome the general public, both feature yusheng. Both bodies deal solely in the business of prosperity; expect a spirited toss.
Red Emperor Chinatown, 131 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, redemperor.com.au
By Frank Sweet