Chinese New Year 2019 is happening tomorrow! The thing is, it’s in the middle of the week and we all expected it to be a work day. It wasn’t until this morning that Malacanang declared that Feb. 5, 2019 would be a non-working holiday.
Many of us would relish that opportunity to stay at home and rest, but still want to celebrate Chinese New Year! For our family, we opted to celebrate at home last Sunday because some members of the family have difficulty getting out of the house. There are wheelchairs involved, and going out becomes this big operation. We seldom go out (complete family) because it’s such a hassle for everyone involved. So we really appreciate services like Honestbee where they can bring the food to us!
CHINESE NEW YEAR OFFERINGS ON HONESTBEE
For Chinese New Year, participating Chinese restaurants on Honestbee have extended their delivery radius! If you check your Honestbee app right now, you might be surprised to see some new restaurants available for your area.
Here are the participating Honestbee merchants (they will only show up on your Honestbee app if your address is within their delivery radius):
| Merchant Name | Food / Grocery |
| Sincerity Cafe & Restaurant | Food |
| Wu’s Kitchen | Food |
| Tai Koo HK Roast | Food |
| Lugang | Food |
| Tuan Tuan | Food |
| Mr. Choi Kitchen | Food |
| Chatime | Food |
| Coco | Food |
| David’s Tea House | Food |
| Mongkok | Food |
| Little Beijing | Food |
| Hongkong Noodles | Food |
| TenRen’s Tea | Food |
| Baijia Frozen | Grocery |
| Original Savory Chicken since 1950’s | Food |
| Rico’s whole lechon | grocery |
| Chicken Binondo | Food |
| Taiwan Healthy Drinks | Food |
| The President grand palace restaurant | Food |
| Chuan Kee | Food |
| Cafe Mezzanine | Food |
| The Great Buddha Cafe | Food |
| Mr. Ube rice and noodle house | Food |
| Mongolian Quick Box | Food |
| Golden Tripod Dumplings | Food |
| Mutsarap | Food |
| Chairman Wang’s | Food |
| Kanzhu | Food |
| A Bite of Hunan | Food |
| Hainanese Delights | Food |
| Tapi Milk Tea House | Food |
| Taifull Restaurant | Food |
| High Tea | Food |
| Shi Lin | Food |
| 8 Treasures Kitchen | Food |
| Shui Shan | Food |
| Ersao | Food |
| Lin’s Kitchen | Food |
| Eat Fresh | Food |
| Maomi’s Chinese Restaurant | Food |
| Serenitea | Food |
| Authentic Chinese Cuisine | Food |
| What A Tea | Food |
| Joe Kuan | Food |
| Yi Fang | Food |
| Taiwan Chef White Bento | Food |
| Bai Nian Tang Bao | Food |
| The Royal Kitchen | Food |
| Templo | Food |
| Chuan Xiang Restaurant | Food |
| Ling Nam | Food |
| Noodles Everyday | Food |
| HOT STAR | Food |
| Mai Wei Fang | Food |
| Char Dining | Food |
| Mr. Panda | Food |
| Wai Ying Dimsum | Food |
| DECS | Food |
| Lido Cocina Tsina | Food |
| Yin Yang | Food |
| Yao’s Kitchen | Food |
| Classic Savory | Food |
| The Original Binondo Chicken | Food |
| Gong Cha | Food |
| Tien Ma’s | Food |
| Wang Jia Tea House | Food |
| Moonleaf | Food |
| Trueblends | Food |
| Wangfu | Food & Grocery |
| Da Hong Men | Grocery |
| Baijia Protein | Grocery |
| Polland Hopia | Grocery |
| Wei Wei | Grocery |
| Paseo 59C | Grocery |
WHAT ARE THE LUCKY DISHES FOR CHINESE NEW YEAR?
We have kind of adapted the traditional lucky dishes to what’s practical and available. What I am going to share is not the “strict” version, but our own take on the lucky food for Chinese New Year.
- Fish – symbolizes abundance; traditionally it should be a whole fish, but for me, fish fillets, especially golden fried ones, are a practical alternative; I haven’t seen a delivery option for cooked whole fish.
- Round things – usually fruits, but basically anything round is fine; you can also try the various special fish balls / squid balls from Wei Wei Cold Store on Honestbee
- Spring Rolls or what we call Lumpiang Shanghai – they are golden fried cylinders that look like gold bars; also, they are usually made with ground pork, so you’ve got Year of the Pig covered, too!
- Dumplings – they are shaped like ancient Chinese money. Baijia on Honestbee has frozen ones available! You just boil some water, and then put a few frozen dumplings into the boiling water, don’t overcrowd the pot, there should be lots of space for the dumplings to swim in. The dumplings are done cooking when they float. Alternatively, you can pan-fry them with a little oil (arrange them nicely side by side), put a few tablespoons of water, and cover the frying pan tightly so the steam cooks the top parts of the dumplings. This method gives you crispy bottom dumplings with steamed tops.
- Noodles – for long life
- Sticky Rice – for family togetherness
- Tikoy – of course! Can’t have Chinese New Year without some tikoy! This is usually served as snack / merienda and best served fried in egg.
WHAT WE ORDERED
We chose to order from Shui Shan restaurant on Honestbee. It’s a Chinese restaurant on UN Avenue that has good reviews online. Here’s what we ordered:
8 DISHES
1. Prawn Balls because we need round things
2. 8 Treasure Soup because who doesn’t want treasure? 🙂
3. Noodles (Pancit Canton Guisado) for long life
4. Lumpiang Shanghai for something gold
5. Breaded fish fillet for more gold things and fish
6. Sliced Beef in Chinese BBQ Sauce because I like it
7. Shrimp with Butter Garlic Sauce
8. Sauteed Chicken Golden Cube with Cheese – there’s gold in the name, I’m taking it 🙂 we need all the luck and new year magic we can get! 
To level up the meal a little, I transferred the dishes from their delivery containers to serving dishes. I was glad I could spend the day relaxed instead of cooking!
And all this food only cost P2,255! We got free delivery and no concierge fee because we met the minimum amount for free delivery.
Check out Honestbee today for your Chinese New Year needs! Just click on the “Chinese New Year” tab on either Food or Groceries (frozen items, fruits). Browse the different Chinese restaurants that can deliver to you, and you can also peruse the shops that sell fruits, fish, and other Chinese food staples.
#justhonestbee
#honestbeeph
#CNY2019
