10 The Reunion Dinner - Huat Arh!

Huat arh! is kind of a rallying cry (to me) for prosperity to be blessed upon us. The first time I heard it, I was tickled to bits. It is often cheered out with a lot of positive energy. Huat is prosperity in Hokkien, by the way.

We are greeted with huat arh! every Chinese New Year. It's a common practice on hubs side of the family. My side of the family are of Hakka descent. Hence, we would go, "Kong Hee Fatt Choy! Choy Sin tao lor!" which simply means - 'Wishing you prosperity. The God of Prosperity is arriving!' The second sentence was really started by my aunt.

We had our reunion dinner at Bayview Hotel Georgetown this year. The meal began with a Prosperity Toss (Lo Hei). Following tradition, we tossed the raw fish salad and uttered auspicious wishes. The higher the toss, the better, as it is said to mean higher growth in fortune and good luck.

I took a short video of us in action. Can you hear the 'Huat arh! Huat arh!' ?

This is the dish before the toss. It was served with Norwegian salmon and fried soft shell crab. Yum!

Prosperity Yee Sang

Our reunion dinner was an 8-course meal. Below are pics of the rest of the dishes we had that day. I missed snapping a pic of the Fatt Choy Roast Spring Chicken. Guess I was too caught up with eating!

Seafood soup with Crab Meat, Fish Maw and Sea Asparagus

King Prawns with Shimeji Mushroom

Sea Cucumber with Black Moss and Broccoli

Steamed Fish

Crispy Noodles covered in Seafood Sauce

A Mango Ice Cream dessert and Deep fried Nian Gao

I've included a pic of the menu to show you how food is typically described during Chinese New Year. Words like 'heavenly', 'harmonious' and 'happiness' are used to enhance a feeling of auspiciousness to the dish. The word 'golden' would probably be included too if pumpkin was in the list of ingredients.

The Reunion Dinner Menu

Here's a look of the place. It's spacious. Service was excellent with each dish being served on time and without the sloppiness that usually comes with reunion dinners at packed halls.

Reunion Dinner Hall at Bayview Hotel Georgetown

As far as reunion dinners go, we all agreed that this was the best we've had so far!