It’s a momentous, if nerve-wracking, occasion whenever the next generation officially takes over the holiday cooking duties.
There’s the pressure to preserve the flavours grandma perfected, but also to add your own interpretation to a dish, as if to declare: “I’m no longer a kid; I’m my own person.” For sisters Joanna and Jeanette Liu, this will be the first year they officially take on that responsibility for the Lunar New Year. But it’s not just family and friends who will be judging — they’ll have the entire dining room of their family’s 40-year-old Hakka Chinese restaurant watching, too. It’s at Yueh Tung that many downtowners got their first fire-y taste of Hakka dishes all those decades ago, and for many diners it’ll be the first time they’ll get to try Hakka cooking for the Lunar New Year.