Bao to Serve Special “Chinese New Year of the Rooster” Dishes—Many Based on Centuries-Old Recipes

Twelve special dishes, mostly based on centuries-old recipes, will be offered at Bao in White Plains this year to celebrate the Year of the Rooster, owner May Tan said. The Year of the Rooster reoccurs every 12 years.

The holiday officially falls on Saturday, Jan. 28 in 2017 but many Chinese celebrate it for a longer period. At Bao, the holiday dishes are offered from Jan. 28 through Feb. 11.

A special Malaysian New Year’s celebration salad will be offered as an appetizer.

Chinese New Year’s dishes:
1. Chinese New Year’s Delight. Shrimp and scallops with vegetables served with vegetables and noodles and topped with cashew nuts ($20.95)
2. Fortune Fish. Comes with vegetables, ginger, scallions and seaweed ($22.95)
3. Spicy Crispy Fresh Oyster. With black bean sauce ($18.95)
4. Chinese New Year’s Casserole. Shrimp and mini meat balls with noodles and vegetables ($20.95)
5. Spicy Szechuan Shrimp ($18.95)
6. Lamb with Onions and Scallion ($20.95)
7. Seafood Rice Cake. With salted egg yolk ($18.95)
8. Spicy Fish Filet. A lightly breaded fried fish filet with a special spicy Szechuan sauce ($20.95)
9. Spicy Roast Duck With Noodle Casserole. Includes vegetables ($24.95)
10. Spicy Thai Tom Yum Seafood Casserole. Includes lobster meat, shrimp, scallops and vegetables ($22.95)
11. Steak Kew. With black pepper sauce in a sizzling platter ($20.95)
12. Tingling Bells. Served in a sizzling platter. Shrimp, chicken and sautéed beef with fresh vegetables and topped with fried chicken wonton ($20.95)

The special Malaysian New Year’s celebration salad can be shared by up to four people. “Traditionally its ingredients are topped with raw fish but cooked shrimp can be substituted on request,” Tan said. The salad includes mango, fish roe, jicama, carrots, lettuce, bean sprouts, blueberries and more.

Desserts include Eight Treasure (rice with eight different ingredients). Alcoholic beverages to be offered include Tsing Tao (Chinese beer), Heineken, Coors Light, Sapporo and Amstel beer, Chinese rice wine, sake, and a French martini made with vodka, Chambord liqueur, and pineapple juice.

A chocolate drink for children is called a Milo Dinosaur. Kids receive a red envelope to take home with a surprise gift inside.
Bao also offers a cook-it-yourself dish called Shabu Shabu, cooked by the customers on their tables using small portable gas stoves with dual cooking pots. Shaba Shabu must be ordered a day in advance. The restaurant’s regular menu will also be available each day during the holiday period.
The cost is $29.95 per person, at least four customers must want to eat Shabu Shabu, all guests at a table must order it, and the restaurant needs 24-hour advance notification.

MSG and canned fruit are not used at this restaurant.

Bao is open from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Friday, and from noon to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday. It will also deliver.

It is is located in the White Plains Mall at 200 Hamilton Avenue in White Plains, 914-682-8858, and can be entered from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The mall has a parking lot and Bao validates for parking fees for dining bills of $35 or more.

Photo:

Chinese New Year’s Delight (shrimp and scallops with vegetables served with vegetables and noodles and topped with cashew nuts.