YWCA Singapore bids good luck with Lunar yusheng treats

Fancy eating a salad of raw fish? You might get lucky doing so according to Chinese legends. But, with a sumptuous mélange of spices and plum sauce, luck or no luck this Chinese New Year treat is a must-have for even the most philistine and discriminating of delicacy buffs.

Called yusheng in local parlance, the raw fish salad treat is introduced in Singapore by 19^th century Chinese settlers from the coastal towns of South China. These seafaring men and women depended on the sea for their fortunes, and gave thanks to the sea by offering the most elaborate seafood treat they had to a Chinese female deity known as Nuwo.

The Chinese dish consist of fish strips, most commonly salmon or ikan parang, and mixed with shredded vegetables and fermented sauce mixes to enchanting effect. Due to the labor-intensive requisite of preparing a Singapore yusheng, the dish has traditionally been served in Chinese-majority countries like Singapore only on special occasions and dates like the Chinese New Year.

Yusheng is a popular dish in Singapore hotels and restaurants. By tradition at the YWCA Fort Canning Lodge in Singapore, families would gather around the table of yusheng and on cue, would toss the shredded bits of the dish into the air while exclaiming auspicious wishes. This practice has given the name “Traditional Toss” to a dish of yusheng.

From January 28 to February 8, the hotel in Singapore of YWCA Fort Canning Lodge offers Chinese New Year yusheng packages at the hotel’s Coffee House restaurant. The traditional yusheng toss comes with salmon and ikan parang varieties. Each set is available for up to 10 persons and can be availed at the Singapore hotel from 12 pm to 8:30 pm.

In addition to the traditional yusheng toss, the Singapore YWCA Fort Canning Lodge likewise offers reunion and celebration packages during the Chinese New Year season. For details on the Chinese New Year Specials at YWCA Fort Canning Lodge, you can visit their Singapore hotel website. Located at Fort Canning Park, the YWCA Hotel in Singapore can get you tossed to prosperity this Chinese New Year.