Dinner of reunion and luck

Chefs at Wen Qifu Restaurant busy preparing dishes in one of its outlets in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province. All of the restaurant chain's outlets have a full house for the Spring Festival Eve dinner. Their dishes often acquire names that indicate luckiness and good fortune. The above dishes are, from left, simmered dried oyster with lettuce which carries the wish for making good business and big money, stir-fried shrimp with water chestnut which indicates the wish for energy and vitality, and siu mei for riches and honor. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The word for shrimp sounds like "hah", while the word for pork knuckle sounds like the phrase for "do it easily". The word for "tongue" is pronounced like the word "profit", and the word for dried oyster sounds similar to the word for "good business".

"Guangdong also likes to give 'lucky names' to dishes served at the Spring Festival Eve dinner. It is nice to share these dishes with loved ones as if we are sharing good luck," says Wen Zhibin, president of Wen Qifu Restaurant, a restaurant chain in Guangzhou specializing in Cantonese cuisine.

This year, the restaurant has 10 set menus for the Spring Festival Eve dinner, priced from 1,388 yuan ($202.38) to 3,988 yuan per table. The dishes all have "lucky" names. For instance, a dish called "make money easily" is made with stewed pork knuckle and lettuce, whose Chinese name shengcai sounds like "earn money" in Cantonese.

Wen's restaurant will serve about 260 tables of 10 to 12 people each at its three locations in Guangzhou this Spring Festival Eve. And all of the tables had been booked two weeks in advance, says Liang Qinghua, the restaurant's manager.

"More people now dine at restaurants on Spring Festival Eve because it saves them time as they do not need to prepare for the dinner or wash dishes, and they have time to go to the flower markets," says Liang.