Celebrate Lunar New Year in Perth with festive street markets, exciting events, and delicious food and drink experiences.
The Lunar New Year begins with the first new moon of the Chinese lunisolar calendar and ends on the first full moon, 15 days later. 2025 is the Year of the Snake and starts on Wednesday 29 January.
Here’s our guide to making the most of the festivities.
Welcome the New Year Festivities
Perth’s largest and most vibrant annual celebration is the Perth Chinese New Year Fair on Sunday 2 February. Held between James and Lake Street in Northbridge, as well as in Yagan Square, this free event presented by the Chung Wah Association features lion and dragon dances, lantern making, calligraphy, cultural performances and food stalls.
Welcome the Year of the Snake with over 60 market stalls down at Elizabeth Quay. Expect plenty of tempting street food vendors alongside stalls filled with handmade treasures to take home. Lion and dragon dances will kick off at 6pm so get in early to make the most of the night.
Traditional Chinese Banquet
Grab your friends and family and book a Lunar New Year banquet featuring dishes that symbolise good luck, health and prosperity for the new year. Start with a yu sheng “prosperity toss” raw fish salad or order lobster noodles, which signify longevity and good luck. Whole chickens and whole fish are served for togetherness as a lovely gesture, symbolising a good beginning and a good end for the coming year.
Just some of our favourite traditional Chinese banquet picks:
Emperor’s Kitchen (1/55 Farrington Road, Leeming and 1/18 Cecil Avenue, Cannington)
Fine China Restaurant (Unit 8/1018 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park)
Fortune Five Chinese Restaurant (108A James Street, Northbridge)
Hong Kong BBQ House (76 Francis Street, Northbridge)
Northbridge Chinese Restaurant (26 Roe Street, Northbridge)
Lunar New Year Offerings Around Town
Kick off Lunar New Year at Servo with their Lucky 8 Banquet on Wednesday 29 January, where you’ll be treated to classic Cantonese dishes with a special Servo twist. You can also expect a Lion Dance from the Chung Wah Lion Dance Troupe to chase away evil spirits and misfortune for the year ahead.
At Silks, begin your celebrations with a Prosperity Toss as you share in the experience of Chef Kwan’s carefully curated Lunar New Year Dinner banquet, an abundant feast rich in authentic Cantonese flavour available. The menu features a range of delicacies including Chicken and Prawn Dumpling in Soup, Pork Loin with Honey and Black Pepper, Spicy Lotus Chicken and Salted Egg Lobster.
If you prefer your Lunar New Years celebrations with bottomless drinks, save yourself for Servo’s Lunar Serpent Eterno endless afternoons on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 February. The menu will have a Cantonese twist, with six shared dishes and bottomless Lunar New Year inspired cocktails, spritzes and more. Expect oysters, potstickers, char sui chicken and more in the food department, while cocktails feature flavours such as mandarin, sour plum and lemongrass.
On Wednesday 29 January, Shui will be celebrating with a Chinese dishes such as peking duck spring rolls, longevity noodles, and Buddha’s Delight Asian mushrooms. There will also be a Lion Dance and Ang Pau (good fortune envelopes) to get excited about.
HQ Bar + Kitchen at Quay Perth is celebrating Lunar New Year with a Chinese-style feasting menu on Friday 31 January and Saturday 1 February. There will be bespoke cocktails both nights, and if you can make it on Friday night, you’ll also be treated to a lion dance.
Miss Mi will be welcoming in the new year with a special twist on the traditional nian ye fan New Year reunion dinner, available from 28 January until 8 February. Chef Alex De Leon’s nian ye fan features oysters with a ginger dressing, crayfish salad and grilled tiger prawns flavoured with soy and Thai basil, alongside a Chinese five spiced glazed ham and slow cooked duck. You’ll also be in with a chance to win one of four custom designed Year of the Snake coins which will be hidden at random in the mandarin, mango and passionfruit mousse. If you manage to find the one and only gold coin, you’ll get the coin to take home as well as an overnight stay Novotel Perth Murray Street, dinner for two at Miss Mi and buffet breakfast, while the three silver coins will get you a $100 Miss Mi voucher. Not bad.
At Elizabeth Quay, venues including The Reveley, Songbird, Hearth, The Island and Lantern on the Quay will be giving away lucky red envelopes, all you need to do is spend $50 at one of the participating venues and you’ll be in with a chance to win.
Special Lunar New Year Events
The Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple Western Australia will hold a month-long lantern festival from 23 January to 21 February, a New Year Eve and New Year Morning chanting service on 28 and 29 January, and a New Year Thousand Buddhas Dharma Service on 29 Janaury and 2 February.
Lunar New Year Gifts
The Lunar New Year is a time of gift giving, where the front counters of Asian supermarkets will be filled with various Lunar New Year products. Some treats to look out for are nian gao (Chinese steamed sweet rice cake), banh tet (Vietnamese sticky rice cake) and bak kwa (Chinese pork jerky). Browse the aisles of Lucky Import & Export (112-118 Brisbane Street, Perth), NP Girrawheen Supermarket (1/3 Wade Court, Girrawheen), Long Hui Supermarket (370 William Street, Perth), Golden Choice (Northbridge and Subiaco) and MCQ Supermarkets (various locations in Northbridge, Morley, Malaga, Subiaco)
Ending Lunar New Year Festivities
Celebrate the end of the Lunar New Year 15-day period with the Western Australian Dragon Boat Festival at Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour on Sunday 16 February in an atmosphere of pageantry and colour, high-octane energy and centuries-old Chinese culture and tradition with world-class dragon boat athletes competing. Throughout the day, experience the colourful celebrations of the Chinese New Year at Mews Park and Bathers Beach with lion dancing, drumming performances and firecrackers.
Looking for a fine-dining Chinese experience? Book yourself into Andly Private Kitchen for an unforgettable night.
