Gallop into the Year of the Horse with Raffles Hotel Singapore
From indulgent spa rituals to auspicious feasts, usher in the Chinese New Year with polish and purpose
IN THE YEAR OF THE Horse, speed is powerful, but direction is everything. In 2026, the compass (a Han Dynasty invention) is pointing towards Raffles Hotel Singapore, which is shaping up to be the ultimate all-in-one destination to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
At Raffles Spa, you can get a glow-up before the festivities, because, well, self-care. At yi by Jereme Leung, plan your reunion dinner or festive gatherings with family, friends, colleagues and business partners. As for Raffles Boutique and Floral Boutique by Raffles, well, consider them your one-stop shop for New Year goodies, hampers and floral arrangements.
Here’s how to usher in the Chinese New Year in style at The World’s 5th Best Hotel.
Go for gold
Gold has always symbolised wealth and prosperity during Chinese New Year – even more so considering the precious metal’s historic price performance in 2025. Enter Raffles Spa’s Gold Ritual, a two-hour head-to-toe reset designed to restore balance and leave you positively luminous, so you can look your best when hosting guests during open house.
Priced from S$518++, the experience begins with a 60-minute Gold Sugar Scrub to polish and awaken the skin, followed by a deeply relaxing full-body massage using shimmering gold oil. The finale? A 60-minute Gold Hydra-Lifting Facial that restores radiance and hydration.
For reservations and inquiries, call 6337-1886 or e-mail singapore@raffles.com
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Bountiful banquets
In a city where everyone laments about rising costs – while still upgrading their festive ensembles, snacks and decor to save face – Chinese New Year set menus have evolved into something that’s part feast, part financial commitment, and part social signalling. You’re not just paying for a generous spread, but also for scarcity and status.
In this annual fine-dining Olympics, yi by Jereme Leung has emerged as the front runner. Each set meal here is a thoughtfully choreographed celebration of abundance and auspiciousness. Expect time-honoured provincial Chinese flavours interpreted with precision and finesse.
Highlights include a pristine double-boiled spiky sea cucumber soup with wild termite fungus, sea whelk and Hokkaido conpoy – a consomme as pure as it is symbolic – alongside impeccably prepared seafood such as steamed spotted garoupa with bamboo shoot and matsutake, finished with premium soy sauce.
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The Lunar New Year Set Menus, available from Feb 1 to Mar 3 and priced from $198++ to $258++ per person, can be perused at https://bit.ly/4pDA2kQ. On Chinese New Year Eve, the restaurant will be open only for dinner, with two seatings: from 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm, and 8.30 pm to 10.30 pm.
Weekend fare and a la carte selections
For daytime celebrations, the Chinese New Year Weekend Dim Sum Set Menu ($118++ per person) offers a lighter, equally refined affair, available exclusively for lunch on Feb 21, 22 and 28, and Mar 1.
Prefer to curate your own feast? A special a la carte menu runs from Feb 17 to Mar 3, where diners get to mix tradition with personal favourites. Think novel yusheng interpretations and nostalgic banquet dishes enhanced with contemporary touches.
Standouts include the playful yet indulgent deep-fried crab meat and lobster bisque cubes – which are crisp on the outside and molten within – and the elegant Teochew-style chilled ma you fish, prized for its natural sweetness and finished with Puning bean sauce and a refined touch of sturgeon caviar.
Desserts close the celebration on a high, with handcrafted yuan bao water chestnut cakes, delicately scented with lime and studded with goji berries – symbolising sweet wishes for wealth, reunion and renewal.
The Lunar New Year A La Carte menu is available at http://bit.ly/3Nl68UX
An auspicious toss
Singaporeans are known for being orderly and straight-laced, but once a year, we come together to celebrate a ritual of controlled chaos – the yusheng toss. It’s loud, it’s messy, it’s mildly unhinged, but it’s also deeply communal because prosperity requires participation.
At yi by Jereme Leung, the signature yusheng is now presented in a refreshed, design-forward format. The 2026 edition arrives in an elegant vegan leather box adorned with delicate floral cut-outs, while vegetables are artfully arranged on a plate for a toss that’s as beautiful as it is effortless.
Each platter is finished with chef Leung’s iconic Yunnan rose dressing: light, fragrant, and unmistakably refined. Available for dine-in and takeaway, each yusheng serves four to six guests, with four options to choose from.
Vegetarian Yu Sheng (S$150 net) comes with crispy burdock and assorted mushrooms; Fortune Yu Sheng (S$172 net) features salmon sashimi and crispy fish skin; Longevity Yu Sheng (S$183 net) boasts octopus and Arctic shellfish; and Prosperity Yu Sheng (S$216 net) is packed with abalone, Hokkaido scallop and Asian pear.
Takeaway and online orders can be placed via https://www.rafflescelebrations.com.sg with a minimum of two days’ notice; prices exclude delivery charges. Online orders run from Jan 5 to Mar 1, with collection and delivery available from Feb 1 to Mar 3.
Sweet treats, luxurious gifts and floral delights
It seems counterintuitive, but Chinese New Year goodies are less about eating than they are about displaying care, taste and effort. And then there’s the classic Singaporean paradox: We buy too much, insist guests eat more, and then persuade everyone to finish the last morsel because waste is worse than excess.
It’s love, expressed in calories, and one of the best places to stock up on New Year goodies is yi by Jereme Leung, where traditional flavours get a polished update. Choose from homemade water chestnut cake with fragrant lime, steamed Japanese kabocha squash nian gao, and radish cake with sakura shrimp, Japanese dried scallop and preserved meats – all priced at S$75 net.
Over at Raffles Boutique, it’s a veritable treasure trove with luxury gift hampers (S$198 net to S$688 net) galore, as well as toothsome treats such as premium bak kwa, prized abalone, indulgent truffle shrimp rolls and rich, buttery pineapple tarts.
There are also home and living accents to enliven the reunion table – chic touches that wouldn’t look out of place in an interior design magazine spread. And speaking of elegance in the home, Raffles’ Phalaenopsis orchids (S$318 net to S$588 net), which are potted in hand-painted Jingdezhen pots, offer a refined alternative to fleeting floral gestures.
Known for their sculptural elegance and long-lasting beauty, these blooms are traditional symbols of prosperity and fresh beginnings. Whether to feather your nest or to give as a gift, the orchids will continue to make their presence felt long after the last pineapple tart has disappeared.
Orders can be placed on https://www.rafflescelebrations.com.sg with a minimum of two days’ notice; prices exclude delivery charges. Online orders run from Jan 5 to Mar 1, with collection and delivery available from Feb 1 to Mar 3.
Raffles Boutique is open daily from 10 am to 7.30 pm. Floral Boutique by Raffles is open from Monday to Saturday, 8.30 am to 6 pm.
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