Pomelo - Chinatown Chinese New Year Festive Bazaar

Pomelo (Youzi 柚子) is a symbol of : abundance, prosperity, having many children and as such is an important tradition for Chinese families to buy pomelo for Chinese New Year. In addition, pomelo is one of the ingredient for the Yusheng during the Reunion Dinners. 

Perhaps one incentive to consider eating pomelo including its rind - its rind is rich in bioflavonoids to help fight cancer, prevent spread of breast cancer cells in simply allowing body to remove excess estrogen. 

Persimmons - Chinatown Chinese New Year Festive Bazaar

Persimmon is a commonly found dried fruit snack the Chinese eats during Chinese New Year. I remember as a young child, my Grandma used to wash the white sugary powders off the persimmons, and divided one into several portions so I could share them with my cousins. Persimmon is one of those fruit snacks eaten during Chinese New Year that brings back so many nostalgic childhood memories. 

These persimmons are grown & harvested all over China, from Manchuria to Yunnan. The dried fruit is great for asthmatic cough, chronic dysentery, hemorrhoids, blood in the urine. 

Sweets - Chinese New Year 2013 Chinatown Festive Bazaar

Sweets are one of the must have items to treat relatives, friends and visitors who come to your home during this Chinese New Year festive season. The Chinese use sweets as symbols to wish and hope that the coming new year to be filled with sweetness. 

Din Tai Fung opens new outlet at Chinatown Point Part 1

Back in 1927, a man named Bingyi Yang in Shanxi, China migrated to Taiwan in search of better opportunity. He found found work as a delivery man at Heng Tai Fung - a store that markets cooking oil. After Bingyi worked for two years at Heng Tai Fung, the owner of Heng Tai Fung was rather impressed with his hard work, and placed Bingyi in charge of the accounts.

Unfortunately Heng Tai Fung was forced to close its business after the owner suffered other business losses, leaving Bingyi out of work. 

Despite this setback, Bingyi started his own oil shop with wholesale oil sourced from Din Mei Oils. As a mark of respect to his first boss at Heng Tai Fung, Bingyi named his new store Din Tai Fung.

However, around 1980's when tinned oil went on sale, sales at Din Tai Fung plummeted. Bingyi sought  advice from a friend and together with his wife, converted half of their shop towards making and selling steamed dumplings. 

Many customers were drawn to the quality and exceptional taste of Din Tai Fung’s steamed dumplings. The business took off thanks to its strong word-of-mouth. From then on, Bingyi stopped selling oil at Din Tai Fung, and concentrated in the steamed dumpling business and over the years, turned Ding Tai Fung into the full-fledged restaurant it is today.

This was the humble and inspiring beginning of an international brand – Din Tai Fung.

In 2003, BreadTalk Group obtain franchise rights to run Din Tai  Fung Brand of restaurants, and opens its first Din Tai Fung at Paragon Shopping Centre. To date there are 14 Din Tai Fungs in Singapore with its latest two outlets opened at Chinatown Point & Parkway Parade.