Summer Pavilion

The one Michelin-starred Summer Pavilion has a pretty extravagant pen cai this year, with prized prickly sea cucumber, fresh scallops, conpoy (dried scallop), abalone, and flaky chunks of sea perch. Meanwhile, Chinese mushrooms, black moss, and seasonal vegetables served to soak up all that luxurious gravy. Available from 21 January to 19 February 2019.

The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, 7 Raffles Ave. Tel:  6434-5286

Cherry Garden

Possibly the biggest pen cai this year comes from Mandarin Oriental’s Cherry Garden. Their Luxurious Pen Cai is 20-odd kilogram behemoth of a dish boasting 18 luxurious ingredients, from seafood like lobster, sea cucumber, and handmade fishballs to meats like aromatic lotus chicken and roasted duck. All this gets served in a traditional metal basin, ensconced in larger wooden basin. There sheer size of this makes it impossible to take-away, so it’s for dine-in guests only. Available as part of Cherry Garden’s Success menu.

Mandarin Oriental Singapore, 5 Raffles Avenue. Tel: 6885-3500.

Min Jiang

This long-standing Chinese restaurant will be offering their Prosperity Sea Treasures in Wooden Pot this year, with fresh scallops, ‘live’ prawns, fresh fish maw, and all the usual suspects like abalones from Australia, Min Jiang’s homemade roast pork, dried oysters, sweet Tianjin cabbage, and auspicious ‘fa cai’, or black moss. All this gets served in a rustic-looking, well, wooden pot. Available for dine-in and takeaway at Min Jiang and Min Jiang at One-North. Available from 18 January to 19 February.

Goodwood Park Hotel, 22 Scotts Road. Tel: 6730-1704.

Min Jiang at One-North, 5 Rochester Park. Tel: 6774-0122.

Si Chuan Dou Hua

While Si Chuan Dou Hua’s Premium Grand Fortune Pen Cai (鲍参肚一品盆菜) features all the usual suspects like abalone and dried oyster, they’ve also got tender, braised goose web, minced fish rolls, and nourishing cordyceps flowers all sitting in a heady, rich gravy. Available from 14 January to 19 February.

Multiple locations, including PARKROYAL on Kitchener Road, 181 Kitchener Road. Tel: 6428-3170

Xin Cuisine

Xin’s Abalone Treasure Pot comes with with fresh fish maw, roast pork, sea cucumbers, carved slices of lotus root, conpoy, and slices of Xin Cuisine’s signature roast duck. This multi-layered dish also hides some humble treasures: succulent pieces of daikon and tender cabbage thoroughly flavoured by the umami-laden gravy. Available 2 Jan to 16 Feb.

Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium, 317 Outram Road. Tel: 6731-7173