We stopped in to sample some of these treats. Don’t miss the eggplant and duck bao. GLV

The Year of the Horse gallops in at Bambudda Gastown’s Nouveau Chinese Restaurant unveils its Chinese New Year menu  (Available Jan. 31 to Feb. 9, 2014)

Bambudda owner Ray Loy and Executive Chef Scott Korzack are welcoming Chinese New Year with a special, à la carte menu embodying the restaurant’s commitment to Cantonese cuisine prepared with a Western flair. The carefully curated food and cocktail list features specialities that harken back to Loy’s Cantonese heritage.

Duck, a traditional New Year’s offering, features prominently on the menu in both the steamed Duck Buns and the Tea Duck, served with a black-tea jus, red dates and holiday-appropriate chrysanthemum greens. In a playful nod to Chinatowns across the country, the fried Duck Gizzard is accompanied by packets of Wing’s Plum Sauce. Although Bambudda makes its own plum sauce in-house, Loy and Korzack wanted to pay tribute to the newer traditions embraced by Canada’s Chinese communities.

The Lettuce Wraps, stuffed with baked and fried Chinese eggplant, point to the Chinese word for “fortune,” which is also the word for “lettuce.”

And finally, the Lucky Coy, a frozen ginger parfait dessert in the shape of a fish, is a sweet way to highlight the custom of ending a Chinese New Year banquet with a whole fish — the head and tail symbolizing a good beginning and end to the year.

For his part, bar manager Robert “Buck” Friend has been tasked with creating three cocktails to complement the special menu: the rum-based Last Dynasty, the fiery Dragon’s Descendant and the Red Packet, made with cassia bark-infused tequila.

Duck Buns Chinese BBQ sauce, cilantro 10

Lettuce Wraps Eggplant, popped grains, black tea 9

Tea Duck Black tea jus, red dates, chrysanthemum greens 21

Duck Gizzards Plum sauce 5

Lucky Coy Banana and white chocolate mouse, tea cake, coconut and ginger 8

COCKTAILS
Last Dynasty Out with the old and in with the new Havana three-year-old rum, Lillet Rouge, sherry vinegar date puree, house-spiced grenadine, Angostura and egg white11

Dragonʼs Descendant A fiery start to the New Year Birds eye chili-infused Aperol, black pepper infused Triple Sec, gin and lemon11

Red Packet Inspired by the traditional red envelopes of the holiday Burned cassia bark ember infused tequila, Dubonnet, crème de cacao, orange bitters11