The Year of the Ox is coming and Shanghais getting into a festive spirit. Here are some fabulous new dining choices where you can enjoy the holiday with family and friends. Shanghai Tang The Xintiandi outlet of Shanghai Tang reopens after four months of renovations. Embedded in a traditional shikumen (stone-gate) house, it serves local food with a taste of fusion. The two-story restaurant with vintage inner decor has eight private dining rooms and a lobby on the second floor with a great view of the area. The seasonal menu offers many fresh ingredients in sizzling clay pots to satisfy your tastebuds. The chef uses fresh baby squid from Fujian Province. Lightly stir-fried with butter and homemade soybean sauce, the squid is cooked very quickly in super-hot clay pots to seal the original taste and crunchy texture. The dish is then served tableside. You can also try the chicken and abalone, sea eel or mutton in clay pots. As one of the most popular dishes, baozaifan (Cantonese-style clay pot rice) topped with fish maw, soft-shelled turtle meat and pork is cooked in a broth-based sauce simmered for 30 minutes. The turtle meat is known for its nutritious flesh, especially tasty during winter. No meal is complete without dessert. This winter, Shanghai Tang offers rose egg tarts and matcha cake with red bean fillings. Hours: 11:30am-10pm Address: 2/F, 1618 Nanjing Rd W. Tel: 176-2188-2864 RakuRaku beef RakuRaku, a new steakhouse on the second floor of the Jiuguang Department Store, offers a fine selection of reasonably priced steaks. With fashionable inner decor, it's the perfect place for dates and family gatherings. The menu features assorted cuts of steak — including striploin, tenderloin, abdominal and ribeye from Australia, Brazil and Uruguay — fresh seafood, hearty salads, soup and pasta. Each steak weighs between 200 and 400 grams. Side orders include baked potatoes, creamed spinach and sautéed mushrooms. Steaks topped with sauces and seasonings like grapefruit chili, yellow mustard, Himalayan rose salt and black sea salt are among the most popular. Hours: 11:30am-10pm Address: 2/F, 1618 Nanjing Rd W. Tel: 176-2188-2864 Yao Jin Yao Jin recently opened its third outlet in Xintiandi with a taste of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). The restaurant attracts young people fond of guochao, a trend steeped in Chinese tradition and culture. Many post pictures of Yao Jin's fashionable inner decor on social media. Unlike the other two locations, the new outlet offers signature cocktails, sizzling barbecues, seafood and live drumming performances. The outdoor terrace provides a great view of the Xintiandi area. The restaurant uses high-quality meats for its barbecue platters, featuring thick-cut beef tongue, ribs and pork chops. The rich flavor of the meats accompanied by the sweet fruit aroma of litchi is a nice combination. For seafood lovers, try the salt-baked seafood platter with sea crabs, shrimp, clams and sea snails. Cocktails are named after Chinese cities, one of which is made with mijiu (rice wine) and melon juice. Hours: 11am-late night Address: 3/F, 181 Madang Rd Tel: 138-1735-6623 Fook Luk House Fook Luk House opened a new outlet in the Pudong New Area recently, offering an elevated Cantonese food experience with high-quality ingredients. Replete with authentic Cantonese inner décor and covering an area of 700 square meters, it features 10 private dining rooms and is an ideal place for Spring Festival. The barbecued pork with rose wine and a homemade sauce is soaked with rich flavors and natural sweetness. For seafood lovers, try the signature freshly sliced yellow croaker boiled in broth and cooked with tomatoes, chicken, duck, pork and Jinhua ham for more than eight hours. Additionally, the roast baby chicken is a must try. Dipped in a homemade sauce with more than 10 kinds of spices — including anise and cinnamon — the chicken is roasted on a fire. Hours: 11am-2pm, 5-9pm Address: 2/F, 1378 Huamu Rd, Pudong Tel: 5889-7786 Brut Eatery Brut Eatery is a bistro franchise offering a new winter menu that features assorted dishes in fusion style, and is a surefire bet for spicy food lovers. One of the must-tries is the fried tofu with homemade spicy and sour sauce. Unlike the typical Sichuan dish Mapo tofu, the sliced tofu is slightly fried to keep the crispy skin and tender texture. Additionally, the pork ears in buffalo sauce, spicy stewed duck pot, fried squids topped with Sichuan chili pepper and spicy fried chicken will satisfy your palette. Hours: 10am-11pm Address: 1/F, 445 Jiangning Rd Tel: 5292-0592