Not only is the traditional suckling pig, generally served in times of celebration, available on many menus, but many additional dishes with special meaning highlight these holiday menus such as noodles which symbolize longevity, sweet rice dumplings symbolic of family unity, and shrimp which represents happiness.

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Some restaurants, like the Ning Po Residents Association, require a nominal annual fee (around 200 Hong Kong dollars), but in return you gain access to excellent food (in this case, recipes from the city of Ningbo, near Shanghai, such as delicate, juicy soup dumplings and sweet-and-sour fish), in an exclusive but usually unpretentious setting.

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Though they have their differences, they all want to be reborn as tastier dumplings coated with a sweet-bean paste, and to remain side by side, as before, on the same skewer.

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Prime Meats does a lot of things very, very well, but one of the things it truly excels at is spaetzle, so I was intrigued when I spied on the menu a hash that combined those tiny wheat-flour dumplings with gently smoked haddock and sweet beets.

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Tom Colicchio has assembled a makeshift space of picnic tables, good beer (including a slightly sweet Highline Elevated Wheat by Brooklyn Brewery) and popular food trucks, like Rickshaw Dumplings.

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