Do you happen to have S$1.2 million dollars just lying around and you just don’t know what to spend it on? 

Well, with Chinese New Year fast approaching, why not spend it on a 1-kilometre long yusheng?

Homegrown catering service Neo Garden had recently launched their Chinese New Year menu complete with their wide array of yusheng platters.

The smallest of which is priced at S$48.80 and feeds six to eight people.

Their menu was brought to widespread public attention when an eagle-eyed customer spotted a rather unconventional item in the mix.

What is Yusheng?

Yusheng (鱼生), also known as lohei by some, is a salad dish comprises of shredded vegetables, crackers, sauces and the kicker, strips of raw fish, commonly salmon.

This is because the word for fish is homophonous with the word for abundance or an excess (余). In other words, it is believed that if you eat a lot of fish, you would have abundant wealth. 

Or something along those lines, I guess. My family never bought the ones with fish so I only ate crackers…

The yusheng is then simultaneously tossed by everyone around the table with chopsticks, all while chanting auspicious words to ring in good fortune. 

The practice first originated in China, but the dish has since been modernised by Singapore and Malaysia.

Both countries also claimed to have been the ones who first modernised yusheng, but I refused to delve into that debate today. 

Neo Garden’s 1-km Yusheng Sparks Islandwide Debate

Now that we’ve gotten a deeper look into yusheng, we can understand the bewilderment behind some Singaporeans as they look into Neo Garden’s take on the dish.

On 17 January 2024, TikTok user corlisse.l uploaded a series of photos of Neo Garden’s yusheng menu on social media.

The first photo already features an admittedly quite goofy-looking yusheng moulded into the shape of a fiery dragon that extends across several tabletops,  

Along with the caption “Wanted to order Yusheng thinking that it wouldn’t cost more than $50…” viewers were tempted to keep swiping.

Viewers were then hit in the face with Neo Garden’s exorbitantly-priced range of yusheng platters, from an 8-metre dragon that costs S$3,888, to a 288-metre one costing S$288,888 and finally the titular 1-kilometre dragon costing over S$1 million dollars.

While the cost alone is enough to make any Singaporean baulk in horror, the sheer length of the yusheng set the internet ablaze with incredulity. 

To put it into perspective, that is the length of about two-and-a-half rounds of your standard running track. 

Netizens joke that since yusheng mainly comprises raw ingredients, they would have rotted by the time the staff finished laying them out.

Tongue-in-cheek comments on reddit suggest for the long yusheng to be delivered to both Pasir Ris and Tampines.  

Other comments said that adding insult to injury, chopsticks are still charged at S$2.50 per pax.

They also mentioned how unhygienic it could potentially be, referencing the COVID-19 cluster that spawned in SAFRA Jurong after a private dinner.

Some netizens point out that Neo Garden could be giving the Singapore Book of Records a run for their money for the longest yusheng ever recorded.

The title is currently held by Prudential Singapore, with a yusheng that is 343-metres in length.

According to the Singapore Book of Records’ Facebook page, “Caterer Orange Clove took 8 hours to assemble the colourful vegetable layout at Prudential’s corporate office in Marina One, using 2,880 kg of vegetables and 29 kg of fish.”

However, the more level-headed netizens pointed out that the 1-kilometre dish in question was most probably just a marketing ploy and not something Neo Garden actually intended to sell.

“You fell for the trap of giving it free publicity,” comments said after the CNY menu blew up on social media.

Well, I’m not going to be rich enough in this or the next lifetime to call Neo Garden on their bluff, but is there anyone out there willing to try?