QV Melbourne celebrates the year of the horse

QV Melbourne celebrates the year of the horse with a Happy Horse Noodle Bar installation, animating festive Lunar New Year feasts from EatAlley, Old Beijing, Shanghai Street Kitchen, Dainty Sichuan and more …

From 16 February – 1 March, QV Melbourne celebrates Lunar New Year (LNY) with the Happy Horse Noodle Bar, special menu items across the precinct’s restaurants, as well as lion dances and cultural displays.

The Happy Horse Noodle Bar invites visitors to step inside a fictional noodle bar, capture the moment in a TikTok worthy giant noodle box, and journey through a classic Chinese takeaway menu inspired story of QV’s traditional LNY dishes and their symbolic meanings. Experience immersive photo walls, complete with AR animation: just scan the QR code, download the EyeJack app, and watch the dishes come to life. Open 10am – 10pm daily in QV Square, it’s the place to go to explore special LNY dishes from the precinct’s range of buzzing Asian restaurants.

Revel in the colour, sound and energy of traditional LNY performances hosted in QV Square at 5.30pm on Monday 16 February (LNY Eve) and Tuesday 17 February (LNY Day) and at 5.00pm on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 February (LNY weekend in the city). See lion dances, dragon dances and martial arts performances from the Chinese Masonic Society. There will also be lion heads on display for kids to discover and explore.

“We have had an array of exciting new openings at QV Melbourne over the last year, and the precinct has even more to offer for Lunar New Year celebrations. From Good Food Guide’s New Restaurant of the Year Finalist EatAlley, to the immersive game experiences at the quirky New York style Hijinx Hotel, QV Melbourne has so many exciting options for LNY festivities,” says QV Melbourne Centre General Manager Kate Rooney.

“At LNY, QV Melbourne comes alive with lion dances, dinners, events and all kinds of fun for festive outings with families and friends. Visitors come for the Lunar New Year experiences, the authentic and diverse range of Asian restaurants and eateries, and a unique and wide variety of entertainment options. It’s the ultimate way to create memories to celebrate the Year of the Horse.”

EatAlley opened in August 2025 and features dishes from 10 of Malaysia’s most famous hawker stalls dating as far back as the 1940s. With lines out the door into QV Square, the new restaurant is a Good Food Guide Critic’s Pick.

Special LNY dishes profiled in the Happy Horse Noodle Bar include the Signature KL Hokkien Mee from new Malaysian street food restaurant EatAlley, popular during the New Year for its symbolism of prosperity; spring rolls representing wealth from authentic Sichuan eatery Dainty Sichuan; lucky Orange Green Tea from bubble tea revolution Milksha, and good fortune dumplings from Shanghai Street Kitchen.

Melbourne Chinese dining institution Old Beijing will host a Lunar New Year banquet, featuring many traditional LNY dishes such as the rainbow salad Prosperity Yee Sang, tossed at the table by the entire group of diners, chopsticks in hand. Their banquet dish featured in Happy Horse Noodle Bar is New Year Abundance of Fish: a whole steamed coral trout. Old Beijing will also stage their own lion dances starting in QV Square to their restaurant on Artemis Lane.

“Lunar New Year is a very special time in the calendar for us at Old Beijing. We like to go the extra mile to honour all the traditions, and we always support a charity each year,” says David Loh, co-owner of Old Beijing, a multi-space Chinese restaurant and bar with a range of specialty chefs offering the best Beijing, Guang Zhou, Shanghai and Szechuan cuisine.

Accessible through its network of laneways, QV exemplifies the quintessential Melbourne experience from food to fashion and so much more.

Recent openings throughout the precinct include cocktail bar and gaming arcade Archie Brothers (August, ‘25), Thai inspired dessert and brunch cafe Homm Dessert (October, ‘25), New York style bar, dining and experiential games destination Hijinx Hotel. Hyped self-serve frozen yoghurt store Yo-Chi opened in December.

For more information find QV on the web and their socials: http://www.qv.com.au | qvlunarnewyear | @qvmelbourne

Q Magazine: supporting our community since 2004

Check out this month’s issue – OUT NOW! Click the logo to read it.