In the past years, CNY bazaars were usually held at Takashimaya Square, the mall’s B2 atrium venue for large-scale events. This year, the fair has been condensed to an event space called Talking Hall within the department store’s B1 floor, which usually holds smaller-scale events like brand sales. The CNY fair also extends to another ad-hoc event space at B1, just outside Cold Storage supermarket.

Due to hygiene concerns, there won’t be any free sampling of CNY goodies this year. Most of the tidbits on display, like pineapple tarts and cookies, are shrink-wrapped. Not quite as festive as previous years’ fairs, but well, we are in the midst of a pandemic here.

This means that you won’t be able to try a new CNY snack first before you commit to buying it. But you’re not limited to taking blind leaps of faith for your CNY snack shopping this year. A promoter from homegrown cookie specialist The Cookie Museum tells us that the brand has brought in “about 40 per cent” more classic flavours to sell at its booth this year, so that regulars can safely go for options they have already tried. In previous years, the brand had stocked more of its newer flavours at the CNY bazaar.

Meanwhile, pineapple tart purveyor Kele has a museum-worthy display case of neatly-cut samples for customers to check out the different tart fillings. Again, see but no touch (check out our ranking of 15 pineapple tart brands, from worst to best, here).

Other brands, like Bake Inc, shrink-wrapped their tins of tarts for display, and bring out new tins for customers who purchase ’em. While Bake Inc usually bakes their pineapple tarts at its Taka booth every year, we note that there’s no baking of fresh CNY goodies on-site this year, as the shops can’t haul in makeshift ovens due to space constraint.

As customers can’t sample tidbits before they buy, King of Melon Seeds offers sampler platters where you can just buy a small portion of each snack to avoid being stuck with duds.

Peony Jade has a chiller filled with its pen cai, yam cake and radish cake. There are also hilariously realistic plastic models of steamed chicken and roast meat for illustration. Customers will have to pre-order the food and do self pick-up at its restaurant outlets, or opt for delivery.

Over at B2, frozen food brand BBQ Chef has reunion dinner-friendly meal packs like Buddha Jump Over the Wall, Eight Treasure Duck and Crispy Roasted Pork that requires only heating up. If you’re shopping for your upcoming CNY meals, B2 is also where Hong Kong sauce maker Patchun and Taiwanese handmade noodle brand Yi Lai Shuen have set up shop selling their signature sauces like Seafood Soy Sauce and longevity Mee Sua.

Local pastry brand Home’s Favourite also has a pop-up stall at the CNY fair, albeit away from the rest of the booths at a shop unit just outside the Takashimaya food hall (beside a Gong Cha kiosk).

Confused? Takashimaya has a map directory at the B2 entrance to guide customers.

About 4,300 customers are allowed in the department store at any one time. According to Takashimaya, its staff may ask customers to queue outside the department store when the human traffic reaches peak capacity. If you find all this a hassle or just want to avoid crowds, you can also opt to shop at Takashimaya’s online store at https://store.takashimaya.com.sg/cny-festive-celebrations-2021.

Takashimaya CNY Festive Celebrations 2021, from now till Feb 10. Open daily 11am-9.30pm.

PHOTOS: YIP JIEYING