A movable feast that's fit for a queen

Steamed yellow croaker

All that most dishes need is reheating, and a few need to be refried. Each of the dishes is accompanied by easy-to-understand instructions for preparation, Jin says.

In the past many of the buyers have been companies that use vouchers as Spring Festival gifts for staff and customers, but in recent years more and more families have been ordering the meals, Jin says, adding that by the end of last week, nearly 1,000 dinner sets had been sold.

Another restaurant that sells Spring Festival Eve dinners, which it has done since last year, is Tang Palace, a well-known Cantonese chain.

In Beijing alone, orders for 600 dinner sets were sold last year, and the number is likely to exceed 1,000 for this Spring Festival, says Wu Haiyan, its director in Beijing.

One factor behind the growth in home deliveries, Wu says, is the "lazy economy", in which more and more Chinese, especially younger people, are willing to pay others to do the things they cannot be bothered doing themselves.

"Few young people cook these days, and when you go to buy food ingredients, you hardly ever see a young face," Wu says.

One of the restaurant chain's special home-delivery offerings for the Spring Festival is poon choi, literally a basin dish, a traditional dish often seen in South China at events where there are important guests or when festivals are being celebrated.