US
Contents
| Introduction The Set The Box The Instructions |
The Parts The Build Conclusion |
Introduction
Celebrating with your family surely is a common tradition in (probably) all cultures. This new set takes a special look at this tradition in China on the Spring Festival as final (15th) day of the new years celebrations. In China many people work away from their families and that's why the family reunion during the new years celebrations is an very important cultural aspect for those. For that, the reunions even are factored in for the planning of construction sites or other projects. From February 10th 2024 until January 28th 2025 its the Year of the Dragon, which influenced this set, too.
A few years back Lego already released a set about the Chinese New Year's Dinner. We meet the same family again in this set, but this time they moved the celebration from home to a restaurant. According to other sources that's actually what many families in China did in the last years. The set has another reference to a set of this theme. In the Spring Lantern Festival set we met a couple, that wore matching pullovers and judging from the used Minifig heads this same couple celebrates the festival on the rooftop terrace in this set. For some more information about the background on this set you should read the interview with its designer Niels Frederiksen on New Elementary.
The Set
The official description of the set is:
Capture the joy of a LEGO® Spring Festival Family Reunion Celebration (80113) with this restaurant playset for kids aged 8 and up. The buildable toy model of a traditional Chinese-style restaurant is designed for easy access and play with the authentically detailed kitchen, reception area, dining room (including a buildable karaoke machine) and bathroom. The LEGO restaurant’s rooftop dining area is perfect for a romantic dinner to celebrate the Year of the Dragon, with a table for two, buildable patio heater, flowerpot, hanging lanterns and fireworks. There is also a buildable flower store, dim sum toy cart and street food cart to inspire creative play.
A super cultural gift idea for boys and girls, the set features 13 minifigures, including family members, 2 waiters and a unique, never-before-seen character in a Year of the Dragon costume.
This collectible toy for kids complements other sets (sold separately) in the LEGO Spring Festival range.
Buildable restaurant playset for kids – Recreate a Family Reunion Celebration to herald the Year of the Dragon with this LEGO® brick-built play-and-display model for boys and girls aged 8 and up
A toy kitchen and more – The roof and upper level of the restaurant lift off for easy play with the kitchen, reception area, dining room (including a buildable karaoke machine) and bathroom
LEGO® gift for 8-year-olds and up – The rooftop features a table for two, hanging lanterns, fireworks, and the set also includes a flower store, street food cart and dim sum toy cart
13 LEGO® minifigures to bring festive stories to life – 2 parents, 2 children, 2 grandparents, a tourist, a couple, a chef, 2 waiter minifigures, plus a character in a Year of the Dragon costume
Cultural gift idea for boys and girls – Give this 1,823-piece LEGO® building set as a Spring Festival gift to kids, friends and family to enjoy building and playing with together
Collectible building toy – This playset complements other building sets in the LEGO® Spring Festival range
Educational toy – There are interactive instructions on the LEGO® Builder app and the set contains instructions plus an illustration and description of a traditional Spring Festival family celebration
Build, play and display – This buildable, traditional Chinese-style restaurant model measures over 9.5 in. (24 cm) high, 11.5 in. (29 cm) wide and 6 in. (15 cm) deep
The set is available exclusively at the LEGO (online) store for $ 129.99 / € 99,99 / £ 89.99 / AU$ 199.99.
The set contains 1823 parts (plus 79 spare parts) and that results in a price per piece of 6.8 p/5,3 ct/ 4.7 ct/ 10.5 ct, which is great, especially considering the great amount of Minifigs.
The Box
The box measures 47.5 x 37.5 x 9 cm (21.3 x 11.1 x 2.3 in). It contains 12 numbered bags, the two flexible cables, two instructions manuals and one sticker sheet.
The Instructions
The two instruction manuals each measure 270 mm x 193 mm, have 167 & 151 pages and 430 building steps in total. The first manual starts with an illustration of a family dinner and offers a short explanation to this Chinese tradition in several languages. I would've preferred, if LEGO had put some background information about some of the details in the set on their meaning for Chinese culture or the New Years celebrations.
The instruction can be downloaded here.
The Parts
The set contains 1823 parts and 79 spares, in 41 colors, and 35 part categories, with a total of 503 unique parts/color combinations.
Main colors are:
- Black : 63 unique parts, 162 quantity.
- White : 59 unique parts, 154 quantity.
- Light Bluish Gray : 53 unique parts, 155 quantity.
Main categories are:
- Plates : 88 unique parts, 317 quantity.
- Plates Special : 54 unique parts, 230 quantity.
- Tiles : 49 unique parts, 169 quantity.
Minifigures:
1x Black Torso, Medium Blue Legs, Reddish Brown Hair
1x Bright Green Torso, White Legs, Black Hair
1x Bright Light Orange Torso, Dark Turquoise Legs, Light Bluish Grey Hair, Glasses
1x Chef - White Torso, Black Legs, White Hat, Dark Bluish Grey Beard
1x Dark Azure Torso, Olive Green Legs, Dark Red Beanie, Black Hair
1x Dark Azure Torso, Dark Red Legs, Black Hair
1x Kid - Bright Light Orange Torso, Dark Turquoise Legs, Black Hair
1x Kid - Red Torso, Tan Legs, Black Hair
1x Light Bluish Grey Torso, Dark Blue Legs, Light Bluish Grey Hair, Glasses
1x Pearl Gold Torso, Dark Orange Legs, Pearl Gold Dragon Mask
1x Waiter, White Torso, Black Legs, Black Hair
1x Waiter, White Torso, Black Legs, Light Bluish Grey Hair
1x White Striped Torso, Blue Legs, Black Hair
With this great lineup of Minifigs I won't withhold the backside of the torsos and heads from you, because they shouldn't be hidden. All of the torsos are printed, too, and many of the heads have a second face expression. I especially like the modification of the classic space logo with a dragon instead of a space ship on the couples backs. The 'food-dragon' on the staff's torsos is also funny.
New Parts and Colors:
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Torso, Tang Jacket, Dark Turquoise Laces, Belt print, Bright Light Orange Arms, Yellow Hands
Bright Light Orange
5234
Plant, Peach
Bright Pink
67095
Tile Round 3 x 3
Pearl Gold
79389
Bracket 1 x 1 - 1 x 2
Reddish Brown
60479
Plate 1 x 12
Medium Nougat
98138pr0375
Tile Round 1 x 1 with Noodles print
Medium Nougat
Rare Parts and Prints:
68211
Bar 1L / Stem with 3 Sprouts/Prongs
Light Aqua
2453b
Brick 1 x 1 x 5 with Solid Stud
Sand Green
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Torso Cardigan, Knitted with Buttons, White Undershirt Print, Light Bluish Gray Arms, Yellow Hands
Light Bluish Gray
3028
Plate 6 x 12
Dark Orange
With this quite large set we got a great pile of spare parts (the second tile with 'Noodle'-print accidently got in there, which I noticed too late. It should be in the bowl the waiter carries, so its no spare):
The Build
Bag 1
We start off with a little cart, probably for noodles, but I'm not sure, what the studs should represent. Then we move to the base of the restaurant, that surprisingly uses quite a lot of different plate colors. The pavement is tiled up and got two smooth round edges using the 3x3 macaroni tile alongside its long-known 'companions'. The tourist is the first Minifig to come along our way in this build and we're going to see the lineup grow with every bag.
Bag 2
The base is finished at the beginning of the next bag with the edge on the side. The first room we built is the kitchen. We see two great uses of a turntable as A/C on the outside and as stove with open flames (which is common for chinese kitchens). The stove is cleverly built upside-down around a 2x2 plate with two studs on the side. After we put the poultry on the hook the Chef can't wait to start cooking. In the background you can see the first used sticker, which shows the cook with family celebrating New year's at the 80111 Parade (see the bunny mask?).
Bag 3
Right next to the kitchen the stairwell leads up to the dining room. Its built on a few arches and gets a pretty precious look with dark red 1x3 jumper tiles. You might recognize the small picture in the stairwell: its one half of the recent Lunar New year Display set. We also use the first of in total 19 new fence pieces with round ornaments, which offers a new variant of 'Asian Lattice' then we already have around, to create a nice round window. Next to it we use a sticker for the background of the flower stand. The symbol in the top left corner could be the (very fitting) mandarin symbol for 'blossom', which was also used in the beforementioned display set. The mom of the celebrating family comes along with this bag.
Bag 4
...nearly finishes the ground floor. We start with a very fun detail, a built-in fish tank in the wall with the new colored red 'herring'. The entrance is framed by some Chinese sayings in context of the New Year celebrations. If you want to know, what all the symbols on the stickers mean, you find that in this blog. Right behind the door is a receptionist's desk with a stickered screen. The first kid of the family is found in this bag, that comes along with a tile with dragon print, which was introduced in (again) the Parade set, but fits even more for this 'Year of the Dragon' set.
Bag 5
The new fence piece is not only used for windows, but also as room divider, which I think looks fantastic. Then the first level of roof shingles wants to be put on, which is a quite repetitive. But the attachment with hinge bricks on special plates works fine and the angle is secured with small double slopes, that the roof won't be in the way, when the top level is put on. The green ingots look great, but as I already experienced especially with dark green and dark blue parts in other sets they (all!) have a bothering small dot, which is more in a 'regular' green (you can see those on the third picture). That color defect isn't what you can expect from the quality standards LEGO holds up. With this bag the waitress or probably the 'Lady Boss' (there even is an Cantonese expression for them: si tau po, because they are quite common in Chinese restaurants).
Bag 6
Next we go outside of the building and take care of the surroundings. In the left corner is a flower stand and a small calligraphie station with Chinese/Mandarin symbols. The black flames as brushes are very fitting. The awning above the flowers resolve the different distances to the wall quite clever with technic bushes. Right in front of the restaurant a street seller of peaches has set up his small stall. Two locking hinges hold this sunblind in place at an angle, so no attachment to the restaurant is necessary. The family's grandma enjoys the fresh flowers and joins her loved ones.
Bag 7
We move on to the first floor with the dining room of the restaurant. The same technic for the lower part of the wall like in the ground level with 1x4x2 panels is used, that form a simple but quite effective structure. The second kid of the family is found in this bag. The table and the chairs are started but that's it for this bag.
Bag 8
The toilet is next with some simple furniture. That's a bit disappointing since we got some clever builds in other set's bathrooms, e.g. the Modulars, and 80113 is also a 18+ set. Much more interesting are the SNOT-techniques used for the windows and the decorative beams in between. A combination of SNOT-bricks and inverted and (not inverted) bracket get studs in all the right places all in on 1x1 stack. Not a new technique but very effective for tight spaces. The designers put two references to the Monkie Kid-theme in this set. The sticker right above the foor to the bathroom shows The Heavenly Realms and the screen of the karaoke machine shows the Monkie Kid and Mei singing. The dad of the family seems to love karaoke and won't put the microphone down.
Bag 9
We finish up the windows, which are beautiful with the new fence piece. I already like that more than the older one. The forms seem much more organic. We put the most beautiful sticker in place and secure the windows with some plates on top. The outward beams are decorated with lotus blossoms consisting of a leaf and a frog, which was already used in the Botanical Garden set. Grandpa captures all those detail with his camera (and probably a lot of family pictures as well).
Bag 10
We put the final bits of this floor together. A small food cart comes its way (I'm not sure if it supposed to be used inside or outside the restaurant). The roof shingles on this floor got a more wheathered look with some 'broken' ones here and there. The waiter was very business putting a lot of food on the tabel, which looks wonderful once finished.
Bag 11
The final floor: the rooftop dining area. Right away when buildilng the base plate you notice that there are no stairs to this floor, which is a bit odd, because there are stairs to the first floor, but understable considering the limited space here. Two small builds (patio heater and flower box) next to the table nearly fill up all the space. The young couple comes out of this bag with their really cool torsos.
Bag 12
The final bag after a really entertaining build brings us some decoration all around the building. The cables with the lanterns finally come in place. A small tangerine tree is put next to the entrance and the restaurant gets a big sign with the same dragon we found on the backside of the staff's torsos. There is also a reference to the founding year of the LEGO group in 1932. And finally the Minifig with the dragon mask, which accompanied us through the building process at the bottom of every page, completes the Minifig line up of this set. It seems to be the seller of the peaches.
Conclusion
The final set looks amazing. There are nice details all over the build and it's a lot of fun to discover all of them, including the many references to other Lego sets. I like that the pavement is filled with those little stands, which make this much more interesting than just a lamp post or a fire hydrant. The mix of decent and bright colors is wonderful for the eye and its not too much despite we can count a lot of different colors.
The interior is very thoughtful. Many important elements for the story of this set have found a spot in the very tight space of this set. The back wall of the receptionist's desk is easily removable for better access. The set has quite a few NPU, but overall an 18+ set could included some more clever or advanced buildilng techniques. Don't get me wrong, the build is very well executed and effective, but there wasn't a technique that had real a 'WOW'-factor.
Last point are the Minifigures. 13!!! That's a lot and most of them look fantastic and have some new prints or molds. Also the variety is great, which allows a good story telling, if you want to embrace the play factor of this set. The Minifig count adds up to the already good price of the set. Its a good sign in my opinion, that Lego kept the price of the biggest New Years sets the same as in the last years, even this set has more parts than the previous sets.
I enjoyed building this set. It is at least one of the best sets of the theme, maybe the best. What do you think? If you like, you can turn this set in a modular building to add to your city with the instructions available here.
Disclaimer: Anything said in this post is the opinion of the author and not the designer.
Parts- and build photographs by Chricki (© 2024 Rebrickable)
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In this review:
Family Reunion Celebration
TAGS
21257-1 The Devourer Showdown
10 COMMENTS
A small note on the review itself. There really needs to be a bit of proof reading done, as the amount of mistakes and spelling errors in this review is far too many. There were a couple of sentences I struggled to make sense of.
maybe buying it