My long distance uncle got married recently with his Shanghainese wife. A five years meeting united them as one after a couple of years. Congratulations to the newly weds! They had a simple weddings, instead of big chinese weddings that has 100s of tables. I am grateful for that because I never really get the whole big issue on having 100s of tables in an event.
A simple chinese wedding that based on Malaysian timing - started late and we were early! I waited and lounge at the restaurant for over two hours! The wedding was held in Loon Sing Restaurant in Kuchai Lama and it was horrendous to leave for that restaurant late because Old Klang Road can be so darn jam.
And that was the reason why the guests were late! It was either a bad jam or people get lost! So typical of Chinese weddings. However, my uncle is an expat in Shanghai and he grew up in Sweden with my aunties - so basically their mates are mostly foreigners and his bestmen were a French and a Swedish. How cool?
The wedding dinner will and always will start off with the Four Season. Basically it is a dish that tries to express the elements of Winter, Summer, Spring and Autumn. The first element of winter was expressed in the abalone. It was served in thin sliced under a thick layer of thinly sliced and stir fry vegetables which I can't remember the name. It was a delicious combination actually, the chewiness of the abalone topped with some rich sauce and with a mouthful of shredded vegetables.
The fried delicacy was a minced pork wrapped with salted egg yolks. The minced meat was well marinated and each bite was delicious with a rich amount of minced pork and the slight saltiness of egg yolk. I love the dish served with octopus. The octopus was thinly sliced and poached, served in a rich spicy sauce with celeries and white onions. The crunchiness of the celery and onions was incorporated with the chewiness of the octopus and the spiciness of the sauce. Perfecto! The brown delicacy with sauce was also another different type of meat - pork to be exact. Minced pork well seasoned with some different filling.
A different take on soup - instead of shark fin soup, we served ginseng soup boiled with dates, fish maw and chinese mushroom. I am not an avid fan of shark fin and I abstain from it whenever it is served. The soup is a refreshing take but not exactly to my liking. The soup was a tad too oily and dilute to my liking. It was tasty nonetheless and the fish maw was a plus point. Nutritional and also tasty!
What is a wedding without the signature sucklling piglet? Essentially, it is a baby pig that is roast to perfection. The skin is so well roasted that it ends with a crunch in each bite. As delicious as it is, it is crazily fattening, oily and adds calorie like nobody business. It's one sinful dish that I would have enjoyed if I weren't conscious about my weight, health and body.
Another different take at the dinner - steam fish. You don't usually get steam fish in wedding, maybe a steam white promfet but a snapper? Hmmm, different. The fish wasn't that fresh in my opinion, so I am not going to rave about the fish. My family are very particular when it comes to fishes, we rarely order fish when we are out for dinner anyways.
Prawns in two choice. The first choice will be boiled prawns over fresh honeydew and pear salad with an overdose of mayo. I LOVE the honeydew and pear salad. It was a cold dish by the way, so the combination of fresh juicy prawns and crunchy pear and soft honeydew is wonderful! The next choice will be the fried prawns in chili. The prawns were crispy, so crispy that I didn't bother removing the shell and just chewed it down.
Mushroom, abalone and brocolli in thick oyster sauce. Another staple in most weddings. I am a mushroom fan, so with this mushroom dish, I am satisfied. As much as I prefer portobello, this is fine too. Soft and deliciously rich in sauce. The abalone itself is cooked to perfection. Love this dish!
Glutinous rice - essentially a rice dumpling unwrapped before serving. I am disappointed with this dish because the rice was a little too hard, I felt that they had oversteamed the rice. It wasn't well seasoned either although it is rich in filling.
The array of dishes came to an end with dessert. The sea coconut in syrup was also partially disappointing. The sea coconut was soft which was to my liking, however, the syrup was not fragrance enough. Essentially, there was insufficient pandan leaf in the boiling process and they should add more sea coconut. The miserable amount of sea coconut is depressing!
The last dessert includes fried char siew bun and a gelatine like dessert with red bean paste filling. The minced pork fried bun was delicious and oily, but you can get good ones in the market too. I was more fascinated by the gelatine based dessert. It was cold and the gelatine was so well wrapped around the red bean paste. I actually love its texture. It was refreshing and delicious!
There goes my uncle's wedding dinner post. A typical 9-10 course meal. It is very common in chinese weddings but some of the dishes were a refreshing take from the usual menu.
-thevanillapudding-
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