Family Get Together Dinner @ Orchard Hotel Neroli Room (30 April 2012)

Counting down to 61 days to our wedding, we had our family get together dinner at Orchard Hotel Neroli room at 7 30pm. I guessed both dear and I were very nervous about it. This is the first time our parents meet up. The dishes are:

1) Five happiness combination. We have changed the braised duck to roasted cripsy duck. Cousin commented that the beancurd is nice. The chief gave lots of prawns.

2) Braised shark fins with conpoy and bamboo piths. I think this is the worst dish for the day. So, we decided to change to braised shark fins with crabmeat.

3) Sauteed prawns with cashew nut and and celery. We changed the original dish of honey pea to celery. Parents felt that the prawn was salty but I felt it was ok. But, we did commented to the chef at the end of dinner to make it less salty. Prawn was very fresh. We also moved this dish to the 5th dish for our banquet as the 1st dish have prawns already.

4) Steamed garoupa in Hong Kong style. I think this is the best dish. Fish looked small but quite meaty. Fish is very fresh. Since we shifted the prawns to the 5th dish, this fish became the 3th dish for our banquet.

5) Crispy roasted chicken. The chicken is served rather hot and very crispy, so taste rather good. Dear said that the crackers taste nice though I feel okay only. Since we shifted the prawns to the 5th dish, this chicken became the 4th dish for our banquet.

6) Braised whole conpoy with sliced top shell and spinach in oyster sauce. This is the only vegetable dish of the banquet. It was served with hot steam. I think the dish will taste good to the older folks after eating 5 dishes of meat.

7) Stewed double happiness E-fu noodles. Dear commented that they served with lots of ingredients (carrots and mushrooms) for our food tasting. I felt this dish taste good too. For the super big eater who still feel hungry after 6 dishes, this 7th dish would hopefully give you the full feeling.

8) Sweetened red bean paste with lotus seeds and dried lily buds. Our initial plan was to try this red bean paste for our food tasting and select mango pudding for our banquet. I was expecting a very thick red bean paste but it turned out to be rather watery. The taste is nice and special. Probably due to the lily buds, it gave it a unique taste. It seemed like bubu mum like this dish also. Since this dish has a very good blessing chinese name (百年好合红豆沙) as compared the other 2 desert choices, we eventually decided to keep to this dish. I was thinking most people will want to have something sweet after 7 dishes of meat, seafood and vegetables. So, this dish is also more suitable than the mango pudding which may taste slightly more sour.

The family get together dinner food tasting ended at around 9 20pm. It did not turn out as bad as I thought it might be. I am so glad, so much relieve now.

To end the day, dear managed to purchase a puma sports shoes within 15 minutes in Isetan just before it closed for operation.