WF's Wedding

Last Saturday, I had another wedding dinner... yup... I supposed we're at a somewhat marriage age kua since everyone nowadays is talking about getting married. Anyway, with no disrespect intended to the wedded couple, this is by far the worst wedding dinner that I ever had... and this actually is worse than the time I had my wedding dinner in a basketball court!

The place that I had the wedding dinner is at Trader's Hotel... and talk to anyone in Penang and they'll tell you it's one of the more expensive hotels in Penang. So, I was expecting really good services and food there. Well, the food is okay (detailed explanation later) but the services were just terrible. I had to wait three meals before my glass of orange juice was refilled and the glass of red wine came only in the third dish! Of course, poor services alone is not enough to set me off. This is also the first time that I am unable to sit at my allocated place. I'm unsure if the couple miscalculated or their guests brought in 'extra' people, but from name list that were pasted in front of the ballroom, my table is supposed to have eight people only... and to my horror, when I went into the ballroom, all ten places were filled! And the other 5 people ( 5 others are my friends, the other 5 are strangers) just sat there as like nothing happened. So, in the end, I had to sit at another table while one of my friends volunteered to accompany me.

I dare not even drink the water until the dinner officially started since I'm technically sitting at other people's place. And to make things worse, another person came along with 3 children making the total people at the table to be at eleven! It was really cramped. And those three little devils really can eat! They ate even more than me!

Whew! Now that I have got it all out of my chest, let us continue to talk about the dinner. First thing that I noticed is that this is also the brightest ballroom I've ever eaten in. All other wedding dinners that I attended in other hotels have dimmed lights and I had to use flash to take photos. This hotel however, the ballroom is bright enough that I can take good pictures without flash! And the first thing I noticed is that this hotel served cupcakes for starters! It's chocolate cupcake with strawberry flavoured cream on top! Very nice!

Chocolate cupcake

Setting of the table...

The wedding started half an hour later than the time mentioned on the invitation card (typical!) but the bridesmaid had the nerve to say that they started on time! Anyway, the wedded couple entered the ballroom being led by two really cute children playing violins! They played quite well but the keys sort of went off the mark towards the end :P. Then, on the stage, another person performed his clarinet (I think) blowing skills.

Clarinet (I think) player...

My three drinks!

Five Dish Combination comprising of fish acar with ginger flower, fresh prawn salad and fruit cocktail, kung po style yellow eel with dried chilies, deep fried pandan chicken and pa fa roll with siew chap. Whew, that's a long description, but the prawn salad and yellow eel are the only two delicious dish in this dish :P. Others can be forgotten especially the siew chap.

Shark's Fin Soup with dried scallop, bamboo pith and crab meat. This is also quite nice, but then again, you'll have to be one crappy chef to make a terrible shark's fin soup. However, the texture of this soup is diff rent from the normal ones... it's more gel like... most likely a result of the bamboo pith.

Close up on the soup... the waitress serving us gave us only have a bowl each!

Steamed Herbal Chicken Wrapped in Glass Paper... so so only... the chicken felt dry and rough... the steamed duck I had the week before is much better.

Braised Mexican Abalone with Black Mushroom and Broccoli... I supposed I shouldn't comment on this dish since I don't really like abalones... for me, the broccoli actually tasted better :P

Wok Bakes Prawns with Cheddar Cheese... by far, the star dish of the day! I don't really like eating prawns (with shells on :P) and I actually ate three that day! A must try.

As usual, it's now time for the bride and groom to make their speech on the stage... but it's strange that only the grooms speaks...

Just to show how bright the ballroom is... no flash used...

The usual champagne drinking/cheering... also another strange thing... there's no wedding cake! And the groom did not pour the champagne!

My other friends... strange... now I noticed that we all wear specs!

Deep Fried Grouper with Sweet and Sour Sauce... my mum said that the only time that a restaurant would tell you to deep fry a fish is when they had a not so fresh fish to unload :P... anyway, although it doesn't look nice, the sweet and sour sauce is nicely made.

Glutinous Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaves... as usual, the 7th meal is something that will make sure you'll feel full... nothing worth mentioning... except that I'm still not full after the 7th dish! Those three children are like piranhas!

Double Boiled Yellow Pear and Snow Fungus with Red Dates... just when I said last week that it was my first time having a hot 8th dish at wedding dinners, here it is again... maybe it's a common dish in Penang here? Anyway, this one is much, much better than the one I had at Evergreen. It's sweeter! Though my friends said it's too sweet...

Close up...

Some random pics...

Same as above...

Pic taken with groom... one thing I noticed in this dinner is that everyone left really early!It was around 10.30pm and it's Saturday! The wedding dinner I attended last week stopped at around 11pm and it was a Sunday night and there were still tonnes of people left! This time, I can actually take picture with the groom without interruptions! Most table were already empty before the 8th dish came!

Pic with bride and groom... I know, it's not clear... don't blame me... blame the photographer!

Anyway, I'm really dissatisfied that night... since I did not have the chance to catch up with my friends who some of them traveled from Johor! Anyway, it's not the wedded couples fault (I think :P) and I wish you both have a wondrous and exciting journey ahead!