Dory's wedding

Third wedding of the month and this time, it's in Ipoh. Now come to think of it, this is the first time I attended a wedding in Ipoh. Luckily, Doryfish gave me a super precise map to me and I was able to find the Overseas Restaurant without any problem... though I had some problem returning back to home, since some roads I took is a one way road :P.

The night did not go off very well for me. First, there's this super heavy rain while I was on my way to Ipoh. The last time I experienced such heavy rain was while I was in Shah Alam. The rain is so heavy that I can't see anything more than 5m away from me! And I almost took the wrong exit from the highway :P. Previously, the exit to Kinta City was the first exit after the toll booth... now, it's the second exit... luckily I noticed the road sign before making the turn!

The next thing that happened to me was that I entered the wrong wedding dinner! The person standing in the front door was inviting me in already before I managed to scan the name displayed in front. Then, she asked if I'm a friend of Vincent... well, I know Dory's husband, but not sure if he got English name or not... so I mentioned Dory's name and she nodded her head! So, she led me to this table where I recognized no one! I was already starting to think that Dory placed me with the unknowns from her department :P. Then, the reception person led me to the groom and I realized that this man does not look anything like Dory's husband! And the groom said that he don't know who I am! How embarrassing! Luckily, I still haven't handed over the ang pow!

You can't really blame me for walking into the wrong ballroom. Dory's side of the ballroom is very secluded ler. Have to walk past a dark alley one!

The stage setting...

Cute little presents... didn't manage to taste it... forgot to take it back :(, but everyone else at the table were unimpressed by the food that were wrapped inside :P

The menu...

Super lots of lights lighting up the stage...

The wedding dinner did not start without a hitch. Apparently, the wrong song was played during the bride and groom entry. And I think Dory mentioned that this mistake happened during the rehearsal. Besides, Dory is supposed to have arranged the songs in the right order... so the restaurant people just need to play from the top to bottom... how they managed to get it wrong, I have no idea! And usually, after the march in of the bride and groom, it's usually followed by the long speech about the bride and groom by the MC and after that, the first dish will be served. However, after the walk in, there was more 15 minutes of 'nothing happen' time before the first dish was served. Anyway, after the initial hiccup, everything went smoothly afterwards.

The first dish... hot and cold combination platter... I have to say that it is one of the best... the supposedly hot dish is hot and the cold dish is cold... unlike most of the previous ones, all also cold :P.

First time have second dish that is not a shark's fin soup... this is more like a mixed variety... almost like the "Buddha Leaping Over the Wall" thingy... go chicken, herbs, abalone, shark's fin and maybe sea cucumber kua... not very sure... since I just gulp down everything... also taste quite nice!

The prawns served were fresh too and the it was nicely done... very succulent... I actually had two prawns... I have never ate more than one in any wedding dinner.

The thousand level wedding cake... of course fake one ler :P... at first I thought it was champagne glasses... I was sitting at the far back end of the room and was too lazy to walk to the front. Though I don't know why half of the cake was covered with flowers... not enough to cover the whole of it? :P

It has been a really long time since my eyes ever feasted on this miracle dish! Beauty and sin in the same plate! Super crispy, super nice! Of course, the girls were all taking out the best part of the dish before eating it... how terrible!

The Three Treasures... guess what are they... this is supposed to be a nice dish... but compared to the other sinful dishes, it did not manage to show off it's glory loh :P

Sweet and Sour Deep Fried Fish... I think this is not the same dish as the one mentioned in the menu... but never mind! Super good, super nice and superbly done! Even with the gravy, the deep fried fish is still super crispy and the sweet and sour sauce is a perfect combination of sweet and sour!

Again, another dish well done... very tasty and very aromatic... definitely a must try!

Alas, the final dish is the one with the lowest score... the lotus seeds are still very hard... a good lotus seed soup is supposed to have soft lotus seed... the lotus paste pau is nice though...

Having wedding dinner at the Overseas Restaurant reinforced my belief that only a restaurant is able to cook up a nice mass dinner. Hotel food are good but only when it's an overpriced buffet or when ordered ala carte... they seemed to be unable to provide good food for mass dinner... or maybe it's the Chinese style dish that they are unable to excel in. Anyway, in conclusion, Chinese restaurants trumps hotels! They said that the ang pow for wedding dinner at hotel should be more than the one in restaurant... I say it should be the other way around... why are we giving more money for more terrible food? :P

The service at the Overseas Restaurant is very good too... my glass of drink never reach below the two third empty line... the kept on filling up my drink every chance they got... though I noticed that a lot of the waiters are very young... this waiter near my table looked so young that he could have passed off as a Form Three student :P

(At the request of the bride, I shall not post any pictures with the bride and the groom)

CK's wedding

Attended second wedding meal this month... it was my colleague's and for the first time, I had a wedding lunch. I think having lunch instead of dinner is better in several ways. First, I personally preferred brightly lit rooms rather than rooms lit with 'romantic' yellow lights. Next, I'm partially blind at night, so driving at night is a really dangerous thing for me to do. Third, since I don't have air-cond in my room, enjoying lunch in an air-conditioned room is a brilliant idea!

Also, it has been quite some time since I last attended a wedding in a restaurant. The name of the restaurant is Sea Palace. Youngsters nowadays preferred hotels, which I really have no idea why. First, they are more expensive (mainly due to the red wine, I supposed) than restaurants and the food generally sucks... the only redeeming value in having wedding meals in hotel is that there would be an abundance of car parking lots.

Setting of the restaurant... simple and efficient... no menu though... so every meal is a surprise!

Cake and champagne... it's regrettable that I can't show the wedding photo slideshow... it was one of the best that I have seen so far...

Stage deco...

First meal, as usual, mixed platter... this one however, has four types only, which is the least types that I had in all the wedding dinners I have been to... however, apparently, less type means higher quality... the food is quite nice and still hot! And the one on the left is thin duck slices... very nice!

Shark's fin... this one though, is a little bit watery... I prefer a more gel like shark's fin soup...

Herbal chicken... again... though better than the one I had in Kampar, it still doesn't avoid the fact that chicken when cooked until so tender, will cause the meat to be rough and dry... a duck would have been a better substitute...

Prawns... a little bit tasteless, but it is quite fresh since the meat is still springy :P

Abalones, mushroom and vege... normal lah...

It's quite rare for a wedding meal to serve fish of any flavour other than steamed fish... this one, I think is nonya style fish... the gravy is quite nice... sour and spicy! The looks though, needs some improvement :P

Again, this is the first time I was served with such a small portion of rice. Usually, the fried rice (in this case, lotus leaf rice) served on the seventh meal is quite large... but I tell, you this dish is very good... and I usually don't like lotus leaf rice since I don't like the lotus leaf smell...

The emcee of the day... this one is much, much better than the one in Kampar... even though he sang songs in a deep baritone, it isn't uneasy to the ears... partly thanks to the good sound system... meaning they don't have oversized speakers placed all around the restaurant... it's just loud enough to fill the hall...

The groom who started with a glass half full of champagne and is still holding a glass half full of champagne even though he's more than halfway through the 'yam seng' table rounds :P

"Yam seng"...

Last dish, iced longan... nice!

The whole lunch lasted for 1 hour and 45 minutes (if counted from the first dish served)... which could have ended much, much earlier if not for the waiters waiting for the wedded couple to finish their rounds before serving the final dish.

Anyway, in conclusion, even though the food at the Sea Palace is nothing to shout about, it is generally above average and when compared to hotel food, it's like heaven and earth. So, conduct your weddings in restaurants ler :P... or maybe you should try the western style one... I never had a western style full course meal before lah :P

Car Accidents and Curiousity

I was driving in my car yesterday listening to the radio when I heard something really funny and impossible.

There was a car accident in a highway and the lane where there's accident had car jam up till 1km distance. The lane on the other direction, which did not have car accident, has car jam up till 2km length because everyone is stopping to have a good view!

Humans never ceased to amaze me... if you want to help, then by all means, stop by the side of the road and help, but if you're not helping, you're just making it difficult for ambulances to reach the accident site! It is my theory that humans slow down to watch a car accident not only because they are curious but also to show concern. By slowing down, they are trying to say that they want to help but they can't since they have some other things better than to save a stranger. If you don't want to save someone, drive away and let others come and save them... there's no need to act all concern about it only to prevent others who wanted to help by jamming up the road... not to mention, it affected me as well as they make me stuck in a car jam that theoretically is not supposed to be there!

CF's wedding

The month of October in year 2009 is officially the wedding month of the year. I was invited to attend to three weddings in a month! That is an unprecedented record!

This time around, it's my schoolmate's wedding Ms. Lim Chui Fun and she's marrying another senior from secondary school of mine too... though I found out about that only later that night :P The wedding dinner is carried out in the Grand Kampar Hotel! Never had wedding dinner there... it's the first big hotel in Kampar!

Center stage is rather small...

Cakes that we had because we were really hungry...

Some gal singing...

Table setting...

There is something common in between camwhoring and girls... :P

Five Seasons Hot and Cold Combination... which actually is all cold... I was expecting some piping hot food and it turned out to be some food left in the open for too long...

Shark's Fins Soup and Dried Scallops... which is okay, but the bowls that they gave to us is so big that Hamdan managed to fill up eight bowls only before running out of food... instead, he had to scoop the shark fins from previous bowls to fill up the ninth bowl... :P

Fresh Steamed Garoupa Fish... which has a rather dry and rough meat...

Steamed Chicken with Herbs... should have served duck instead of chicken... the chicken was too dry...

Taking a breather from food... presenting Siew Ling and May Foong...

Cake cutting ceremony...

Baked Prawns with Oats... I know the picture doesn't look nice. I wasn't using flash because the battery was running out... the prawns were edible, but I can't really taste the aroma of the oats...

Toasting ceremony... the spotlights on the stage made this picture look hideous...

Another one taken during dimmed lights...

The couples were asked by the MC to sing a song and their choice of the song was titled "We Don't Want to Sing"

Braised Mushroom with Broccoli... no comment... :P

The MC brought along a little girl to perform on stage... she's the only one who actually got applause after singing on stage...

What do you think this is? :P

Tadah! It's Lotus Leaf Fried Rice... the packaging looks nice... :P

Hamdam posing a super cool look...

Meow's pose...

A group of drunken people next table...

Final dish... Chinese Pancake and Lotus Seed Soup... actually, the best dish of the night!

For anyone interested in PMP...

In conclusion, I have expected better of the Grand Kampar Hotel... unless they pick up their cooking skills, they are gonna to lose to the great food served in restaurants around Kampar which have been here for decades!

There isn't many pictures on the wedded couple because my camera's batteries were dangerously low and Hamdan is really slow in giving me the pictures that he took using his super expensive SLR. I'll make sure to have my camera batteries fully charged in the second and third wedding dinner I'll be attending this month.