A Chinese Wedding Feast

A Chinese wedding is never complete without a feast that involves the sacrifice of dairy animals as well as an assortment of sea creatures. Usually a Chinese wedding feast involves an eight course meal. Yes, that is astounding considering the amount of food involved. The late afternoon feast was hosted at the Sea Palace Restaurant.

And here comes our first course. Sweet sour pork, prawns in mayonnaise, fried fish sticks and pork ball with sauce, completing the four seasons dish. The prawns are chilly but fresh, representing the winter solstice. The fried fish sticks on the other hand are bland and dry. Nothing much to be said here.

Shark fin soup, with a generous helping of crab flesh. I understand the moral implication involved in the consumption of shark fin. I wasn't expecting this on the menu and would have protested. But since it has already being served, it wouldn't be nice to waste.

This meal is best eaten with black vinegar. The acrid taste of the black vinegar will create a harmonious union with the slimy paste that makes up the shark fin soup. I have stated many times. I don't like bones and shells in my meal. Points added for the ample amount of crab flesh. Points deducted for the crab shell inside the soup which I have to manually remove.

Fried chicken meat draped with sliced mango as dressing. Separated by a border made out of pineapple, the duck sits in a stew of brown sauce that delivers a strong duck flavor to the taste. The duck meat is supple, passing my meat texture test with flying colors. Moving on.....

Steamed fish in soya sauce and mushroom. The flesh was papery and dry, failing my steamed fish flesh examination. A good one would have slick flesh, not too dry and moist. At least this one does not have the fishy smell associated with novice cooking. Nothing special here, lets move along.

Simple prawns fried in curry paste. The inner flesh of the prawn doesn't have the scent of curry on it. Pretty bland to my opinion. These prawns must have been rushed out from the kitchen, hence its condition. Usually the flesh of a finely fried curry prawn should be scented with spice. I understand that the chef is having a world of a trouble preparing for over 60 tables worth of guest. But a five star restaurant should not be serving such vile stuff.

My favorite, sea cucumber with white mushrooms as topping. If the Sea Palace Restaurant has been losing marks so far, I would add a few points over here. Let me get down to the details here.

The sea cucumber flesh is so tender and juicy. You could almost cry, eating this meal. Yes, it is that good. It takes quite some skill to turn the sea cucumber flesh into a juice slimy piece. An inexperienced chef would end up with a turgid, hard piece. The sea cucumber, marinated perfectly in the stew of mushroom was the crown jewel of this eight course meal. Nothing to complain here.

Fried rice, wrapped in lotus leaves. Very filling and appropriate as the second last dish on the menu. The rice is soft and aromatic, with a hint of nuts and mushrooms.

Still hungry after your eight course meal? Amazing. Perhaps you could try for an eating contest. Like the ending of all good meals, the finality of a Chinese feast must end with dessert. Sweet lai chi syrup with sea coconut. Note that the brown flesh floating inside the syrup is the coconut. Nothing to comment about here, the syrup is rather plain but refreshing nonetheless after two hours of food fest. It took us all a little trouble to fit into our cars after the meal, but all is well.

The judges have been satisfied and now we are ready to give the verdict.

Cleanliness: 9/10

Wait time: 8/10

Deliciousness: 6/10

Economical: 6/10

Location: Lebuh Pekaka 1, Taman Pekaka, 11700 Gelugor, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

GPS Coordinates: 5.349068/100.295206