Chinese Wedding Celebration at Parkroyal Hotel, Penang
Did you like this article? Share it with your friends!
*This article was published in the New Straits Times (Life & Times) on 20th September 2010.
Wedding dinner held in hotels has seen a huge increase in popularity over recent years. Many venues are having fabulous packages done up by professional wedding planners and banquet team for the wedding dinner reception. Most of the packages displays many specialties catering to the various ethnic groups with everything tailored to each respective needs.
I got the pleasure of being invited to the wedding banquet food tasting session held in Parkroyal Hotel, Penang. The ambiance was simply stunning; the romantic setting of flowers and soft dim lights coupled with tables decorated with tablecloths, exquisite center piece and gold chair covers. Besides that, the floral arrangements and the bouquets of flowers was a sight to behold.
Fried Tiger Prawns served in a delightful basket!
There are several Chinese wedding banquet packages offered by Parkroyal Hotel to suit your needs – the Double Happiness, Dragon Phoenix and Golden Emperor, priced from RM788++ onwards per table, for a minimum booking of 20 tables up to a maximum of 38 tables. The wedding couple can select their favorite dishes from the wedding dinner package.
The Dragon Phoenix Wedding Package menu, which is priced at RM888 per table was chosen for the night. It included a sumptuous 8-course dinner with a wide range of appetizers, hot soups, seafood, meat, vegetables and desserts. The traditions behind certain dishes were still maintained while some were given a new twist by the resort’s Chinese chef Wong Chee Seng.
As with the commonality in menus of every wedding banquet, traditional Chinese wedding foods termed with connotations of wealth, fortune, longevity and romance are served.
For the opening course, the Parkroyal Eight Combinations Platter was presented. The platter was not what one would expect, it was huge with a total of eight combinations! It was a favorite for many as there was different textures and flavors ranging from the small crunch of the aromatic soft shell crab and deep fried breaded scallop to the meaty chicken, steam dumplings and juicy prawns smothered in creamy sauce.
Shark’s fin soup is a traditional dish at Chinese weddings. The Shark’s fin Broth with Dried Scallop, Crabmeat & Bamboo Piths has a nice body of flavor, with the sweetness of the crabmeat and the many different ingredients. The bamboo piths gave a crunchy bite. The soup went well with a few drops of Chinese vinegar.
There are many other soup choices if you wish to have this dish taken off the wedding banquet menu.
Next we were treated to the Deep Fried Boneless Chicken with Teriyaki Sauce. Delightfully crunchy on the outside yet tenderly juicy on the inside, the unique sweet teriyaki sauce added dimension to this dish!
I was instantly drawn in by the Fried Tiger Prawn with Butter Curry Leaf. The freshness of the tiger prawns combined well with the speckles of curry leaves. Each bite of the big and crunchy prawns was bursting with flavor!
The vegetable dish was a selection of Braised Black Mushrooms, Abalone Mushrooms and “Tau Kan” with Broccoli. The flavorful braised Tau Kan went well with the accompanying broccoli and the thick pieces of abalone and black mushrooms with a subtle sweet taste.
This was followed by the Steamed Garoupa with Nyonya Sauce. The fish was served whole, symbolizing a life of plenty and abundance. This dish went well with everyone with its beautiful sauce balanced with freshness and spiciness. Mint leaves were a delightful addition, too, topping off the fish nicely!
The Steamed Lotus Leaf Fried Rice with Dried Shrimp was very fragrant with generous bits of dried shrimp which imparted a distinctive flavorful taste.
The final course for the food tasting session was the desserts, which came in a combination of Chinese pancake with the hot creamy red bean soup. There was a healthy twist on the classics pancake. The pancake was baked to a golden brown hue with a nice crunch, instead of being deep- fried.
The red bean soup was slightly different from the norm, without the orange peel and creamier as the chef uses kidney beans.
Besides the beautiful 8-course dinner which will be held at the resort’s stylish Andaman Grand Ballroom, the Dragon Phoenix RM888 wedding package also include a one-night accommodation for the bride and the bridegroom in a Premier Junior Suite, buffet breakfast, and to commemorate your wedding anniversary, a complimentary one-night stay with buffet breakfast on your first anniversary!
The package is also inclusive of a ceremonial five-tier wedding cake, champagne fountain, individually wrapped fruitcake, digital backdrop, food tasting at 50% discount, pre-wedding cocktail of cordial and peanuts and free flow of Chinese tea.
Parkroyal have other wedding packages and themes from Malay and Indian to Western, all which can be tailored to your needs. For the many other options, presentation ideas or something a little different, do drop them a call or check into their website at www.parkroyalhotels.com
Parkroyal Penang
Batu Ferringhi Beach
11100 Penang
Tel : 04 8811133