The reason why I always look forward to a wedding banquet at Mandarin Oriental Singapore is the food. (That, aside from wishing the newly-weds well).
When I found out that a friend would be throwing her wedding lunch at the hotel, I circled the date on my calendar repeatedly and set a countdown alarm on my phone. This unusually high enthusiasm for a wedding stemmed from attending my cousin’s wedding dinner at the very same ballroom one year ago, and up till today, my mom and I would randomly rave about the sublime baked cod fillet or the chili crab mantou (this is how chili crabs should be served).
The seven-course wedding lunch kick-started with the Mandarin Oriental Combination Platter aka the customary cold dish, which happened without the dramatic dry-ice and Kitaro number combo. It was one of the best wedding appetisers I have had. Usually, I would leave some portions untouched like the chilled tough octopus shreds or slimy seaweed squares. Not for this appetiser – every morsel was a winner. In pole position were the cubes of roast pork. If noise was an indication to how good the food was, the golden brown crackling that blanketed the meat was quite a loud mouthful. I had to chew on the crisp meat skin carefully to keep the crunching sounds at bay. The Salmon Toast is a maverick on the plate. Not to be mistaken for fried sesame balls, the bite-sized toasts are deep-fried with salmon chucks fixed on top like a canape, though I must say that the salmon taste was knocked out by the fried oil. Rounding off the plate were drunken chicken, soya duck and the perennial prawn salad. Needless to say, the roasted pork cubes vanished in a flash.
The customary second item soup was the soul-warming double-boiled Bird’s Nest, with chicken and American Ginseng. With a fish maw floating on the surface, the soup was very flavourful, and had no globs of oil floating on the surface. This definitely warrants the premium price tag on wedding feasts at Mandarin Oriental hotels.
Then came the scallops fried with XO sauce. Last year, they were served with black pepper sauce which masked the sweetness from the scallops. It was paired with celery, red pepper and an innovative deep-fried yam apple. The crunchiness of the yam pillow and celery were deftly offset by the plush cushions called scallops.
The main meat of the banquet was a gelatinous and generous mound of braised pork knuckle. The igloo-shaped meat chuck sat on a pool of burgundy wine sauce, garnished with mushrooms. The skin was the knuckle was almost jelly-like and tore easily when prodded. The heaviness of the starch-laden sauce made the meat more hefty.
The baked cod fillet was done just nice – the gentle aromatic of the baked fish allowed the heady teriyaki flavour to come through.
Chili Crab Mantou is a signature at wedding banquets at Mandarin Oriental, and I feel that this is how chili crab should be served – fuss-free and without the need to dirty one’s hands. There’s no need to fret over cracking the shells, or digging out whatever silvers of crab meat that is nestled in the shell. The generous heap of crab meat is stirred with the rick chili crab gravy. All you need to do it poke some holes on the fried mini buns, and pour the gravy over the bun. It is a pity that this delicacy is only offered in wedding banquets. I can imagine this being a hot favourite either as an ala carte dish at the hotel’s Chinese restaurant Cherry Garden or at a buffet line booth at Melts The World Café.
The finale was a hazelnut royaltine – a block of light hazelnut mousse sandwiched between crunchy feuilletine sheets, rounded off with a spot of tarty strawberry compote.
Wedding favours were an old-school letter-opener embellished with a “Double Happiness” key chain (definitely a classier way of opening my bills) and a strawberry jam imported from France.
Now when will be the next wedding meal at Mandarin Oriental?
MyNoshPit paid for this meal (via an Ang Bow)
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KENNEATS | Scribbles on Nibbles 
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