We managed to cram a food-tasting session at MBS during the week that we were back in Singapore. It was also the first official Meet-the-Parents session between our parents themselves. As you can imagine, we were quite anxious in the days leading up to that evening. Fortunately or unfortunately, we had just finished our last-minute photoshoot with Feline Bridal and were very, very grumpy due to the bad weather that spoilt our entire shoot. But more about that in another entry.
Mr. C's folks arrived about 15 min earlier than the meeting time, whereas my folks got lost in MBS (hahahaha for the 3rd time) and arrived about 1 min before the dinner.
We were ushered into a little ballroom, which essentially was a smaller version of our actual ballroom, and took our places at the table. It was a tasting for 10 but we only had 7 people.
This will be our menu for the night. I really love everything on this menu!
The 1st course: Barbecued Whole Suckling Pig.
This dish was absolutely AMAZING! It was huge platter! I had actually assumed that it would be a tiny piglet only. Our co-ordinator very proudly told us that MBS is the only Hotel in Singapore that has the capacity to serve a whole suckling pig per table for more than 20 tables during weddings.
Verdict: Very crispy skin, very substantial amount of meat (usually suckling pigs don't have much meat since the skin is the star of the dish), and the sweet sauce complements the dish very well. Everyone loved the dish, and even Mum, who does not eat much, ate quite a few pieces in a single sitting. This dish is very impressive upon serving and is very unique since most Hotels only offer ordinary mixed combination platters as their 1st course.
The 2nd course: Double-boiled Chicken Soup with Sea Whelk and Dried Scallops
A generous portion of soup was dished out for everyone and it smelt very good.
Verdict: Everyone at the table loved this course the most, with the reason being that it was a very clear and refreshing soup. But for me, this was the dish that I disliked the most. It tasted really good and they were very generous with the scallops and sea whelks, but to me, my reason for disliking it was because I felt that it was too simple for a banquet. I felt that this could easily be cooked at home by almost anybody. Will have to chat to our folks about changing this to maybe the Lobster Broth from another menu.
The 3rd course: Steamed Marble Goby with Soya Sauce
This fish was huge! Again, it was impressive when served.
Verdict: The flesh of this fish was very tender and had a melt-in-your-mouth effect, perhaps even a little too much. I don't have too much to say about this dish, it's okay. It tastes very good, no doubt.
The 4th course: Stir-fried Scallops and Asparagus in XO Sauce
When this dish was served, we nearly fell off our chairs. The mountain of scallops was too damn high, and I'm not complaining!
Verdict: Everyone was shocked by the generous serving of scallops. I love scallops and I love asparagus, so this dish was a winner even before I tasted it. The sauce was absolutely delicious, sweet, salty and spicy all at the same time. The asparagus was also very well-done, they were very plump and crunchy (but not the uncooked kind of crunchy, of course) and the scallops, had a bite to it and felt very solid! The ones here in Australia tend to be very squishy and horrible. Anyway, this has got to be my favourite dish! I love it so much!
The 5th course: Braised Abalone with Green Vegetables
Verdict: No one said too much about this dish, I wasn't sure if it was because everyone was very full or because the dish was okay. My thoughts, I love the vegetables and how it was all done with the gravy, but I can't say I really like the abalone and this is not because it wasn't nice but because I don't usually eat abalone. The slices were a little thin though, and could have been thicker. Mr. C seemed to like it a lot.
The 6th course: Roast Chicken with Prawn Crackers
By this time, everyone was almost bursting at the seams when this was served.
Verdict: Presentation of this course was not impressive, the chicken wasn't visible as the prawn crackers covered the entire dish. We gave feedback to the chef to perhaps place the prawn crackers at the side instead. Although the chicken may look very plain, it certainly did not taste plain! It was very, very nice, and the meat was very tender! I tried the chicken breast and it was also very tender, which is good because this is usually the part that is the driest and hardest.
The 7th course: Braised E-Fu Noodles with Enoki Mushrooms
The noodles were served in a huge platter, and the presentation was kind of boring. I actually thought if there was a sprig of parsley on the top, the whole dish would look more appetizing. But anyway, we were seriously dying by this stage. Food coma.
Verdict: What the dish lacks in looks, made up for the taste. The noodles were very fragrant and very tasty! The texture of the noodles was springy and the gravy didn't seem to make it soggy at all, which was really surprising to me. We each brought home some noodles and the next day, they were still as yummy as before! Mad love this dish.
The 8th course: Yam Paste with Pumpkin and Hasma
I cannot emphasize, nor can my pictures show, exactly how enormous this bowl of dessert is. We were shell-shocked. I am an Asian plus I've lived in a Western country for over 6 years, food in general and serving sizes do not scare me but this was an exception. You could drown a person in this bowl.
Verdict: I was looking forward to this dish the most, as I really love this dessert. Yam paste is a traditional Teochew dessert and is essentially Yam blended in oil and sugar and served with coconut milk. Additional toppings such as gingko nuts, pumpkin paste and hasma (or hashima) are commonly included. Ours had all 3 popular toppings although I wish they didn't contain hasma. I only found out what hasma was during that dinner. It's basically fats taken from frogs! All my life, I thought it was just a fancy name for jelly. Anyhow, this dish was heavenly. I took care to avoid the hasma, haha. The idea of it is just really gross.
Overall, Mr. C and I are very, very, very happy with the quality and taste of the food served at MBS. Many contributors to wedding forums in Singapore have commented on how horrible the food is at MBS but honestly, I really don't think so. Mum and Dad said the food was very normal, but this is precisely the kind of food we like. We don't want anything too different or too fancy, just the normal traditional kind of food served for banquets.
We are very happy with our choice and very happy with MBS so far. Hopefully the same standard of food will apply on the night of our actual banquet as well!
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