The chinese wedding banquet is an important event for all chinese parents who’ve children have grown up and decided to dedicate their lives to being with someone else. It is a great celebration of love, family and fortune woven with traditions thousands of years old. This year, I’ve been to three such banquets and although I’m extremely happy for the my newly wedded friends, and am truly honoured that we were invited, I’m bloody glad they are over and that there won’t be anymore this year.
Like I said, chinese weddings are seeped with traditions; the tea ceremony, the door games, the red pockets… but the majority of these mini events which make up the wedding involve ‘fortune’ or as I see it = receiving money. You see, the tea ceremony is not only paying respects to your elders, it’s also a time where they give you money or gold. The door games, through all the fun of torturing the groom and his groomsmen, eventually ends with the bridesmaids not letting the groom in until he bribes them with money. I was extremely annoyed by how cheeky the girls were at one wedding who simply demanded £200 off the men (yes, Andy was one of the groomsmen), unwilling to budge. It’s meant to be a game, banter, fun! *shakes fist* I just don’t see why everything has to be about the money. As a 20th century chinese girl born in the UK, I guess I just don’t care about the importance of ‘face’. I’m sure this will annoy any chinese people reading this and I’m probably coming across as awfully ungrateful and never get invited to another banquet again, but really I do enjoy the whole experience of it all! I just wish there was less importance placed on the $!
Anyways, mini rant over. What I really wanted to talk about in this post is the food. Because the food makes the long (beautiful, emotional, amazing) day, worth it. You get to the restaurant, give your red pocket (as a general rule £50 if you don’t know them that well, up to £200 depending on how much you really love them – I see it as a cover of the costs of the banquet). And then the 12 course meal begins!
This beauty is very much like crispy aromatic duck, except the duck is replaced by juicy, crispy suckling pig and the pancakes by pillowy ‘char sui bao’ style bread. You spread plum sauce on the pancake, stick in a spring onion chilli stick, a piece of barbecued pig and BANG – Aromatic Crispy Pig Pancakes. It’s like an upgrade from duck pancakes and seeing as I love duck pancakes this was probably one of my favourite dishes of the night. The majority of chinese banquets I’ve been to the suckling pig is just on a big dish with no accessories, so I enjoyed Phoenix Palace’s interpretation.
Next up were ‘Crispy crab claw with mashed prawns‘ and ‘Sautéed conpoy with blackmoss and whole garlic‘. So unhealthy, but I love them deep-fried crab claws from the days when my mum used to make them home. I say make, but what I mean is deep-frying some frozen ones. I’m sure the ones at Phoenix Palace are lot more fresh. Conpoy is a form of dried scallop and has a much stronger flavour and firmer texture than fresh scallops, not my fave but the black moss made this unique dish enjoyable. Black moss is also known as ‘faat choi’, which has the double meaning of ‘hair vegetable’ and the Cantonese pronouncement of ‘striking rich’ (Gung hei faat choy – Wishing you wealth and posterity). Since it’s harvest is tightly controlled due to over farming, it’s price has gone up and is also symbolic at weddings because they’ve been able to afford it. It’s a unique taste that I can’t describe, as it is almost a bit like eating tasty noodle hair. Also, whole mushy garlic – divine.
The less I say about shark’s fin soup the better. I’m not entirely sure on the laws on it here and I’m conflicted with the whole animal conservation thing. But it tasted really good! >.< Lobster though, this is dish that I look forward to the most. Lobster baked with ginger and scallions. I am in love with whoever invented this dish. It’s the messiest thing to eat ever, but when it arrives you really don’t care about it getting on your dress, in your eye, in someone elses’ eye… as the lobster is so soft and delicious! Picked. Clean.
Next up was ‘Braised fish maw with abalone‘ on supreme oyster sauce and ‘Canton crispy chicken‘. Both great dishes and fish maw is the buoyancy bladder of a large fish. I know – what!? But it is a surprisingly tasty delicacy with a wonderfully smooth texture, and if you believe the chinese old wives’ tales, makes your skin smoother too. Crispy chicken, great. Not much to say about it except it would have been the only dish that our shellfish allergic friend would have been able to eat were it not for the prawn crackers laid on top. How cruel life can be.
Also on the menu were e-fu noodles, fujien fried rice and steamed seabass. E-fu noodes aka Longevity noodles is a dish selected for its symbolism as well as it’s taste. Fujien rice is also meant to be symbolic of a bright and wealthy life.
By this point, we’re fit to burst and we have the final dish of sweetened red bean soup with Lotus seed and some chinese petite fours which I didn’t eat as I was far too full. I’m sure the jelly looking stuff has a taste of coconut and the texture of turkish delight, and the bright orange nuggets are a lot like a biscotti.
So there you are, one version of a UK chinese wedding banquet. A coming together of friends and family to wish a very happy life for two beings on this earth and to eat, drink and be merry. And really is there anything more you’d want to see your friends doing?
Phoenix Palace Chinese Restaurant
5 Glentworth Street, London NW1 5PG
Tel: 020 7486 3515
Fax: 020 7486 3401
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