Sunday, August 13, 2006

I Do... Love Weddings!

As I've said before, weddings are an ideal forum for learning great entertaining ideas. My beau and I attended a stunning wedding and wedding reception at Hong Kong East Ocean Restaurant in Emeryville, California this weekend, and were able to eat like Kings and Queens. Although this post will be easy on the eyes (and my tongue, as I won't be writing much), I hope you enjoy the pictures and are inspired! Sorry, I accidentally did not snap photos of the soup or the dessert, and I apologize that most of the pictures are blurry--we were hungry and wanted to dig in immediately. Thus I had to act quick and snap action shots!

I'll be posting full-length, descriptive posts soon--I'm pretty busy this week. Also, with the pictures, I'm providing the menu names of the dishes. (I love the way Chinese restaurants translate the names of their dishes!)

Barbecue Assortment Platter (cool and refreshing):


Jumbo Prawn Salad with Honeydew Sauce (the prawns and honeydew were deep-fried in a tempura-like batter) :

Garden Vegetables (a fancy way to say "broccoli") with Sun-Dried Scallops Topping:

Royal Shark Fin Soup with Shredded Chicken (a must-have classic at every Chinese wedding) and Crackling Peking Duck Skin with Steamed Bread Pockets and Shrimp Chip Crisps:

Imperial Braised Lobster:

Crispy Roasted Chicken:

Steamed Fresh Catch (Angler):

Yang Chow Fried Rice:

Warm Puree of Red Beans with Lily and Chinese-Style Cake (airy and light sponge cake with fresh strawberries, kiwi, frosting, and fruit cocktail inside):

Congratulations to the happy couple!

10 comments:

  1. Oh man...I'm dying! That spread is so scrumptious! I think my eyes would glaze over and I'd be muttering unintelligible dribble after I was done with a meal like that. And I'd be happy.

    Thanks for sharing those pics.

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  2. wow, back to back entries! I echo what elmomonster said. Scrumptious is a great word to describe this entry. Those dishes look simply ambrosial.

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  3. oooh why don't i get to go to weddings like that!?

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  4. Hi Passionate Eater,

    I love these Chinese wedding banquet photos. I'm a Taiwanese-American born and raised in Silicon Valley who's found himself in Southern California for the past seven years. I was linked to your blog from Elmomonster's. Reading it really sends me back to the great Chinese eats I used to enjoy in NorCal. Plus, the wedding banquet photos came at just the right time, since my fiancee and I are currently planning our's.

    I just started a food blog of my own here. Would you mind taking a quick look and giving me some feedback? I'd really appreciate it.

    - Chubbypanda

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  5. I was happily full Elmo Monster! And your comment put it better than I could have, thus, the lack of substance in my post is justified! Haha, I think I am going to do that from now on! I am just going to post pictures without any explantory text, and refer readers to your site!

    I love that you used "ambrosial" Goldfishy 5 26! When I think of "ambrosia," I immediately recall the desserts that we used to have for elementary school lunches--you know, the liquidy desserts made with marshmallow topping and fruit cocktail, and served in pleated paper cups? Thus, although it is a positive word, it has a negative connotation in my mind! Reverse psychology I guess.

    I probably would say the same about the weddings that you get invited to Pink Nest! Many of my friends have been invited to weddings in New York, and they unanimously agree that those are the best weddings they've been to.

    Welcome to the food blogging world Chubby Panda! First, congratulations on the launch of your new blog, and second, congratulations on the engagement! Let me know if I can help with the wedding planning!

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  6. I'm with Pinknest....any wedding I've been to pales in comparison food-wise to this one!

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  7. Not true at all Rachel! The pictures of food from the last wedding that you went to looked fabulous!

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  8. How weird. I was at HKEO for a wedding reception recently too... (8/5) and we had pretty much the same thing you did. A little bit different. I actually loved the rice dish the most. It was yin-yang (came out in two sides), very tasty.

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  9. Funny Jeff L! The beau and I looked up the banquet prices at Hong Kong East Ocean Restaurant, and found that their most popular and affordable wedding banquet meal was exactly this one! Should the beau and I be seeing a repeat of this feast for your pending nuptials?

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  10. hahaha, how's Church's fried chicken for a wedding reception feast? =P

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