A 'n' J Wedding Banquet @ Marina Mandarin Hotel

Pricing: $$$$/5 (S$1,228+++ per table; min 20 tables)

Food: ♥♥♥♥/5

Ambience: ♥♥♥/5

Service: ♥♥♥♥♥/5

Website: http://www.meritushotels.com/en/hotelinformation/marina-mandarin-singapore/about

Location: 6 Raffles Boulevard, Singapore 039549

Da Rabbit was invited by her friend - Andrew to his wedding banquet!

We had a gathering and short catch-up @ Coffee Stars by Dao in early November to collect our wedding invitations from Andrew.

Le' Invitation Card

This was the invitation card provided by Marina Mandarin Hotel. The design was not bad actually although not that innovative ~

By the way, Andrew told us that his wife bought a seal during one of her overseas trip and hence they used it to stamp on their envelope with the "A&J" Initials which symbolised their union..

Le' Proposal

Besides passing us the invitation cards, Andrew did share with us on how he proposed to his wife and some tips on proposal.

He told us that he has once helped his guy friend in his proposal in Switzerland. That time, Andrew travelled with his wife-to-be and his friends to Switzerland for a holiday. In order to have the most memorable and romantic proposal, Andrew's friend whipped up an idea -- to propose on the peak of Mount Titlis. After making the necessary arrangements, they flew to the peak of the snow mountain via a helicopter. So, his friend proposed to his partner on the peak of Mount Titlis with the noise from the helicopter in the background and with Andrew helping out with the proposal ring.. Hence, Andrew said he was stressed as his friend had already set such a high standard, there is no way he can lose out in his proposal.

With the help of his relatives, Andrew did a proposal video clip and incorporated it into a DVD. As their families were enjoying a chalet together, Andrew gathered all the family members into the hall on the pretext of airing some movie which he had prepared. After 5 minutes into the movie, the proposal video clip popped up with Andrew reminiscing about the lovely moments they had together and ended off with asking the million dollar question: "Will you Marry Me?"

His proposal was a great success as it moved his future mother-in-law to tears and under the blessings of their families, his wife accepted his proposal.

Lastly, Andrew also shared with the guys on some tips on getting the perfect Engagement Ring:

Try to sound your girlfriend out on what ring designs she prefer, or if she already has a collection of rings, observe on the designs she likes and try to get something similar
Try to sound your girlfriend out on her ring size. For Andrew, he 'stole' one of his wife's rings as a guide to her ring size. It will be hard to resize the ring if there are loose diamonds attached to the ring's design VS a normal plain solitaire. Hence it is very important to find out the exact ring size so as to spare yourself the hassle in resizing or resetting the diamonds in the latter

Wedding Banquet

Andrew shared with us on the reasons why he chose to hold his Wedding Banquet in Marina Mandarin Hotel instead:

The Wedding Package was very reasonable
The staff was very flexible in customising the package to cater to their needs. Andrew said he did not do much bargaining in the negotiation, the staff just automatically threw in the 'perks' - i.e. free parking coupons for guests, free-flow beer, waiver of corkage charges etc
The food tasted great - as Andrew was a food connoisseur, he wanted his guests to enjoy good food and share his joy in this great occasion
His dad knew the chef and hence they negotiated for extra dishes (i.e. replacing the fish with a better one - Pomfret)

Le' Red Letter Day

As Da Rabbit is still skeptical over wedding food, we felt it is wise for us to attend the banquet with our stomachs half-filled so that we would not starve if the food served at the banquet sucks. Also, wedding banquets in Singapore never commence punctually and hence it is wise not to attend with an empty stomach in case we disgrace ourselves by eating like pigs.

Chilling Out @ Starbucks

So, since the hotel was located near to Marina Square Shopping Centre, Sweetie Muffin drove Da Rabbit to Marina Square to chill-out at starbucks half an hour prior to the commencement of the wedding banquet.

We ordered our all-time favourite - Chai Tea Latte, a Tall Cup of Christmas Blend - Peppermint Mocha and we decided to try their Apricot Muffin for a change since we always ordered their yummy New York Cheesecake. The Peppermint Mocha tasted average and the muffin a tad too dry :( So it would still be wise to stick to our all-time favourites - Chai Tea Latte / Green Tea Latte and New York Cheesecake after all! Meh~

Le' Ambience

The banquet was held in Level 1 - Marina Mandarin Ballroom. Andrew hosted over 40 tables but the place was rather spacious :) The ballroom was pillar-less and hence we have unrestricted view of the stage.

Le' Reception Area

The Reception area was nicely decorated with the couple's initials - A'n'J.

As the bride loves the Le' Sucre Bunnies, she purchased a pair of wedding bunnies for display ♥♥

Also, it seems that Tiffany Blue is like the most popular wedding theme this year... How I do wish my wedding band is from Tiffany & Co too~~

Even the washrooms were decorated with fresh floral petals too~

Taking a Wedding Selfie with Kerry in the background...

Le' Menu

Andrew really did put a lot of effort in perfecting the banquet menu. The menu consists of 9 dishes altogether which is considered quite a lot for a Chinese banquet.

Le' Food

Suckling Pig Combination

The platter consists of Suckling Pig Slices, Jellyfish with Sesame Seeds, Prawn Salad, Vietnam Vermicelli Spring Roll and Pan-Fried Abalone Clam with Garlic

The first dish tasted pretty average...

Braised Shark's Fin Soup and Dried Scallops

The soup was starchy.. Da Rabbit tasted more fish maw than Shark's Fin. But overall, still pretty edible.

Chef's Special Crispy Roast Chicken

Tasted so-so. Da Rabbit is not that into meaty dishes...

Steamed White Promfret "Teochew Style"

The fish had the fishy smell from afar. Da Rabbit is extremely terrified of the fishy smell but I still mustered my courage to take a bite. The texture of the meat was really bouncy and chewy but the fishy taste was still present there. However fish-lovers like Kerry were full of praises for this dish. Moreover, Promfret is considered as an expensive fish so there is nothing much we can find fault with this dish...

Poached Live Prawns with Chinese Herbs

As Sweetie Muffin did not attend the banquet with me, so I did not try this dish as I hate to dirty my hands to remove the shell on the prawns :(

Braised Abalone with Nai Bai Cai

This is the dish which I liked quite a lot. Because I love the Nai Bai Cai a lot. I could even sniff the fragrance of this dish from afar and I ate quite a lot of the greens. Perhaps we can request for the chef to make this dish for my wedding with Sweetie Muffin ~

Smoked Tea Duck with Mini Pancake

This dish contains another *WOW* factor as we have never seen this being served in wedding banquets. The presentation of the dish was great with the duck displayed on the plate as if it is soaring freely in the skies~ (but too bad, its dead and cooked)

The method you eat this dish is somewhat similar to how you would eat the Crispy Peking Duck - applying the sauce on the pancakes and placing the meat together with the onion / cucumbers provided before wrapping everything with the pancake.

However, the pancake used for this dish is not the typical thin egg pancakes but the texture and taste is somewhat similar to the steamed bun. Despite that, all the ingredients complemented themselves really well and the entire dish was yummy! We could not stop eating this dish once it was served.. And we were wrapping the meat by ourselves enthusiastically~

Braised Ee Fu Noodles and Crabmeat and Mushroom

This is another great dish. Normally we would be filled to the brim by the previous dishes and when the Ee Fu Noodles were served, we would not have much appetite to eat that and look forward to the last dish - dessert. Mostly, Ee Fu Noodles taste starchy, soggy and yucky like my review on Ah Yat Ablone. However, I was glad I did give this dish a try - it changed my perception of Ee Fu Noodles completely! The chef managed to produce a chewy and bouncy texture for the noodles and the taste was great as well! Kudos to chef~

Red Bean Pancake

This was an extra dessert which was complimentary as it was not mentioned in the menu. As Andrew's dad was the chef's friend, we had the honour to enjoy this complimentary dish as a result too :)

We were initially shocked and disappointed when we saw this dish being served - reason being we were looking forward to Mango Sago with Ice-Cream and thought that the dessert was being replaced by the pancake. Da Rabbit loves ice-cream~ We relaxed a little only after the waiter assured us that the last dish would be served shortly after this.

The red bean paste was not too sweet and overbearing. Tasted really great and yet not too filling! There is always room for desserts!!

Mango Sago with Ice-Cream

Yeeesssss!! Ice-Cream!! You see the BIG block of vanilla ice-cream on top of the bowl of mango sago?!! We had no complaints of this dessert at all. Not too sweet and our sweet cravings have been satisfied altogether :)

Le' Service

As most hotels would hire temp staff for banquets, it would be ideal for the temp staff to undergo some professional training so as not to dampen the entire joyous occasion for the newly-weds. We have been annoyed by waiters who behaved like morons for other banquets which we have attended previously - serving us with orange juice when we asked for beer / red wine, fishes flying when they attempt to cut it, and doing the wrong things at the wrong time. However, we felt that the service provided for Andrew's banquet was really prompt and professional. *Thumbs-Up*

Overall

Da Rabbit quite enjoyed the wedding banquet but she was slightly annoyed with the emcees - people nowadays just couldn't speak fluent mandarin... I think I might want to engage a professional emcee who can speak fluent English and Mandarin and yet not stutter in such an important occasion of my life. However, as Sweetie Muffin mentioned, it is a 'want' not a 'need'.. Meh~

Also, I felt that the lights in the ballroom was rather dim - I couldn't take nice photos of the food and it is frustrating not to see the true colours of the food that we are eating as it was the colourful appearance that makes the dishes look appetising somehow. Having the ballroom dimmed with blue / purplish lights doesn't seem to be my style at the moment... Perhaps I might play with the disco lights effect when the food was served but will still switch the lights back to normal when the guests are eating the food.

Lastly, as we were assigned to sit at Table No. 41, we were located pretty far from the stage - hence we could not even catch a glimpse of how the bride looked like that night when the couple marched in. I thought it would be good to project the "Live" feed of them marching in on the projectors, if the hotel has such a technology. Again, it is a 'want' not a 'need'. But, we still do have to spare a thought for the guests who are seated far from the stage right?

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