Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Wedding Review - Swissotel @ Merchant Court

As mentioned earlier, this is the month best for marriages, hence I was simply overwhelmed by invitations. This is my 2nd review, which I attended at night on the same day of my 1st review. It must have been a good day as it was the F1 race too.

The Dinner Menu
A nice menu that was set up specially for me at the table. Even the waitress had to tell me where to sit! haha! Anyway, quite a typical setting again. I was quite looking forward to this place as I've been told the vegetarian option was not too bad, but was quite taken in for a surprise.
Deluxe Vegetarian Cold Cuts Combination

If you are into gluten, you will adore this, as it comprises of the normal char siew, mee suan prawn, spring rolls and mock duck. I guess the only thing missing was Bee Hoon, which could have completed a $3 breakfast. Tasted ok of cos, as everything is bought from the supplier direct.. but I personally think shouldn't be served in a top-notched hotel.

Double Boiled Mushroom Soup with Winter Melon

This was the dish that saved my 1st dish. Soup was tastefully brewed and I practically ate up everything (Mushrooms, winter melons, White Fungus, dried logans, goqizi). It wasn't too saltish and has the fully brewed sweetness of the winter melon. Perfect for a hot day. Most importantly, no mock meat!

Crispy Vegetarian Goose


Just as I was very satisfied with the soup, I missed my bee hoon again. This is widely adored by my non-veg friends as they love the crispy-ness of it. However, this wasn't crispy at all, and very oily too. But well, being a veg and this specially arranged, I had to finish the food. I still remember my parents selling this for $2 this size, nice and crispy.

Stir-Fried mixed veg with lotus roots in Yam Basket

Nicely decorated. Something I liked that didn't have any mock meat too. The lotus is very tasty as it was thinly sliced and still very crispy. The Yam basket was a little too hard. And here comes the Bee hoon (deep fried) , used as the decoration below the basket. Aint too bad.

Deep Fried Taro Fish in Sweet & Sour Sauce

As I was overwhelmed by taro-made dishes during the afternoon dinner, this didn't came as a surprise for me. However, the sauce saved the day. Simply made from tomato, cucumber and mango, has a blended taste of sweet and sour. I ate up all the taro slices and all the small little pieces of fresh mangoes. Taro tasted normal, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside.

Braised seasonal vegetables with black mushrooms


Seems like the veg in season was spinach as I had the same dish that afternoon. Normal tasting, both ingredients are fresh.

Fried Rice

Not too bad, but I was too full by the time this came. Serving was too big and I could only take a few mouthfuls. Not much ingredients, comprises of only the lettuce, and mixed frozen veg (peas, corns, carrots). But done quite nicely and wasn't too saltish.

I did not take the picture of the dessert as it was just the normal canned sea coconut. Most dishes served are suitable for vegans as eggs and other diary content are usually omitted.

All in all, it was a joyous event, with good ambience. And of cos' we understand that food shouldn't really matter. However, I felt that my newly wed pals are paying way too high (for vegetarians portions, its by per head in addition to the table!) for this meal. Of cos it wasnt the ang bao that matters, but the hotel is getting a big cut in this that could have been negotiated. Hence if you are going to have a wedding here (a six star hotel), do negotiate for better dishes. You may ask the real veg to vett thru' the menu first too!

Location: 20 Merchant Road, Singapore 058281

2 comments:

Sunny said...

What a "DELUXE" Cold Cuts Combination!!!
That makes me even more appreciative of the one served at my cousin's wedding at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel taht I blogged on.
My 1st dish looked much nicer, right?
I think a good wedding banquet whether vegetarian or not should end with "Ee-fu" noodles rather than Fried Rice!
The other dishes that you complimented looked nice though...:-)
Anyway, it is considerate of the couples to be willing to pay extra to ensure vegetarian friends enjoy their happiness too.
May all be well and happy!

missveg said...

hahha yaya~ i tink ur 1st dish was definitely yummier! Anyway, i heard crown hotel was very good!! but havnt been invited there YET.
and ya, i would have preferred plain noodles. even maggi mee was fine.