Thursday, October 16, 2014

Shanghai, Day 4 - Part 5 (Gala Dinner)

Everyone else was busy with their own "activities" in the hall...there were plenty of things that captures our attention...be it the stage performances, the games, handicraft...and lastly, the FOOD. This so-called "Gala Dinner" marked the final evening of our trip and farewell event to the group of new frens that we befriended during the trip. The organizer has arranged plenty of entertainments which involved everyone's participation and we were 'forced' to mix around even at the dining table. So, my group of dining-mates this time consists of also some Muslim frens...but well, they were all "too shy" to touch the food. Beer & liquor were served free-flow throughout the entire evening...so u know why they dun dare to touch even a single food!
my table consists of 8 person including myself...but practically only 4 were the "real diners"....
out of these 4 real diners, 3 of them were so amused with various activities around...so just down to one who is a full-time diner at the table...which is Yours Truly here ;-)
and imagined I was being served like a "King" at the table...
there was a dedicated waitress serving our table, but this waitress practically only serving me coz all others were "mobilizing" (either taking pictures around or shifted place to be with their gang)...
and hence I owned tht table to myself...woohooo!!!
FOOD! GLORIOUS FOOD!
I took my time to sip the beer and wine...and no one is bothering me taking pictures of each dish...
Let me show u some of the dishes here...
Cold Dish 1: Preserved bamboo shoots...it tastes sourish and abit of spiciness...You can't take much on this as it is mainly an appetizer only.
Cold Dish 2: Cold kelp. It was served cold, fresh but sourish and spicy as the first one.
Cold Dish 3: White Radish. It was some plain boiled white radish...nothing more.
Cold Dish 4: Fish in dark soy sauce. This is meant to be eaten as appetizer too. Only a small serving per table.
Cold Dish 5: Crispy rice cake...Well, to me this is more of a snack than cold dish...but it was served together with the rest before the actual meal.
Cold Dish 6: Stir fried cabbage with cherry tomatoes...
(but it was served at room-temperature)...dunno how to classified this, still consider a cold dish??
Cold Dish 7: Preserved greens...no idea what plant is this! similar to any other preserved cold dishes, this was sourish and spicy too. Very acidic!
Cold Dish 8: Cold peanuts....It tasted just like normal peanuts available in packet form, but this was served cold and moist (like it has been steamed earlier!)
while waiting for the main agenda (some speeches by the organizer) everyone was indeed focusing on their various activities...there were just too much things that was capturing our attention...I just gotta find my focus!
and i choose to focus on food...LOL!
here comes the main dish...
Dish 1: Sweet & Sour fish. This fish looks pathetic though, but it tasted good and it has been de-boned!
Dish 2:  This is not lala, but some sort of seafood with shells. The texture is as chewy as Lala.
Dish 3: Scallops.
Dish 4: Fried minced meat with mayonnaise sauce...
This one not bad, taste like burger patty (yea, i mean those cheap roadside Ramly burger patty).
Dish 5: Crabs...Yea, real crab this time!
Dish 6: Now, here comes the real Lala.
Dish 7: veggie stick?
Dish 8: Beancurd cubes stirfry with green peas
Dish 9: Sambal paste with anchorvies. I tink the organizer purposely ordered something like sambal to suite the Malay tastebud, but unfortunately none of them is eating it either.
Dish 10: Asparagus.
Dish 11: Stir fry green leafy 'choi sum'.
Dessert 1: Shanghainese pastry. The crust similar to "siu bao" but it was plain without any filling.
Dessert 2: Sweet egg soup? No comment. Another plain soup with some egg bits and tasted sweet. Simple that you can even make one at home.
Well, that's for the Gala meal...
Overall, there were plenty of cold and warm dishes but those were all simple food (like any home-cooked meal).
Plenty of leftovers coz food were just so-so...
The Gala Night was a fun & explorable event. First time of watching sand-art painting, papercut handicraft and creative name calligraphy. The games were fun and hilarious & i enjoyed the live Chinese instrument musical to the max. Definitely a memorable evening!

8 comments:

RealGunners said...

You mean served like a Queen, didn't you? :P
I always thought egg drop soup is an American thing. So it really is a Chinese soup huh...
I think I will focus to wallop the scallops, fish, meat patty, asparagus and pastry.

Nux V said...

LOL! yea is a Chinese thing...(be proud of it!) hmmm...u selectively eat only certain food? I will wallop everything but will take more on scallops, meat patty and asparagus! greedy me, hahaha!

mun said...

Since no one else is eating I would go for all the big crabs claws. They must be so very hungry to not eat anything. Why your company didn't ask the organizer to prepare halal food for them? Pity them lah.

Nux V said...

the trip was organized by our vendor and my company only sends 2 person for this trip which both are Chinese. Actually the organizer did try hard to provide them halal food throughout the trip. During the occasion when we have our separated trips (we were divided into Muslim & non Muslim groups), they went dining at Muslim halal restaurant. But when it comes to the Farewell dinner, the group were combined. Farewell would probably involved some "Yum Seng", so liquor/alcoholic drinks were served. To our Muslim frens, they disregard the halal once the restaurant is serving liquor/alcoholic drinks, hence they dun dare to even touch the food despite it being pork-less.
Yea, I somehow feel sympathetic to them when seeing them eating home-brought Maggi cup noodles.

[SK] said...

wow, this is really a Dinner Gala Feast!! 8 appetizers, 11 main dishes and 2 desserts!! i wonder if you all could really finished all those?? so much of food, and this trip really fed you all with good food like Kings and Queens huh?? worth it!! :)

mun said...

So the vendor is to blame for this. I wonder if they will complain in the feedback to the vendor. 2 from your company and you are one of them so nice!

Princess Ribbon said...

I like the name Gala Dinner already !! And wow, really wow, so MUCH food !! I wonder if you could finish them all, and then dance later after that, haha..

Nux V said...

SK: yaya...feed us to the brim..i gained at least 2kg after the trip ;-)

Mun: haha...perhaps they did get some 'feedback' from the other companies. Maybe the next trip will be to the middle east so no need worry about the halal food anymore.

Princess Ribbon: ermmm...can't finish la..is impossible. A lot of leftover (jst like any previous meals). I feel sorry for the food,imagine seeing food wastage in every meal when some parts of China are starving...

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