Wedding @ The Red Scooter, Melbourne (Australia)

And I'm back from our trip to Melbourne! The main purpose of the trip was for my younger sister's wedding, of which I had the privilege of being the maid-of-honour (more accurately 'matron-of-honour', but this title makes me feel old). And what a wedding it was! Unfortunately I have very little photos on my camera due to being highly occupied with bridesmaid's duties, but I did make it a priority to take photos of the food to share on my blog. I don't usually blog about wedding food, but this was perhaps the best wedding food I've had. My sister said they chose The Red Scooter based on the reviews for the food, but everything else was also excellent. The staff ensured that the event flowed smoothly from before the start of the ceremony to after we bid farewell to the newlyweds at the end of the night. The venue itself was gorgeous, a great choice for a contemporary-style wedding. I loved the black and red colour scheme, which tied in very nicely with the wedding colours of storm grey and dark red. The ceremony was held in a small hall, and both the cocktail and reception dinner were held upstairs. The following two photos of the venue were taken on the day before the wedding when we were at The Red Scooter for the rehearsal.

The room where the canapes were served. On the big day itself, the curtain was drawn (just where the blackboard is in the background) to give the illusion of a much smaller room...

... then when it was time for the guests to move on to the dinner, the curtain was drawn to reveal a beautiful dining area:

The pre-dinner canapes served after the ceremony were delicious, and we enjoyed seven different types including crispy lemon chicken, Peking duck pancakes and ceviche of scallops with guacamole (my fave!). Unfortunately I have no photos of the canapes, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

The wedding cake:

The bridal party table partially set (this shot was taken about 10 minutes before the ceremony began):

The girls from the bridal party were ushered up to the bridal suite located above the reception dining room, hidden from view, to freshen up before making our entrance for the reception dinner. After the guests were seated, they enjoyed viewing a heartwarming video of the newlyweds containing photos from their childhood to the present time:

Mixed leaf garden salad:

Roasted garlic rosemary potatoes:

Asiette main course with Roast Chicken (leg crusted with bay, lemon and sea salt, charred artichokes, dutch carrots and garlic dressing), Eye Fillet (with cabernet sauvignon jus and red onion jam), and Crisp Skin Salmon (with baby bok choy and a red capsicum dressing). The other bridesmaids loved the chicken, and I liked the salmon. The eye fillet was done a bit too rare for my liking, but the seasoning and accompaniments were so good that I ate it all:

The assorted sorbet in espresso glasses was what The Red Scooter called 'Roving Dessert'. Waitstaff went around with these desserts, and those who wanted it got one (or two or three). The exception was the bridal party table which sat empty during this time because we were busy going from table to table doing "yam seng" (drink to success), a fun traditional Chinese toast where each table would compete to give the loudest and longest (it's a tradition for our side of the family anyway). These sorbet glasses were placed on our tables so we didn't have to miss out on it:

A table was set up in the canapes area with a range of yummy desserts for the guests to help themselves to, and the venue called this 'Bakers Market'. These were so good!

Mini Apple Pies, served cold and dusted with cinnamon sugar. Assorted Macarons in the background:

Fresh Fruit Tarts, topped with lemon curd and fruit:

Mini Choc Tops:

The wedding cake, cut into neat pieces. Gluten-free layered chocolate and orange & almond cake with butter cream frosting. Very good for a gluten-free cake:

The plate I took for hubby who was on baby duty. Clockwise from top: mini apple pie, 'Paris Brest' (profiteroles filled with almond custard, whipped cream and dipped in chocolate), choc-orange macaron, fresh fruit tart, wedding cake, lemon meringue tartlets, and a mini choc top:

The food was beautifully presented and tasted delicious. The Red Scooter may not be cheap, but my sister and her husband got what they paid for! (My relatives were still talking about the food the next day.)

Kids on the dance floor. Yes, that is my 5-year-old burning up the dance floor. Hubby reckons it looks like our boy is doing the windmill when I showed him this photo. In fact, our boy had so much fun on the dance floor that he remained there for the next couple of hours, burning up all that pent-up energy from having to sit still, breaking only to drink water:

The Red Scooter
25 William St
Balaclava VIC 3183
Australia
Tel. +61 3 9527 6846

Wedding feast in Ontario

I don't usually blog about wedding food unless it's good, and the Chinese banquet we had at the reception dinner for my friend's wedding during our short trip to Toronto was very nice, especially considering that it was held in a hotel (the Hilton Suites in Markham). I suppose that good Chinese food is to be expected in Markham (a town about 30 minutes out of downtown Toronto), because its population is dominated by a rather large number of Chinese Canadians. Dinner was an extravagant 12-course affair, and the waiters would bring out each dish in a large platter/bowl and serve everyone a portion of the course. One of the waiters assigned to our table would actually show the table each dish before serving the food, which I thought was a nice service because these were expensive stuff and it was nice to be able to appreciate each course in all its glory before being decimated into individual servings. All courses were good quality and tasty, but the following were the the ones that stood out.

Hilton Royale Suckling Pig Platter with Jelly Fish - the tender meat, crispy skin and gelatinous jelly fish were a textural delight on the palate
Golden Crispy Eel Roll - unagi (freshwater eel) wrapped with nori (seaweed) then lightly deepfried. Yummy and not greasy at all.



Braised Shark's Fin Soup with Crab Meat - excellent seafood marriage of fish and crustacean - not very ethical to eat, but delicious nonetheless.
Braised Whole Fresh Abalone with Supreme Sauce - this was surprisingly good! The abalone was very tender - in fact, the most tender abalone I've ever had. For some reason abalone is a tough meat, which I thought was due to overcooking, but I've had sashimi (raw) abalone and it's also pretty tough. The 'Supreme' sauce was very umami.



Wok-baked Lobster with Sake - how good does that look? I don't even need to write anything here because the photo says it all!



Dessert time! I love Asian desserts because they're light enough to enjoy after a huge meal. The Chilled Fresh Strawberry Puree with Sago Cream was really refreshing and not too sweet, and the Chinese Petit Four Platter was lovely with apricot glutinous balls and fruity jellies.

Two weddings and a lot of good food!

Recently Rob and I had the privilege of attending two weddings in two different countries: a Greek wedding in Brisbane, Australia, and a mixed Aussie/Japanese wedding in Tokyo, Japan. And like most weddings, there were plenty of delicious food to ensure a wonderful atmosphere and lots of happy guests. And as usual, I was armed with my dSLR to not only snap the merry proceedings, but to also take shots of the food (to the amusement of the guests seated nearby us).

The Greek wedding fare

It was our first time experiencing a Greek wedding, and there were lots of food, merry-making and dancing - I participated in my first Greek dance, and spent half the night on the dance floor! (I'm sure there were many who wondered if an almost-6-month pregnant girl in high heels should be on the dance floor, but I didn't care!) And the food - I enjoyed learning firsthand about Greek cuisine by eating them! I'm grateful to Eleni (the 'best friend of honour') who sat next to me on the bridal table for giving me an insight into the Greek culinary world. The wedding menu technically contains four courses, but there were so many dishes within each of these courses that it could have easily passed for a 12-course dinner!

View from the seats of honour (shot taken before guests were seated):


Bonbonniere/favours (gifts for the guests) on the table included a handmade Greek Almond Ball and chocolates in a heart-shaped box that doubled as a name placecard:


The food was served banquet-style, and we helped ourselves to the food as they were brought to the table. First course was crusty bread and a meze platter that included feta cheese, stuffed bell peppers (with a cream cheese mixture - really good!), sundried tomatoes, olives and vegetable sticks served with three types of dips: taramosalada (cod roe dip), tzatziki (yoghurt and garlic dip) and eggplant.

The wedding cake (chocolate and caramel mudcake - yum!!); and the Meze Platter of the first course:


The second course brought a myriad of dishes that included grilled haloumi (a type of cheese), grilled marinated baby octopus, calamari (battered and deep-fried squid rings which were very moreish and not at all greasy) and sheftalies (a type of sausage).

Grilled Haloumi and Calamari:


For the third course, we enjoyed boorgoori (cracked wheat) with Greek yoghurt (although it's a simple dish, I really liked the boorgoori a lot), moussaka (a Greek dish with layers of mince meat, eggplant and tomatoes, but this one was topped with mashed potatoes much like shepherd's pie - and although I was already quite full, I kept spooning the moussaka onto my plate), yemista (tomatoes and zucchini stuffed with rice), kleftiko (lamb with lemon and herbs) and lemon potatoes.

Sheftalies and Yemista:


The main dessert was baklava with ice cream, but it came accompanied with a plate filled with slices of the wedding cake (chocolate and caramel mudcake), galatoboureko (custard-filled parcels) and gourambiethes (buttery shortbread biscuits). I get the impression that the Greeks sure love their desserts! What can I say but that we were in sugar heaven! (It was no wonder that on the following week during my routine pre-natal check up at my hospital back in Tokyo, sugar was detected in the tests and I had to be told by the doctor to lay off sugary carb-laden stuff.)

Baklava and the Dessert Plate:


See what I mean about there being so much food? I love variety, and I don't think I've eaten so many different Greek dishes in one meal before!

Western-Japanese fusion wedding

The following week, we attended a wedding where the bride (my friend) is Aussie and the groom is Japanese. The affair was decidedly more western than Japanese (white weddings are very popular in Japan, and I think it's a sad thing that traditional Japanese weddings aren't so common nowadays) but we did witness the traditional Japanese custom of Kagami Biraki where the newlyweds break open a small barrel of sake (Japanese alcohol). The dinner reception was held in Sunshine Cruise on the 58th floor of the Sunshine60 building in Ikebukuro. The venue was very chic and sophisticated, with a sweeping view of the surrounding area.

View from our table:


It was a 10-course fare and the food was as chic and sophisticated as its venue - seasonal Japanese ingredients served Western-style. The food was served banquet-style, but rather than self-service, I found my fellow female table diners were serving other guests' plates first before tending to their own plates, in typical Japanese put-others-before-self style. The food was lovely and presented with great care. We had metal chopsticks to eat with, which lends a sophisticated feel to the tableware, but my Japanese friends commented that it was difficult to eat using metal chopsticks. The courses included Japanese-style meatloaf, satoimo (taro root) with yuba (tofu 'skin'), chicken salad (which was very tasty for a salad!), hotaru ika ('firefly' squid, so called because they glow in the dark when still alive), unagi (eel), fatty pork morsels served with crisp pumpkin slivers and prawn sushi. Dessert was a relatively light milk pudding.

Here are photos of some of the dishes for you to enjoy with your eyes (titles are given by me since I don't have the actual names of the dishes):

Japanese Meatloaf and Satoimo with Yuba:


Hotaru Ika and Pork with Pumpkin Chips:


Unagi and Prawn Sushi:


Quite a bit different to the Greek wedding fare, isn't it? I love Japanese food because they are usually quite light (both in flavour and on my stomach) and I certainly didn't feel like I overate even though I'd eaten plenty that night.