Seremban Makan Trip, Part 2: Wedding Banquet @ Regent Restaurant

Wedding banquets are an important part of the married couple's wedding ceremony and for their families to celebrate and share their happiness with family and friends. We were recently invited to my cousin's wedding banquet at Regent Restaurant in Seremban. Although we had to make a special trip from KL, it was worth it as it is one of those rare ocassions when I get to meet and catch up with relatives which I do not see often. Of course, it is always a plus point if the food is good.

Of all the restaurants in Seremban, I feel that Regent Restaurant serves the best tasting food for wedding banquets. It always amazes me how they manage to serve consistently good food as a lot of restaurants fail when it comes to catering for big crowds. Last year in December, we attended a cousin's wedding at "MK" Restaurant and the food was pretty appalling, not to mention the horrible ambience. At least at Regent, even with Karaoke going on in the background, you can still chat to your neighbour without having to shout.

Regent Restaurant is also great for family dinners (see my previous blog here) but try to avoid coming here on weekends unless you can get a private room because the restaurant can get really busy. This is as good as fine Chinese cuisine gets in Seremban.

There is a significance to everything served in a Chinese wedding banquet, from the type of dishes down to the number of dishes. Most wedding banquets would serve 8 or 9 dishes, whereby 8 dishes signifies prosperity and 9 dishes for everlasting. That evening, we were served a total of 9 dishes.

We started off with the Five Hot & Cold Combination, which is a very common appetizer in wedding banquets. This dish consisted of scallops with sugar snap peas, deep fried pork balls with cheese filling and almond coating, deep fried pork wrapped in fu chuk (beancurd), steamed pork balls and honey BBQ ribs. We enjoyed everything except for the ribs as I found the meat slightly tough.

Braised sharkfin's soup with crabmeat is also commonly served as it symbolises wealth for the newly-weds.

There will usually be a fish dish, either steamed or deep fried as fish symbolises abundance (yu). The Steamed Pomfret with Superior Soy Sauce was fresh and delicious.

"Yes! My favorite fish!"

I had mixed feelings about the Roasted Duck and Salad Chicken combination. I loved the roast duck as the meat was succulent with a crispy skin but I felt the batter in which the chicken was coated was too thick. This dish represents the bride, the "Phoenix" which is the female aspect in the marriage.

I do not usually like eating prawns at wedding banquets as I dislike getting my hands dirty. However, if someone offers to peel them for me, I can eat 2 or 3 or even 4. The Western Style Prawns were very fresh and sweet. This dish represents the groom, the "Dragon" which is the male aspect in the marriage. Therefore having chicken and prawn dishes represents balance in the new relationship for the couple.

The Stir Fried Assorted Vegetables was a popular dish at our table as most of my fellow diners are "choi wong" (veggie lovers). Lift the thin fu chuk layer and we found mushrooms, sweetcorn, quail eggs and carrots underneath.

The Hong Kong Style Mix Rice was fragrant and flavourful, whereby the rice is cooked with lap cheong (Chinese waxed sausage), char siew (BBQ pork) and mushrooms.

We were served two varieties of sweet biscuits, one is somewhat like the tambun biscuit (same crust but with a smooth pandan/egg yolk filling) and the other was a 3-layer soft cake topped with coconut.

And finally, we were served a cold dessert, the Sweetened Honey Dew Sago. Sweet desserts and biscuits symbolises a sweet, happy marriage for the couple.

If you're looking for a more affordable place to have dinner in Seremban, try TC Keong Restaurant. It is my favourite dai chow place in Seremban, and is highly recommended. If we were in Seremban for a wee bit longer, we would have definitely paid a visit there. Damn, I really miss the stir fried beef with oyster sauce and deep fried fish.

Our heartiest congratulations to the newly-weds. Wishing you both a long and lasting marriage.

Location: Regent Restaurant (Seremban) Sdn Bhd, 2390 - 2395 Taman Labu Utama, Jalan Sungai Ujong, 70200 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

Tel: 606-7639909

GPS Coordinates: 2.719639, 101.920896