HK: Chinese Banquet

Sunday night I attended my first traditional Chinese banquet in Hong Kong. Well not exactly my first but I can barely recall my dad's company events and weddings I attended when I was small. It just so happens that my uncle was invited to an 80th birthday party of his childhood friend's mother and I was able to tag along. If you've ever been to a Chinese wedding reception before, you'd have a pretty good idea of what a Chinese banquet is.

When we first arrived at the high-end Chinese restaurant where the banquet was held, they were already passing the birthday cake out to us (cake before dinner!!!) Then we each received $50 HKD Lai Cee (red envelope with money that adults give out at special occasions like Chinese New Year). Two tables of mah jong were occupied while little kids ran around the rented private room. Then the ten-course dinner began at 7:30 with the first course of shark fin soup (left pic). Other courses included Chinese seafood and delicacies that I am unable to identify or translate into English, but they were incredibly delicious nonetheless. And I did make an exception to being a vegetarian for just one night and oh it was so worth it. The last course was custard buns (right pic) with sweet melon soup as dessert.

Picture: That's me and Yoyo after I curled her hair for the banquet (she was looking forward to having her hair done ALL week when she saw me unpacking my curling iron.) Then later that night when we were lying in bed, she said to me, "Bew Jeh*, you are really pretty like Miss Hong Kong." Flattered, I replied, "I thought I was a fat pig!" (She called me a fat pig when I got my second bowl of rice during dinner.) "Hehehehehe good night!" was all she said before passing out and snoring away.

*Bew Jeh is what little cousins call their older female cousins.