Our Wedding Reception - Rhodes Phoenix

Wedding photos give me mixed feelings. On one hand, I get super excited about getting them in my hot little hands and can't wait to flick through them, on the other hand, I am way way way too lazy to sort through them properly. Hence, my hubby and I have yet to sit down together to figure which photos we want in our album. Official photos aside - I have been also sitting on photos of the food from our wedding (compliments to our good friend at TBang Photography).

First off - it was a pretty epic night. We were running slightly late and funnily enough, the waiters/manager of the restaurant wanted to make sure we were able to get food in our stomachs before doing parts of the official program (e.g. speeches, table photos, etc etc). I wasn't too surprised to see that the quality of food on our table was top-notch (as we're the ones paying for everything), but I was amazed to hear and see that all other tables had similar quality food.

First up for the night was the suckling pig and jelly fish platter. Everyone had a generous serving of the crispy skinned thinly meat/fat layered suckling pig and yummy jelly fish. I remember that a few of my non-asian friends came up to me later bemused by the fact that jelly fish could be eaten! It was a yummy dish indeed.

suckling pig and jelly fish

The prawn mince stuffed crab claws came out plump and golden brown. Crunchy deep-fried bread crumbs and tasty prawn mince was gobbled down by all (including my hubby's 3yr old nephew). I love how it managed to remain golden brown across all tables despite the massive amounts of these they had to fry up.

stuffed crab claws

Next up was braised dried scallop with mushies and broccoli. I don't remember much of this - probably wasn't impression-making, but I'm sure veges couldn't have gone too wrong. However, in retrospect, I believe that we had wanted to change the dish to fresh scallops (and not dried scallops) - the restaurant must have forgotten.

braised dried scallops with veges

I do remember, however, that the shark's fin soup with crab meat was awesome! Generous proportions of sharks fin, beautifully coloured, just the right consistency and delicious-tasting! I definately gobbled this one up :) Even my non-seafood eating friend ate this (though I'm not sure he actually enjoyed doing so) LOL

sharks fin soup

There were also lobsters a-plenty. My hubby was super relieved that he had the time to eat this - and it would have been a waste not to, as there was so much lobster! All cooked to perfection. My parents had altered the dish to make it come with thin egg noodles which complimented and mopped up the "supreme sauce" beautifully. Love the noodles :P

braised lobster and noodle in supreme sauce

Next up was the braised abalone with sea cucumber. I'm not a fan of abalone and not a fan of sea cucumber, but I could see that most Asian guests appreciated the taste and texture of this dish. The sauce was strong, but I think it was necessary coz abalone and sea cucumber are probably not the most inherently tasty things.

abalone and sea cucumber

Every table also got a large steamed live coral trout with ginger and shallot. Not sure what the taste or texture was on other tables - but I remember that our fish was spot on deliciousness. Super fresh, super smooth - the fish kind of just slithered down my throat with the perfect soy sauce coating. YUM.

steamed coral trout

I didn't touch much of my crispy skin garlic chicken but I do remember thinking that the kitchen did well to keep the skin crispified.

crispy skinned chicken

Just as the rounding off dishes, there was the fried rice in lotus leaf wrap. Most banquets get the rice and noodles at the end, but we shoved our noodles in with the lobster and hence, only rice in lotus leaf option was available. A very good option if my memory prevails.

fried rice in lotus leaf

Fruits and little biscuit and cake things were also served. Didn't get to touch them but they looked decent :)

dessert

All up, Rhodes Phoenix did an excellent job with the food. The service was also better than most and I love how the environment doesn't bring on that normal Chinese food clattering and clinkering echoey noises due to their high ceilings. Definately a good reception venue if you are stuck with the need to host a Chinese banquet.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 32.5/40

Rhodes Phoenix
1 Rider Boulevard
Rhodes NSW 2138
Tel: (02) 9739 6628