Feast for happiness and prosperity
CHINESE New Year traditionally gathers family and friends for a gastronomic indulgence. And the selected delicious dishes have symbolic meanings to usher in wealth, happiness and prosperity.
At Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa, Chinese New Year’s Day Celebration started at 10 a.m. with no less than the owners of Asia Pacific’s leading luxury hotel group, Edward and Christine Kouk, together with general manager Joachim Schutte and special guest Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia awakening the lions’ spirits with the ceremonial eye-dotting tradition. A deafening sound of firecrackers followed with the belief that this will drive the evil spirits away. And there they were—the lions and the dragon danced with gay abandon to welcome the auspicious year of the water dragon.
Communications Director Mildred Amon with her assistant Cassandra Cuevas led the way to its Chinese restaurant Tea of Spring amidst dancing and merrymaking. Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts are renowned for its in-house Chinese outlets. The Shangri-La Group, after all, is Hong Kong based so expect its Chinese cuisine to be at its finest.
Tea of Spring’s Executive Chinese Chef, Malaysian-Chinese Boon Hun Hoe, started the feast with the traditional Yee Sang for the Prosperity Toss. Yee Sang is a raw fish salad, a tradition that originated from fishermen of ancient China. Fish symbolizes abundance. The fish strips, usually salmon, with selected shredded colorful vegetables (daikon, carrots, red bell pepper, turnips, red pickled ginger, Chinese parsley) are tossed for prosperity. Chopped peanuts, sesame seeds, shrimp crackers, plum sauce and sesame oil are added, all with symbolic meanings to attract good fortune and luck. The higher one tosses the salad, the better. I stood up just to make sure I tossed my portion with chopsticks as high as I could. But more than the tossing for luck, the salad was very delicious.
For starters, the famous Cantonese Dim Sum was served in steamer baskets—Xiao Long Bao or soup buns (looks like mini Siao pao). The pork meat in aspic is stuffed into dough where the steaming melts the gelatin. Biting into the soft bun releases the juice into the mouth hence the name “soup buns.” My favorite Har Gow or fresh shrimp dumplings were delightfully good with the plump shrimps wrapped in translucent wrappers shaped like a pouch. Dumplings symbolize wealth. Pan Fried Bean Curd Rolls stuffed with shrimps were delicately crispy. We had Dried Scallops with Seafood in Thick Soup before the main courses, which included Wok Fried Fish Fillet, Crispy Roasted Chicken with Garlic, Kung Pao Prawns and Stewed Mushrooms, Sea Moss and Bean Curd.
The dessert, Honey Sea Coconut served with Mochi, was refreshing and healthy. The rare and protected sea coconut is a unique double coconut fruit of a palm variety that originated from Sychelles and floated its way to Maldive through the sea. They are used in traditional medicine. Slices of gelatin-coated sea coconut meat in lightly sugared syrup were quite a novelty. The glutinous mocha ball was was stuffed with mango.
