At the Conrad Centennial Singapore, wedding dreams turn into reality. Whether it is an intimate wedding or a grand ballroom celebration, they will set the scene for your special day. The grandest venue at the hotel with the capacity to host up to 400 guests for a wedding banquet.

I recently had the chance to attend my cousin’s wedding at Conrad Centennial, which was held at The Ballroom. Dinner was prepared by Golden Peony, which is quite a renowned restaurant. Renowned for its classic Cantonese delicacies, Golden Peony lends itself perfectly for an intimate wedding banquet. Golden Peony’s illustrious chefs will delight the guests with creative dishes.

First course: Happiness Platter. It has barbecued suckling pig, crispy shrimp ball, sliced smoked duck, marinated octopus and Japanese seaweed. It is quite a standard platter for Chinese weddings, served as appetisers. By the time we were served the first dish, it was already 8.30pm and our stomachs were rumbling.

Second course: Lobster. It was a soup served in a whole young coconut. The double-boiled soup contains Chinese cabbage, sea whelk, conpoy, bamboo pith, chicken, sliced black truffle. It was a wholesome soup with superior ingredients and I enjoyed it. I do not like starchy soups, but this clear soup really suited my palate.

Third course: Deluxe magnificent. It comes with scallop, wok-fried honey pea in XO chilli sauce, locally-sourced sautéed prawn, salted egg yolk. Both the scallop and prawn tasted fresh, while the sauce was not too overpowering such that it masked the flavour of the seafood.

Fourth course: ‘Soon Hock’ Fish. It was steamed with superior soy sauce, Hong Kong style. The most important thing is that the fish was fresh. Since it was served in individual bowls, we could not see the original whole fish.

Fifth course: Duck, roasted with herb. It was not nice as it was too dry.

Sixth course: Abalone sliced, braised with sea cucumber and Chinese cabbage. My Japanese cousin does not take sea cucumber, too exotic for her, so I gladly had a second helping. It was a simple dish and the abalone tasted really great. It is considered a delicacy that people usually eat only during Chinese New Year.

Seventh course: Iberico pork rib, baked in Jing du style. It had a taste of BBQ pork ribs, but the meat was tougher and did not fall off the bone that easily. By then, people were filling full as it was past 10pm.

Eighth course: Mian xian noodle. For me, I prefer either Ee mian or the Mian xian noodle, so this dish was perfect for me. It was stir-fried with diced prawn and scallop. The texture of the noodles was not overcooked and not soggy, so you can easily pick up the noodles with your chopsticks.

Nineth course: Traditional red bean paste, with osmanthus and rainbow tang yuan. This is another traditional dessert which I do not like, especially since the red bean paste was so thick and starchy. I only ate the tang yuan, which thankfully, was not filled with red bean paste too.

By the time the last course was served, it was around 10.30pm. The couple was rushing from table to table to complete taking photographs. We were very full and there was a lot of the dessert as leftover. I think the food served by Golden Peony is decent, with certain outstanding dishes like the soup and the Mian Xian noodle. As for the other dishes, it was quite normal tasting.