From my earlier article of Chinese customary wedding
proceedings in Singapore, you would have guessed how ‘busy’ is this life mile
stone of mine in my early 30s. Busy! Now, besides wedding invites all year
round, you would also have house warming and baby shower celebrations ‘invites
from those earlier wedding invites!
House warmings are those occasions where a newly wed couple
had obtained keys to their public flats after a waiting period of maybe 3-5
years, done some splendid renovations at a cost from anywhere between $30K to
beyond $100K, and woolah they are ready to invite family members and friends
over to grace their home sweet home. One thing I find most irritating about
house warmings is the living space for such big group of gatherings as most are
done in public flats which is really not catered for big groups of 10 and
above. And you would usually have 20-30 pax coming at about the same timing.
The joy of going for such occasions is catching up with old friends and the
makan.
Next, baby showers’ celebrations are for 1 month ‘birthday’
or a more proper one at 1 year of age which is becoming the ‘norm’ in our
society. I’ve attended countless of baby showers and come to think of it, it
might be more than the weddings that you had attended. Imagine a couple that
you had attended their wedding few years back and they go on to have 2-3 kids
in the next few years. And again, the joy of attending such occasions is again
catching up with friends and the food. Reason being the ‘stars’ are mostly
sleeping and you would not have the heart to wake these little cuties up for a
little hug.
As again, you are expected to give some form of gifts as
good luck to the host. House-warming gifts can range from cash gifts, vouchers,
house appliances and baby-showers can range from cash gifts to baby clothing
and toys. Yes, toys! I mean what can a month-old baby really play with a toy?
And in return, you’ll be rewarded with a bigger tummy for such occasions. Well,
the intangible returns are the catching up with close friends and so on, and
the tangible return is food and a tummy!
Most of such occasions will have buffet delivery to the
doorstep. And yes, as I’ve mentioned earlier on the confined spaces in public
flats in Singapore, almost all hosts will have the buffet set up along the
common corridors of these flats. And no one will complain though its public
spaces as its deeply embedded in our culture. This is something nice to hear as
you would have different races as your neighbours on the same floor. This is
what we call social integration!
And back to the tangible returns, I’ve tried tons of
caterers from all these occasions and many have captured my heart. From Neo
Garden the big player to even small caterer from a nearby coffeeshop though I
won’t really classify them as real caterers, I would say most offer value for
money in returns.
One particular caterer I’m pretty impressed for one such
occasion is Le Xin Catering. This is not the big names I’m used to and it’s the
very first time I’ve even heard of. This friend of mine mentioned that he
wanted to try something different and away from the big players as Le Xin
Catering offers High Tea buffet for 30pax. And yes, this is what he ordered. A high tea catering for 30pax! They also have a series of selections to choose from;
Buffet, Mini Buffet, High Tea, Tingkat and even 7th month (ghost
festival based on Chinese calendar) menu. This wide range of offerings make my
friend decided to go with them, looking at how impressive their line up is! I
meant is the first time both of us heard of mini-buffet delivery and high tea
catering in the market. And boy, this caterer did not fail us and in fact, we
are so impressed with the presentation, food quality especially the curry
chicken which is wonderful and of course, the pricing! They are priced well
below most competitors and the value for money is 100%!
Comments
Post a Comment