Lunch: Summer Palace

I had a great lunch experience today. Actually I didnt know what that lunch was for. I got the invitation and accepted it, no questions asked.

The lunch we had was at Summer Palace, Marriott Putrajaya so we had to drive all the way to Putrajaya from KL. There were supposed to be 6 attendees but two bosses couldn't make it so there were only 4 of us. We gerak at 12pm and because the EVP wasn't around, we got to use his car.

When we Summer Palace, we were escorted to the VIP room and immediately the starter was served. There were 10 dishes for us on the menu. I didnt take any picture there, but I brought home the menu booklet.

Sliced Octopus with Apple Sauce
Stuffed Crab Claw with Salted Egg Yolk
Pan-fried Lamb Rack Cantonese Style
Double-Bolied Hai Fu Shark's Fin in Superior Stock
Steamed Bamboo Fish Hong Kong Style
Smoked Crispy Qing Yuan Chicken
Braised Supreme Whole Abalone with Fish Maw
Stir-Fried Baby Kailan with Garlic
Baked Rice with Seafood and Cheese in Pineapple Boat
Double-Boiled Bird Nest with Six Treasures
I cant comment on the taste but the presentation was awesome.

While having our meals, my colleagues educated me on Chinese dining etiquette/table manners.
I remember the following

1-Seating arrangement
Main host should sit facing the door (oh yes, must book a room and guests shouldnt be treated to meals at common dining area) and the second host on the opposite of the main host. If there are third and fourth hosts, the third one should sit on the main host's 9 o'clock and the fourth one on 3 o'clock. The most important guest is seated on the main host's right and second most important on the left. The rest of the guests are seated (according to rank) in clockwise direction from the second most important guest. The waiter must serve the most important guest first followed by the second guest, third guest and so on.. Guests from China would be offended if these arrangements are not observed. However, many Chinese restaurants in Malaysia (even 5-star hotels) dont know of these things so every time my colleagues bring China delegates out for meals, they always have to educate the staffs of the restaurants first.

2-Napkin as per pic below - under the plate. The rest of the napkin should sit on the lap.
3- When you wanna do the 'cheers' thingy, those of the lower ranks cant raise their cups/glasses higher than those of higher ranks

4-Chinamen pay great attention to courtesy. We didnt have 'personal' waiters for us at Summer Palace but if you go to China and book a room at a restaurant, dont be surprised to see if they allocate 2 waiters per guest.

5-Declining a toast is considered rude. And they dont understand why cant Muslims consume alcohol coz they've seen lotsa Muslims do.

6-The glass for toast should be full and it must be emptied

I was shocked when I saw the bill - it was more than RM900 per person. As for the total, multiply that by 4. Khalis didnt believe me when I told him that. He said he'd eaten at Summer Palace before and it wasnt that expensive. True - New Year's Eve buffet was only RM140 there and even I myself wouldnt believe it either if I didnt see it with my own eyes.

We reached the office at 300pm and now I'm kenyang gile..