Monday, August 19, 2019

My Grand Niece's 100-Day Dinner

I went to my grand niece's 100-day dinner last Saturday. Traditional Chinese usually hold celebration dinner when the baby is a month old.  Nowadays the younger generation fancy for 100-day or 2-month or 3-month dinner.  Well I like the 100-day idea as the baby will be strong enough to meet friends and relatives.


Red Eggs with Sour Ginger
This starter is unique for new born babies' celebration dinner. Chinese usually distribute red eggs to friends, relatives or even neighbors to announce the arrival of their new born family members.  But I don't know why sour ginger is always a companion to the red eggs.


The 11-course 100-day dinner was composed of very traditional or even old fashion Hong Kong cuisine.  Couple of the dishes were quite rarely seen nowadays.  

Smoked Pomfret with Salad Dressing

Banquet dinner usually serves steamed groupa.  Smoked Pomfret is quite a special choice and I missed it for long.  

Stir Fried Milk with Crab Meat

This is also quite a special dish unique to this particular restaurant.  Few chefs nowadays can produce this dish with good quality.

The 11-Course Dinner Menu


12-Day Ginger Vinegar with Pork Knuckles


In fact, when the baby girl was 12 days old, my nephew started to distribute ginger vinegar with pork knuckles.  I'm not quite sure if this tradition is valid across the entire China, but in Hong Kong and Guangdong, new mothers eat this to restore strength and health after giving birth to a baby.  These are also presented to friends and family to indicate the arrival of a new baby. The vinegar is sweet and pork knuckles has lots of collagen, together with ginger and eggs, many people love this yummy dish. They make it at home on regular days and some restaurants even have this on their menus.

What would be the cost of going to a new born baby's 100-day dinner?
In Hong Kong, when you receive an invitation for whatever reason, a gift check is almost mandated. But the value may depend on many factors, like the friendship between you and the host, is the host a very close relative and sometimes the dinner venue may counts. I was told that the standard gift check for one person is HK$800 which is rather a bottom price.  As for me, I paid far beyond the minimum because this is my nephew's first baby girl!

My Grand Niece's 100-Day Dinner
Yixin Restaurant
50 Hennessy Road, Hong Kong


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