Exit the Dragon, enter the Snake

This is Part Two of the Celebration of the Spring Festival 2013 and the invitation came from Marco Polo Plaza Cebu to welcome the Year of the Snake with Culinary China at Café Marco. The Chinese people are united as one people throughout the world, whether that person is in Mainland China or a Filipino-Chinese businessman in Cebu in observance of a ritual that is centuries old.

The traditional ceremonies to welcome the Lunar New Year are faithfully observed by this hotel such as the Lion Dance/Eye Dotting, Firecrackers, Dragon Dance, Yee Shang Tossing Ceremony, tossing of coins and the Chinese Banquet. Your favorite food columnist has been a frequent guest to these festivities since 2008 and this year, the firecrackers were definitely more deafening as compared to the previous years. This is in sharp contrast to the fireworks barrage in Beijing which was much subdued to reduce the smoke emissions because of critical air pollution levels.

There is one tradition that separates the men from the boys, the Yee Shang Tossing Ceremony in Marco Polo Plaza Cebu. This is a salad utilizing raw fish (Yee) as the primary ingredient and the rest of the ingredients are mixed and tossed together; the higher the toss (Shang), the better. It is said that this ceremony evolved in Singapore and Malaysia, inspired by ancient China where references to “raw fish being eaten during this festive season were found in the Sixteenth Century Qing Dynasty”. Everything that is used for this ceremony like a 3-meter giant iron wok and 5-meter chopsticks are, excuse me, huge!

Much later, we marched to Café Marco for a taste of the much-awaited part of the ceremonies, the Chinese Lauriat. Planning the menu is very critical because you want to start the year with the best dishes that your finances can afford. The dishes and ingredients are carefully chosen because they are viewed as symbols of prosperity and neither two similar cooking methods are ever used.

We began the sumptuous dinner with the Hot & Cold Appetizer Plate: Char Sui Pork, Jelly Fish Salad, Pickled Cucumber, Salt & Pepper Salmon, Abalone Mushroom Salad, Palm Heart, Bell Peppers and Spring Roll. This was followed by the soup, Double Boiled Chicken Soup, Abalone, Dried Scallops with Chinese Herbs. Certainly, this soup was very tasty with expensive ingredients. These days, I agree to the ban on the service of Shark Fin Soup because this top predator of the sea is going to extinction and the practice of finning (hacking off the shark’s fins) is simply inhumane.

Then the main dishes were served: Stir fry Scallops, Tea Leaves & Broccoli, Pork Spare Ribs & Golden Egg Yolk and the Wok Stir fry US Beef, Black Pepper. This was followed by the Steamed Cod Fish Fillet in Soya Sauce and a vegetable dish which I call Buddha’s Delight; Stir-fry Golden Mushroom (looks like noodles), Button Mushrooms and the Chinese Broccoli (kai lan chai). Last dish was the Marco Polo Fried Rice and a Chinese dessert, Red Bean Monggo Soup with Butchi & Glutinous Rice Dumplings and a plate of fresh fruits. I nodded in agreement with my good friend, Marco Polo Cebu G.M. Hans Hauri that the best dish served was the Double Boiled Chicken Soup. And I consumed nearly everything … there must be “leftovers”, to symbolize abundant provisions in the coming year!