Beloved and I went around checking out some of the potential venues where we could hold our small wedding dinner.

First to hit: Goodwood hotel. NOT the ballroom, but the outdoor area outside Ming Jiang restaurant. It was actually quite charming, with the white walls, white china and wooden patio. It had a slight colonial feel, but with a Chinese twist. Well, it was next to a Chinese restaurant after all. It was also situated about 300m away from the pool… which could be a blessing or curse. Blessing is when the pool is deserted and you have the pool-view to yourself. Curse is when the white, fat, hairy half-naked Ang Mohs, prance about in their swimwear while you are having your dinner. Will have to try very hard NOT to vomit.

As we were about to leave, we noticed this small but swanky-looking restaurant, called Gordon Grill, which was just opposite the concierge. The restaurant was EXACTLY what we were looking for! It was classy, in fact, it had this old-world, Hollywood appeal… a place where you can imagine Marilyn Monroe or Audrey Hepburn having dinner. It also has a small bar where our guests can mingle before dinner. Beloved and I were so excited and asked for the manager immediately. But unfortunately, the manager said that the restaurant had never been booked by an event before and had to write in for an approval from the management. AH? Hrmmm… ok, so troublesome. But as we really liked the place, we would take the trouble to follow up and see what comes up. Although I have this sinking feeling that Management is not going to approve… …

Next, we went to Halia, which was situated at the Botanical Gardens, near to the Orchid Park. Very charming as well, it was lush and tropical. It also had an outdoor patio, which would be ideal if you want a tropical theme wedding… We were there at noon and wanted to try their lunch but it was fully booked. So we took a reservation for dinner instead.

The atmosphere at Halia was really different at night. It was so much more intimate and romantic. The setting of the lush vegetation, lightings and the cool breeze just totally set the mood for love. In the day, it was like a tropical haven, with tourists, kids, dogs, runners all over the place. But at night, the place was much quieter. We were a tad early, so we hung out at their newly-constructed bar, which was really cozy as well. It was indoor, with a high ceiling, equipped with big, leather arm chairs and a pretty chandelier.

Waited for a while before we could get our table. Luckily the champagne was great and the manager was really witty and funny, or else, I would have been very grumpy to wait almost 1.5 hrs to get our table!

I had a really tasty soup. It was chunky tomato, much better than the mushroom soup that Beloved had. But he had a better main course! The lamb was excellent… better than the duck that I ordered. All in all, the food was above average although a tad pricy. A main cost will cost between 30-48 bucks.

But the ambience won hands-down. Service was polite and it seemed that the servers were well-trained to give couples their intimacy but attentive enough when you need their service.

Now, we are torn between Gordon Grill and Halia. Although the mosquito bites on my arms were a boo-boo to Halia, despite drenching myself with lemongrass essential oil, which is a natural form of repellent!

And we’ll be checking more venues this weekend! And also to check out Goodwood again at night, as we’ll like to see how is the ambience at MingJiang when night falls.

Heh. This is actually quite fun!