judyonthenet

As I mentioned in a previous post, Kelvin and I had a certain restaurant in mind for the wedding banquet, and that restaurant is Hong Fu Gourmet Chinese Restaurant (AKA our favorite Chinese restaurant). Last, last Monday, we finally put down the deposit to save the banquet room for our wedding date. The girls behind the counter always look at me weird when I ask about November because I guess it’s way earlier than when other people book with them. When I asked about it back in December ’07, one girl even said, “November of this year?”. (Yeah, smart cookie, that one.) But, better safe than sorry.

We made sure to drag Robin and Robin’s dad, Fred, who’ve dealt with Hong Fu for banquets on more than one occasion, to prevent any blatant swindling on our American behinds. (Yeah, I’m not exactly the most trusting of Chinese restaurants, even my favorite places.) It turns out all we needed to book the date was to pay the $300 non-refundable deposit. Booking the date is separate from the contract, so I still have to deal with all the contract stuff later. Though, the manager (DJ) seemed slightly more flexible than last time we saw him.

The sole banquet room isn’t very big, and its shape is more long and narrow. The maximum capacity is 130 people. If it’s any more than that, you’ll have to use the main restaurant area (which has a minimum order of $6000). It has a room-divider to split the room for smaller parties. It’s well separated from the main area, with its own entrance and a full bar in the front. It’s not the classiest or most grandiose banquet setting. The ceiling isn’t high, the wallpaper is pink with pastel flowers on it, and there’s plastic flowers all over the place. (I think the main area is the same deal, but it somehow seems to look much better.) I’m sure the tacky decorations are easily remedied, though. They offer two choices in table linens: pink or red. I think it’s the same deal for the napkins. The banquet contract includes use of their audio equipment, which I’m told includes a sound system with microphone and CD player. Their checklist thingy lists a (projector, I’m guessing) screen and changing room, so I guess maybe they have those also. There’s no room for a dance floor in the banquet room if you have more than 70 guests, but thankfully my friends are indifferent to dancing.

So we’ve still got to talk to the manager about specifics for the contract, mainly menu substitutes and such. (Their menus aren’t too weird for Westerners. There will still probably be shark fin soup and jellyfish appetizers, but hopefully enough tamer stuff for the non-Chinese. While I’m not a fan of it, there’s going to be plenty of seafood. To show wealth or whatever :P *grumble*Mom*grumble*) He also gave us the disclaimer that they’ve been considering upping the banquet prices. Even though he emphasized there weren’t final plans, I’ve still got to get the contract settled ASAP so they don’t pull anything. Currently, wedding banquets are either $338 or $398 a table, depending on which menu you choose. It includes two bottles of soda and a bottle of champagne for each table, and the price doesn’t include gratuity. There’s a cake cutting fee of $150 as well as a corkage fee (for when you bring your own booze) of $15 a table, though DJ said he’d waive that if we pay with cold hard dollah bills. I’m not sure if the discount is worth bringing in wads of cash. When we talked to him back in December, he said if we wanted hard liquor we had to use stuff from their bar, though during the most recent visit, he said we could bring our own. (I’ve been told by my friends that people tend to bring their own booze to Chinese banquets “under the table”, regardless of restaurant policy.)

There are other options in the Cupertino area, but considering how Asian-infested the area is, the options for wedding banquets are surprisingly lacking. Our wedding isn’t very big, so we could be more flexible. Generally, you’d probably have to go to a dim-sum place like Dynasty or Joy Luck. These two weren’t options, considering how I don’t 1) like their food that much, 2) want to hear my maid of honor telling me about how we’re dining in Dy-NASTY all night, and 3) want service that makes me feel like I want to strangle somebody. (Joy Luck Place: go f*ck your-asshole-FOBy-selves. Seriously.) Not only was Hong Fu a slightly more affordable option, it’s one of the few Chinese restaurants that Kelvin and I love and eat at regularly. The service is on par with non-Chinese restaurants, and their food is decent, even to many extra-particular Chinese folks (like my mom). It really made sense for us to have it here. I hope we actually get to eat some of the food.