Food Testing at Holiday Villa, Subang

Our company is having group annual dinner this year, there will be 5 companies joining the annual event. We used to have it every year individually, however the new MD decided to combine all of us this year so that can get to know each other better.

I am one of the committee for the annual dinner, there will be 80+ tables during that night, not many Hotel can fix such a huge number of guests, also we cannot have the location which is too far for each company, therefore the only venue we can have is Holiday Villa in Subang. 

As usual, there will be a food tasting for guest, I was so lucky to be selected to join the tasting session. (We have 16 committees, the hotel refuse to give us two tables.) Anyway I don't' think it was a waste for those that didn't go.

1st dish, Four Seasons Hot & Cold Combinations. The was Deep Fried Almond Ball with Fish Paste, Cold Sweet Roll, Stir Fried Squid with dried Chili and Crabstick & Mixed Fruits Salad. We had complain to all except almond balls (frankly speaking, the fish paste was not good as well, it's soft, just that it was the best among the all..). There were crabstick for salad and also for the roll, the presentation was really poor. The stir fried squid should change the name to stir fried chili and onion, the squid was thinly sliced and each person only get to eat one.

2nd dish, Sichuan Soup. We didn't know why did they name it Sichuan as it was not spicy, not sourish and no taste at all. Again, crabstick slices found in here.

A closer look.

3rd, Deep Fried Seabass with Spicy Tom Yum Gravy. The fish was ok, not fishy, the frying skill was not bad, it was still crispy until end of the dish. However, again, we didn't know why they named it Tom Yum, it was not spicy, sourish. 

4th dish, Stir Fried with Crispy Lotus Root in Yam Basket and Cashew Nut. It was surprise to see this in menu, you know, we can get it in any Chinese stalls. If forget about the poor presentation, I personally found it was ok. I mean it just normal. However my Malay colleagues didn't like it, they rated them the lowest among the dishes, they never ate it before and they also don't want to eat it again during annual dinner time. It was agreed to disappear in the list...poor yam ring...

5th dish, the name was so long. Combination Marinated Char Siew Chicken and Stir Fried Chicken with Teow Chew satay Sauce. Well, I personally didn't like the imitate char siew, the taste and color was taste and looked yucky to me, but rest of them found it ok. Whereas the satay chicken was well accepted by everyone. However it was removed and replaced with Curry Chicken (dip with Massimo bread loaf, which sponsor by the bakery side) end of the day because MD worry that it might not sufficient for production workers.

6th dish, Braised Black Mushroom with Broccoli and Garlic Oil. I don't know why they want to add "garlic oil" behind, just to make it sounds more variety to the dish? Sadly to say, it was not, it was just plain ordinary vegetarian dish. Mushroom and broccoli that's it. I believe you can find more condiments in Chinese restaurant.

7th dish, Fried Rice with Barbecue Chicken "Yong Chow" style. Now only I know there was barbecue chicken inside the fried rice! Wow!....the rice was broken, it didn't taste like Jasmine rice, the combination of "beras hancur" was high...sigh...look at that poor presentation, the color was not attractive at all...　

8th dish, Chilled Longan with Lychee. We were too weak to take the photo, it was a normal canned longan and lychee, but couldn't they just give a better grade one? It was little and the size was small...again, my colleagues said that it was so watery, not sweet at all...does syrup very costly?

Do you think we complain too much? If you know the price per table, you would do the same. It cost RM1000/table. You know, in Chinese restaurant, this only cost RM300 or less. Company decided to go for better atmosphere instead of food, therefore we go for hotel. However it was really too much. With RM1000, they served us crabstick and frozen shrimps?　

Our committee leader had more than 2hours discussion with the person in charge and chief after the session. It was agreed to upgrade some dishes, BUT additional RM100/table will be charged....Speechless....　

The dinner will be in December, we definitely do not have time to change the venue. What we can do is hopefully company can try to avoid it in our next event in future. Our company is rich however I still prefer money to be spent more worthy. 

(In fact I wrote this earlier but I didn't post it. The dinner had been held last week, hear that the food was really err...similar to what I 'd written here. Some menu was changed but still, it did not taste what we'd paid for and expected...)

(*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. This review is time sensitive; changes may occur to the place later on that can affect this opinion. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from this place for writing the review.)