Imperial Treasure Restaurant
Great World City
Singapore
$$$–

After my 2nd (ie. left eye) surgery the next day, the whole gang hit Imperial Treasure Restaurant for dinner. It was my first time – apparently they’re a competitor of Crystal Jade’s (the ex-MD of Crystal Jade started up Imperial Treasure, or something?). Whatever the case, the service was super and the restaurant’s really classy inside. We scored a booth seat and despite us being loud, boisterous and all-round (probably) annoying.. the waitresses were still really nice 😛

We ordered a variety of Shanghai dishes, and all came quickly, with decent portions. We kicked off with the Drunken Chicken in Chinese Wine – which surprised me because it was actually served cold. But the meat was smooth and delicate, with the full flavour of being cooked in Chinese wine. So good! Next up was the traditional and must-have dish Xiao Long Bao – my favourite. Delicate dumplings encasing minced pork and soup, which bursts when you pop them into your mouth. On a similar note, we also had Pan Fried Dumplings, which looked incredibly boring on the plate, but burst with soup and flavour when we bit into them. Yum! For the first time, I tried La Mian with Shallots (homemade noodles) – I’m definitely going back for more!! The noodles were silken and slippery smooth, with the mildest hint of flavour.. with the fried onions adding a burst of flavour. Such a simple, basic dish.. and so insanely awesome. Why have i never had this before?!

Fried Pork Ribs with Salt/Pepper was my choice. They weren’t as much of a hit with everyone else as they were with me. They were thick and meaty and I was happy that they weren’t over-seasoned. The only unfortunate thing is that the dish tends to be quite dry since there’s no sauce/gravy. We also had some Fried Rice with Crab Meat, which looked pretty plain when it arrived but had a lovely ‘char’ (ie. charcoal/fried) flavour. My uncle opted for Braised Ox Tail with Noodle Soup for the table. It was my 1st ox tail-eating experience, so I was pretty amused by the look of it (it was a lot bigger than I’d imagined!). The meat fell apart though, and was super soft and swimming in rich gravy.. sooo good.

The meal was topped off with a dessert of Pan Fried Red Bean Pancake – one of my dad’s favourite desserts. I’m not a huge fan of it, so I just had 1 piece and wasn’t particularly wow’d by it. The rest of the plate was quickly polished off though, so I guess itw as pretty good 🙂

Imperial Treasure Restaurant

Drunken Chicken in Chinese Wine

Xiao Long Bao

Pan Fried Dumplings

La Mian with Shallots

Fried Pork Ribs with Salt/Pepper

Fried Rice with Crab Meat

Braised Ox Tail

Noodle Soup

Pan Fried Red Bean Pancake