Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine

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It's been a while since our last visit to Imperial Treasure Teochew and since then, so much has changed. For starters, they relocated from Ngee Ann City to Ion Orchard and included the word "Fine" in their name. Oh and they recently garnered a Michelin star. Exciting times. Interior The place is certainly more upclass now and gone are the days of the rather cramp-ish interior with haphazard seating arrangements. Instead tall glass ceilings allow for tons of natural light and coupled with lots of wood, make for a more relaxing and refined dining environment. Do note that if you sit by the windows during the day, be prepared to soak in some heat; a little hot but still bearable. Double Boiled Fish Maw Soup with Shark Cartilage This came across as a little starchy and rather sweet. Not quite a fan honestly and rather pricey at $30++ for such a small bowl. The Cantonese restaurants definitely do this better. Doubled Boiled Pig's Stomach Soup with Salted Vegetables & Peppercorns The soup was a tad too salty from the salted vegetables but I liked the peppery goodness of the peppercorns. Decent soup overall but I can get a better (and cheaper) rendition from one of the Teochew braised duck stalls that I usually patronise. Chee Cheong Fun Just for the kick of having some dim sum - a rather average rendition with the skin less than silky and a lacklustre char siew filling. Three Kinds of Marinated Combination in Teochew Style One of the hallmarks of Teochew cuisine, braised meat. We went with duck, pork belly and intestines and it was seriously underwhelming. The duck was thinly sliced and didn't come across as too tough but the gravy was a tad too sweet for my liking. Though the pig intestines were well cleaned, they lacked the crunchiness that I liked and came across as limp. Not to mention the pork belly with its >50% fat to meat ratio that honestly didn't go well with the sauce. The sole saving grace? Silky smooth beancurd slices hidden beneath. Apparently this is the Hong Kong style Teochew braise with its lighter flavours but I've had much better Teochew braise in Hong Kong. ie. Chan Kan Kee or Hung's Delicacies (which I make a point to patronise whenever I depart/transit HKIA). Deep Fried Cod Fillet with Sauce I had meant to order the pan fried version but made a mistake. Thankfully it turned out pretty good; crisp on the outside with sweet, flaky flesh on the inside. Ladled with mildly savoury sauce with lots of spring onions. Delicious. Sauteed Prawn with Egg White in Italian White Truffle Oil I usually prefer the scallop version but apparently prawns have substituted scallops for good (still can't quite accept that fact). The singular prawn was quite sizable and crunchy and of course the white truffle oil gave the whole dish a rather heady (and amazing) aroma. Braised Spinach Beancurd with Assorted Mushrooms Now I've rather biased towards beancurd and it was quite delicious - crisp on the outside while soft and eggy on the inside. Topped with lots of mushrooms and sitting on a bed of spinach. Definitely my kind of dish. Sauteed String Bean & Minced Meat with Preserved Black Olives The string bean came across as a little too oily but at least it retained its crunchiness without coming across as overly raw. Average dish at best. Teochew Fried Fish Noodles Stir fried with beansprouts, chives and egg, the fish noodles had a nice springy texture to it but was way too oily for my liking. It was also a tad lacking in wok hei. Sweetened Mashed Taro with Ginkgo And finally, another ubiquitous Teochew dish, the humble but extremely time consuming to make Orh Nee. It looked dry and unappetising on the outside but was actually smooth, fragrant and moist without being too sweet. A great ending to our otherwise underwhelming meal. Bill With a $100 discount, lunch for the 4 of us came to about $232 (~$339 without discount), which isn't quite worth the money in my humble opinion. Food overall was acceptable but some dishes came across as too oily. Service was good but seemed to be shorthanded at times, especially when the restaurant was at full capacity. To be honest, even though I'm quite a fan of the Imperial Treasure group (note the number of times I've been to the Cantonese outlet at Crowne Plaza), I fail to understand how this particular outlet is able to achieve 1 Michelin Star.Final Verdict:Ambience: 7.5/10Service: 7/10 (would have given 7.5 if not for the fact that they seemed shorthanded at times)Food: 6.5/10 (7.5/10 for the orh nee, beancurd and cod fillet)Value for money: 6/10Overall: 6.75/10Address: ION Orchard, #03-05Contact: 6736 2118Opening Hours:Monday to FridayLunch: 11.30am to 3.00pmDinner: 6.00pm to 11.00pmSaturdayLunch: 11.00am to 3.00pmDinner: 6.00pm to 11.00pmSunday & PHLunch: 10.30am to 3.00pmDinner: 6.00pm to 11.00pmWebsite: http://www.imperialtreasure.com/restaurant/Imperial%20Treasure%20Fine%20Teochew%20Cuisine-4 continue reading

Another Sunday brunch of dim sum feasting. It's Imperial Treasure Teochew Cuisine's turn this time round.We were lucky to be able to get a table immediately when we reached without making prior reservation. After placing our orders, complimentary Kungfu tea was served for us to consume before we start our food journey.Feasting Begins!Century Eggs with Pickled Ginger 皮蛋酸姜 (S$6)Though it is not served with the usual yellow ginger, this chilled century egg pairing with pickled ginger displays how simplicity can bring out the best taste of the food.Roasted Pork 脆皮靓烧肉 (S$10)Roasted so evenly till there is crunchiness in every bite of the crispy skin. The meat is tender and neither too oily nor salty.Baked Egg Tart 酥皮蛋挞仔 (S$3.60)The light and crispy crust is so soft and fluffy that it crumbles off once you sink your teeth in it. One of the better crust that I have tasted and it's definitely the main attraction of this dish.Steamed Rice Roll with Shrimp 鲜虾蒸肠粉 (S$6)One of my favourite dim sum but the ones here are not so satisfying as the rice roll is too thick.Steamed Prawn Dumpling "Ha Kau" 笋尖鲜虾饺 (S$5.40)Another of the usual like the rest. However, the freshness of the prawns are rather prominent here.Prawn & Vegetable Dumpling 鲜虾菜苗饺 (S$5)Fresh prawns with soft vegetables, a different twist from the usual meaty dim sums.Steamed BBQ Pork Bun 蚝皇叉烧包 (S$4.20)Softness of the bun skin lets you have the urge to gobble two at one go. The char siew filling is a tad salty though.Steamed Pork Rib with Black Bean Sauce 豉汁蒸排骨 (S$4.20)Rather tasty and tender ribs but a little too much of fatty meat.Steamed Chicken Feet with Black Bean 豉汁蒸凤爪 (S$4.20)Fresh and soft chicken feet done the traditional way.Its desserts time!Mashed Taro with Gingko 芋泥 (S$4.50)Creamy and semi lumpy in texture, this taste too sweet even though I have quite a high tolerance level of sweetness.Almond Cream 杏仁茶 (S$5)Strong taste of almond at the first mouthful, it would have been better if it's more concentrated. continue reading

The last time i came imperial treasure teochew at level 4 ngee ann city was on 15.9.2013. wa, almost a year now… that’s the plus point about blogging. memories do not get better, but at least i can refer back. i ordered the usual 1/2 teochew braised duck S$28, and charcoal broiled pork collar. children ordered the rest. i think the teochew braised duck is exceedingly good, lots better than all the teochew restaurants like chui huay lim, or cheaper ones like mu liang zai liang kee. it was the usual moist, tender & very flavourful. i do a very good teochew braised duck myself. this though was somewhat different, the meat was tender but firm, not overcooked, and very flavourful. Charcoal broiled pork collar was good as always, though portion had shrunk!this reminded me that the fun cheong at timhowan were also very good.charcoal broiled pork collar was good – already said!siew yoke (烧肉) was leaner & very good this time, very nicely pressed, good consistency, crispy skin & tasty. this such a standard common dish but surprisingly many other restaurants can still get it wrong.chicken feet was ok competent.steamed pork ribs kind of too much bones & fat. taste was good but many places like royal china did a much better steamed pork ribs. Fried carrot cake was ok. did not leave any impression.I always enjoyed the dried scallop egg white fried rice here. this had less chilli & less robust flavours than the excellent spicy seafood fried rice at crystal jade lamian xiolongbao. have to put them both as my equal favourites. the crystal jade version had inspired my own pretty own seafood fried rice. haha! The wife ordered the teochew char kueh teow. kueh teow was too soft but taste was pretty ok & there were quite many prawns. i am ok with this dish, not my favourite & for me neither was the one at chui huay lim.this was good, better than the salted egg custard bun at royal china (with the strange mango concoction) but canton paradise might be even better than this.Total bill was S$186nett. not cheap at S$31pax nett for dim sum but a tasty enjoyable lunch with variety & quality of food to please all.See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/08/18/ever-satisfying-lunch-imperial-treasure-teochew-on-17aug2014/ continue reading

for photos and more reviews, visit http://littlemomentsofmylife.wordpress.com/ actually i made reservations at the wrong imperial treasure. apparently there are two in takashimaya? i reserved the one on the 4th floor which was the imperial treasure teochew cuisine, when there was supposed to be a 'better' one on level 5 which is imperial treasure nan bei restaurant. but the one we went to was d*** awesome already!!!! can't imagine how much better the other one could be. both are good la!!hehe the first thing i ordered was char siew sou ($3.60). what else?! haha it was SUPER GOOD. one of the best char siew sous i've eaten really! we only ordered one plate -.- and it was so funny. cos it was the first dish that arrived, so no one touched it initially. but i totally couldnt resist. i mean, c'mon, it's my favourite! so after sitting there for 2mins, i couldnt take it and grabbed one for myself xD after i exclaimed that it was SO YUMMY, everyone started to want it haha. and they had to share haha. the pastry was crumbly just-so, slightly sweet, crispy, enclosing a sweet juicy mash of char siew. oh gosh. it was just soooooo good the roasted pork ($9 per plate) came highly recommended by one of my friends. and boy, it was good!!!! haha i really can't stop exclaiming at the dishes here. the portion was tiny, but it was just super awesome. i would say, worth the money despite its size haha. the layers of meat nicely balanced between fat that melted in the mouth, with a crispy crackly skin on top. mmm the pan fried carrot cake ($3.50) was nicely fried till it was fragrant. crispy top with a tender underside.fluffy char siew baos ($3.30)! loved how the bun was so soft. but so much carbo, none of us could stomach it towards the end when all the food started piling up.the xiao long bao ($4) was very well received! the skin was of a good thickness, and the soup inside was yummy!usual dim sum items - siew mai ($4.40), chee cheong fun ($4.80) and har gow($4.80) - were all done wonderfully. the prawns were so fresh! i loved how the egg tarts were served piping hot!!!! they were absolutely delicious, so fresh that the liquid yolks had barely solidified and they wobbled precariously as i popped them in my mouth. haha so yummy and ohmyohmyohmy. *drools*. another of the highly recommended items - the custard bun ($3.60) was so yummy take a mouthful of the fluffy bun, be careful!, and get ready for the oozy custard to squirt into your mouth xD it was absolutely delicious.and i have no idea why we were so greedy (how could we think that the dim sum we ordered wasn't enough?! we were stuffed..) but we ordered the fried rice with bbq pork & prawn in yang zhou style ($14 small - which turned out to be not so small after all!). yes, i repeat, we were stuffed already by that time. but when the dish arrived, it smelled so mouth-watering that no one could resist it! every mouthful was so fragrant, it ended off our meal with a bang.this place is here to stay on my list of dim sum places continue reading

Looking for a good Chinese Restaurant in Singapore is difficult. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of options from restaurants to hawker food centers. If you are in the area of Ngee Ann City and want to try one of Singapore best Teochew restaurant be sure to visit Imperial Treasure Teochew Cuisine. For a full review, please visit my blog @ http://lvfoodhaven.blogspot.sg/2013/05/imperial-treasure-teochew-cuisine-ngee.html. continue reading