Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine, Singapore

This is the sixth blogpost in our series Singapore & Malaysia food trail 2013. Check out our previous blogposts in this series:

• Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, Singapore
• Teh tarik, Rafee’s Corner, Singapore
• Chinese New Year of the Snake 2013, Singapore
• The Scarlet, a boutique hotel, Singapore 
• Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

Mysaucepan and I are on a 3-week eating spree and will be blogging about our street food adventures with lots of photos and tweets about hawker favourites and local delights that will also cover Chinese New Year 2013 – The Year of the Snake.

We would love your feedback on which are the foods you love and would also welcome any suggestions and recommendations that we should try during our trip in Singapore and Malaysia.

Bon appetite!!

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There is Peking duck and then there is Peking duck at Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine in Singapore.

After our walk around the Gardens by the Bay at Marina Bay Sands, I am  having dinner tonight with Mysaucepan and her parents at arguably the best Peking duck restaurant in Singapore.

We were well and truly impressed with the Peking duck at its other outlet Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck at the top level of The Paragon shopping centre on Orchard road during our last trip to Singapore.

There is a sense of excitement dining at a restaurant located among all the top fine dining restaraunts which bear the name of some of the world’s most famous celebrity chefs. These restaurants on level 2 of the Marina Bay Sands complex overlook the massive casino reputed to be one of the biggest and most sophisticated in South East Asia.

We are seated on a big round table for four people and I love the neutral tone of the beige linen tablecloths at this restaurant.

Service is prompt and friendly and our order of chrysanthemum tea (S$2.50 or A$2.00 per person) soon arrives at our table.

We are here tonight to savour their house specialty which is the Peking duck and as soon as we put in our order, the cucumber batons and julienne shallots are brought to our table.

Each diner is given the essential hoisin sauce and white sugar to accompany the duck.

Mysaucepan decides to try one of the specials this evening ~ a scallops with crab meat, egg white and truffle oil.

Each person gets a small plate of this delicate seafood and I am savouring each teaspoon of this velvety soft crab meat and scallops.

Northern style Chinese restaurants will usually have black vinegar to accompany this dish but the truffle oil is a genius stroke in both elegance and flavour sensation.

Our Peking duck arrives and the chef begins to carve this dark, golden bird next to our table.

We can hear his razor sharp knife slicing into the crispy skin as he expertly yields the skin from the breast of the duck.

I am salivating looking at the warm juices flowing from the meat of the duck as he carves each piece of skin with a thin layer of meat.

The chef’s recommendation is for the first pieces of skin to be dipped into some white sugar and nothing else.

This recommendation works as the sweetness of the sugar both complements and brings out the savoury and gamey flavour of the duck.

The skin is very crisp and the meat is succulent with a slightly gamey flavour.

For this first Peking duck course, there is at least half a dozen pancakes for each of the four of us in addition to some extra pieces of meat.

Although it is good, both Mysaucepan and I think the  Peking duck at this restaurant’s other outlet Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck in Paragon is much better. So far, I have yet to have a better Peking duck experience than that last meal there.

There are a few options for the second course of the Peking duck. It can be stir-fried with ginger and shallots as we chose when we ate at Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck in Paragon.

Tonight, we choose a Sang Choy Bao with duck meat as the second course. I think the crispy rice vermicelli is a little redundant given the iceberg lettuce is so fresh and crunchy.

The black pepper beef tenderloin is truly one of the best interpretations I have experienced.

I would like to know how the chef gets these chunky cubes of beef to be so incredibly tender.

Mysaucepan‘s dad loves his steak and he is truly in heaven with this dish. The black pepper bits are daringly large enough to give your taste buds a good pepper hit but it works so well with the meat and slices of onions. This is Chinese style steak at its very best and this simple stir-fried dish can rival the best Western style steak in the taste and flavour department.

We end our meal with my choice of fried rice with salted fish and chicken which is my favourite style of Chinese fried rice.

“Why do you want to order an ordinary dish like this fried rice in this upmarket Chinese restaurant?” Mysaucepan asks.

“Because if they can do the more elaborate dishes so well, they will surely ace a simple dish like fried rice” I reply.

And as it turns out, this fried rice is truly heaven! Smoky and fragrant with aromas of a good Shao Xing wine, I think they have ditched the green peas just so it doesn’t look like your neighbourhood Chinese restaurant fried rice.

Then again, this restaurant is no ordinary Cantonese restaurant.

A cursory glance over their Chinese New Year menu reveals an elaborate 10-course fine Cantonese meal that you can indulge your family in for S$12,888 ++

Unlike in Australia where our 10% GST is included in the prices on the menu, restaurant dining in Singapore attracts a service charge of 10% and GST of 7% in addition to the prices on the menu.

So dear readers, where is your favourite place for Peking duck?

Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine
The Shoppes, Atrium 2, L2-04
Access via The Shoppes Bay level
(L1) lifts at UOB & Grand Colonnade North
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

Tel: +65 6688 7788

Operating hours:

Monday – Saturday 11.30am – 10.30pm, Sunday & Public Holiday 11.00am – 10.30pm

Daily Dim Sum (Yum Cha) 11.00am – 4.00pm

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