Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine London

Traditional high-end Cantonese cuisine

Silver cod baked in soy

Over the last couple of years, London has been flooded with oversea Asian concepts. From Monga Fried Chicken, Din Tai Fung to Jobilee. Imperial Treasure, from Singapore, also launch its very first restaurant in London and targetting Paris for the coming year. The concept of Imperial Treasure is fairly simple, it is all about traditional Cantonese cuisine but at a refined level. The group has over 20 restaurants back in the Far East, with the Hong Kong site landed a Michelin star for the last 2 years. I was not overly impressed with I dine at the Hong Kong site back in January, and I wonder can the London site make a difference considering the menu is so similar.

Crispy fish skin

Golden fresh oysters in egg yolk

Iberico pork belly and char siu pork

Sauteed scallops with chili

We had a selection of dishes from the a la carte menu, the deep fried oysters with salted egg yolk was a delight, cooked perfectly with the freshness and sweetness of the oysters still maintained. The richness of the egg yolk acted as a lovely seasoning to increased the boldness of the oysters. The Iberico pork belly, on the other hand, lacked flavours, the skin was crispy enough but that is not good enough considering many places in London can offer similar quality but at a much lower price. The sauteed beef tenderloin had a great depth of tastes but was slightly overcooked, I had the very same version of the dish back in Hong Kong and it was just not as good in every single department.

Sauteed tenderloin in garlic

Deep fried salt and peppered French quail

Wok fried beef noodles

Charcoal bun with custard, osmanthus jelly, and red date cake

To sum it up, Imperial Treasure failed to deliver to the level I was expecting, and mostly is down to the price point. I just failed to understand why the restaurant is commanding such a sky-high cost, it is understandable that the restaurant sources premium ingerdinets vs your standard Chinese restaurants, but in term of the end result, it doesn't justify it for me. Granted it has a beautiful dining room, and the service is a lot better than most Chinese restaurants. But for a similar price, you would get better value for money from the likes of Min Jiang and Hakkasan.



Food 3/5

Average cost without drinks and services:
£80

9 Waterloo Pl, St. James's, London SW1Y 4BE

http://www.imperialtreasure.com/uk/