Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine London

Old-school Chinese with a touch of refinement

Deer puff and wagyu puff

Located just off Piccadilly tube station and not far from Chinatown. Imperial Treasure is a Chinese restaurant that focuses on traditional Cantonese cuisine and shies away from trying to be creative or adapt to local palates. This resulted in it gaining a group of loyal Chinese customers as back in Asia, the group has more than 10 restaurants with some even having 2 Michelin stars. For my 10th time visit, I opted for a selection of dim sum from its lunch menu.

Wagyu beef rice roll and crispy prawn roll

Xiao long bao

It is not necessary the more expensive the dim sum, the better it is. The xiao long bao is one of the cheapest items in Imperial Treasure, but also one that I enjoyed the most. The pastry was thin but able to hold the filling very well, the soup within was rich, packed with umami taste. The buttery wagyu beef puff was another winner, it was light yet rich in taste. The peppery taste of the soft beef filling was magical and for sure better than anything I have encountered in London Chinatown. The house's special prawn rice roll was as good as ever, it offered a multi-layer texture from the smooth rice roll sheet, and crispy tofu skin to the tender juicy prawn... great craftsmanship.

Soup dumplings filled with crab, scallops and fish maw

Prawn and chives dumplings

I usually travel to China Tang Dorchester for classic Cantonese cuisine. However, if I am looking for something price level between the high-end and Chinatown level, Imperial Treasure is not a bad shout at all. The venue really sticks to traditional Chinese which is very rare these days in London. The dim sum here wouldn't look much different from what you can find in Chinatown, but what matters is the inside, as the premium ingredients they use do make their offering stand out vs its Chinatown peers.

Food 3.5/5


Average cost without drinks and services:
£45 (lunch)

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

https://www.imperialtreasure.com/