Imperial Herbal Restaurant & Tcafe

their desserts are good. My cousin & I had the Osmanthus Jelly with Aloe, my mother had the Aloe something with a few pieces of fruits on top of the it(can't remember the exact title), while my dad had the double boiled Aloe with Sea Coconut.

My dad's coconut took a longggg time to come & we had to ask the supervisor about it as we couldn't get the waitress' attention. we were sitted outside, alongside the fishes, but it isn't really that hard to notice.

I like my dad's one best out of all the desserts, though I felt it is something I can make at home. It IS a tad too sweet for my liking, even though I have a sweet tooth.

The wolfberry & hawthorn paste is good! at first bite, I thought I thought it tasted a bit too overwhelming but after that, I liked the taste.

I think I would just come to this place for their desserts. besides, it's a great place for people watching.

DAMN! THE SYSTEM WON'T GIVE ME TO PUT A ZERO FOR THOSE DUMB SCALES!! This restaurant sucks. Definetly a no-no return thingy. Let me abbreviate on this overpriced place. But theres two things commendable.

AMBIENCE
AND
SERVICE
Ambience was pretty good. Soft chairs for you to laze about. Service was also great! Smile on faces and quick service. But the food portions are wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy small. Okay, i shall stop here and start abbreviating on the foods.

Seafood Cheese Baked Rice [$13]
No-no for this one! It really sucked big time! So oily i had headaches man!!! This is the main killer thing. This killer item killed my father of cleaning the car! Thinking of this, the taste and smell is lurking in my mouth. EW!!!!
Four-seasons long bean [$8]
This was the best! It was perfect although its worse than my granny's! I mean DUH~!~! MY GRANNY HAS SUPERB EXPERIENCE COS' SHES LIVED ON EARTH FOR LIKE HOW MANY HOURS!!! Count it yourself! But this really struck me. It was the best four seasoned bean u can get outside. This caused 3.5 marks. Not bad huh??
Avocado Milkshake [$6]
This is ok-ok. Makes you have minor headaches. I prefer the ones at ThaiExpress. Much preferred at ThaiExpress should abbreviate more ya??? Anyway, this was just 10cents more expensive than ThaiExpress's
Sweet and Sour pork [$8]
THIS RULED BIG TIME! I LOVED IT MAN!!! ORDER THIS OR DIE! ORDER THIS OR DIE!!! SERIOUS!! ITS FANTTTTTASSTIC!! =D

Okay, im done. Anyway, after that i vomitted in the car and my father cleaned that car for like 3 days!!

20minutes after the vomit:
Bathed and slept. Had gastric spams!! Had no appetite for next whole day approx. 9hours!
Next day: Can eat some liquidified stuff, no solid allowed!!
I was far from reporting it to the NEA, but do not be so happy just yet i will never go back!!

Been twice to Tcafe and have dim sum during late afternoon, variety consist of noodles, dim sum, dessert and many more. I had tried the egg custard, herbal shrimp noodle, siew mai, xiao long pau, charsiew puff and many more. I enjoy the food as it taste nice and hot~~

Service is so-so standard, every times have to remind the service staff to refilled water.

What I hate is they charge 20cents or $1 which I can't remember for the plain water! A restaurant shouldn't practice this style, basically it's the same as secret recipe.

I went there with my sister on last friday... seaching for some new food...
the interior layout was a bit funny but the food was consider unique..
we ordered a set dinner for 2 @ $68++...

1. fried egg white w scallop
2. sharkfin
3. "abalone" with a vegetable
4. chinken chop
5. 鸡丝炒面线

additional order is the 小龙包

Tried the Dim Sum at the supposedly new Tea Cafe during weekday lunch, just outside the Restaurant. Big mistake. The owner's son has a MLM group obviously stationed there, very noisy and loud. Thought they were just regular customers, but it was more like an open-house gathering for MLM. As expected, service was absolutely non-existent except when food is being served.

The dim sum was not impressive - most tasted like frozen stuff - thawed and steamed or fried. Very different quality from the usual standard of Imperial Herbal's restaurant fare. We ordered the steamed sharksfin dumpling, cabbage dumpling, fried beancurd skin, pan fried carrot cake, pan fried glutinous rice, and the braised Bee Hoon. The braised bee hoon was the only saving grace(since it obviously cannot be frozen fare). Definitely not going back anytime soon.

Tried the set lunch, and the more impressive dishes were:

- Egg white with dried scallop on fried potato basket
(mentioned by the most of the other reviewers so i shall not say more)

- Deep fried lobster with fruits

- Black pepper Lamb rack
(this is the 1st time i tried a 'western' dish in a chinese restaurant that is so good and have to say it is one of the best lamb dishes i have ever tasted)

- Noodles in Lobster Soup
(The noodles was good because of the exceptionally tasty lobster-based soup: fragrant, sweet and addictive) for people who love lobster bisque, this is a must-try.

- Cold Dessert [Hasima, strawberry, dragonfruit, sago, lemongrass, jelly]
(this has to be one of my favourite desserts and this was only the 1st time i have ever tried such a dessert dish. Surprisingly, all the 'ingredients' of this dessert mixed and blended quite well, making it a perfect end to a savoury, albeit heavy lunch meal)

Just for these dishes, its definitely worth going back, when you are ready to pay abit more though.

Decided on this place because of overly long queues elsewhere. As mentioned by previous reviewers, the front section of the restaurant has really loud chairs, which not only doesn't fit in with the rest of the interior.. it also clashes with it, badly.

There were 11 of us (plus 2 young children), so we decided to order the set dinner for 10. At first we thought of to order the set for 10 and add another 2 person because initially, there were another friend joining. But we decided against ordering so much as 2 of the 11 people were saying that they were not that hungry. By this time, the captain's face has changed somewhat to a darker shade... of black.

Anyway, the set dinner (set 6, costing $398) consist of these:

Items:
1. Egg white on fried potato basket
2. Shark fin soup with vege and chicken
3. Fruity fried prawns
4. Sea cucumber
5. Steamed fish
6. Stir fried venison
7. Fried rice
8. Dessert


Hmmm... the egg white on the fried potato basket thingie (actually I didn't know if it was potato.. but read from the other reviewers, so I guess it should be... ). I find it alright tasting but it gets 'oily' at the end. The fried stuff is great though.. I actually thought it was deep fried bee-hoon. Very crispy.

Shark fin soup is the clear broth type, with chicken meat and some vege. I find that the vege (something like nai bai or xiao bai cai) they use, made the dish doesn't seem so high class after all...

The fried prawns.. errr... quite soggy in fact with some greenish stuff on it that tasted abit like mint. The accompany fruity bits (kiwi, strawberry, mango, dragon fruit and grape) were sweet though.

Sea cucumber tasted alright, no comments. Steamed fish too tough for liking. Stir fried venison, also tasted so so. Fried rice, too salty.

Dessert is fried taro and yam coated with thick sugar liquid. Suppose to quickly pick up the fried stuff (sugar water coated) and dump it into the icy cold water bowl to 'freeze' the sugar. Then take out and eat.

Another thing about the service is that the waiter seemed too eager to clear the dishes. Once my friend was picking up some food bits on her plate and the waiter just snatched the plate away while she was holding the chopsticks over the plate. Tsk.. tsk...

We were here on a Monday night for dinner with some customers after being told that this is a place that serves good chinese food and soups.

I was rushing into the restaurant as I was running a little behind time. The "hands" (actually chairs in the shape of a palm/hand) immediately caught my attention. Decked in loud colours, the first thought that cross my mind was "Is this a mistake?".
Upon reaching our table, I was relived to see that my customers have yet to arrive. I then take the chance to survey the surrounding in greater details. By now, it is very apparent to me that it's attempt to appear chic and modern has back-fired, the theme is very inconsistent and simply does not elude elegance and class in any sense.
We were told that this current place has 3 times the capacity of the old location in Metropole Hotel.

We placed orders while waiting for the arrival of our dinner companions and I secrectly pray that the food be better than their choice of interior decor...

1. Egg white with scallop on potato basket - I was told that this is one of their signature dish. True enough, the egg white with scallop mix was delightful with a sprinkle of pepper. Light yet explosive with taste on a fried potato bowl. I like it!
2. Buddha jump over the wall - this order was placed more to cater to the request of a pregnant woman who is craving for soup. Each bowl cost $38 or so I was told. Each bowl is packed with ingredients that you normally eat only during CNY - sharks fin, abalone, sea cucumber, scallop, bamboo shoot and some others. Each sip of soup is packed with flavour and the ingredients are fresh. Yummy. After this bowl, I am already quite full...
3. Beggar's chicken - I only took a small bite off the chicken as I could not really stomach much more food. Again the chicken is of pretty high standard. This is like the chinese version of chicken stew (cooked with some herbs). The chicken meat simply melts in your mouth not to mention the wonderful taste.
4. Some steamed fish - Hmm...I cannot recall what fish this was but whatever it is, it sure is delicious. The fish is very fresh and is "chewy", exluding sweetness with every bite.
5. Some veggies with Wolfberries - This is just normal...
6. Fried Mee Sua - The mee sua also did not disappoint, tangy and tasty.
7. Dessert - Everyone ordered their individual dessert and it's Aloe Vera jelly with fruits for me! The aloe vera jelly is very refreshing, coupled with fruits to give it some crunch. Not too heavy after a big meal.

All in all, the food is good. Service crew appears to be knowledgeable about the food they serve and keen to please.

Brought some friends to this wonderful place again recently. Ordered the following :

1) Egg white starter

An all time favourite consisting of potato basket that's filled with egg white and scallops. Must be eaten with a light sprinkle of pepper. As mentioned before, this is a favourite among regulars at this restaurant.

2) Sauteed beef

An all time favourite among diners at Imperial Herbal. You have to try it yourself to believe !

3) Fried crispy eel with egg white.

An unusual and exotic dish. Tasty and sweet, but a tad costly. Worth a go if you have at least 3 person to share it.

4) Fried brinjaw with special sauce.

Innovative and tasty dish. Good effort.

5) Ee Fu noodle with mushroom

As mentioned before in my earlier review, this is the best Ee Fu noodle I've tasted so far. A definite must try !

6) Pepper Crabs

One of the best pepper crabs available, beating many "established" seafood outlets ! Not cheap, but very tasty with a nice buttery taste that's worth every penny.

Service is impeccable as always. Don't be turned off by the "herbal" issue....this place is more taste that herbal stuffs. Then again, most of their dishes have some medicinal properties that's good for the body. Not a bad deal that you can have tasty and healthy food bundled up together : )

In part 2 of my three day birthday festivities (first birthday dinner being at the lovely Au Jardin Les Amis - see review) the girlfriends suggested that we have dinner at Vivo City. Ran a check of what were the choices available and decided to try Imperial Herbal based on the reviews.

Don't expect full blown traditional decor at Imperial Treasure.

When I walked in I could have sworn that all the furniture were giving me the finger. I was aghast at tacky velvet chairs shaped in an "Ok" sign - see picture. All I can say is... wah liao eh. Mixed with traditional Chinese rosewood pieces it was just all very...odd.

Thankfully the restaurant area is big and only the front of the restaurant is decked with those chairs while the rest of the restuarant offers proper seats.

While the questionable seats had the table of 8 of us tickled at the beginning we quickly tried to settle down and had a bit of trouble decided what to order.

In the end we pulled out the mobile HGW on our handphones and ordered everything PANEREI recommended in his review below.

Agree on the eggwhite "Fu Rong" and dried scallop appetiser - the crispy noodle base and tasty egg white combination was delightful.

The winter melon soup ($12/bowl) was a hit amongst us. Slightly herbal in flavour, the soup was chockful of goodness. Two of us were a bit braver and ordered the crocodile soup ($16/bowl)

The sauteed fragrant beef ($24) was everyone's favourite. Deep fried beef (tasted like pork really) was crispy and the special sauced that coated it was super yummy. The lazy susan was unstoppable - spinning right round baby right round - everyone trying to grab piece after piece. Can understand why this is a perennial fave.

Also tried the sauteed chilli prawns ($27), spare rib in lemongrass sauce ($8/ piece) and panfried beancurd which were not bad.

We were sceptical about ordering the black pepper crabs ($76 for 2) to begin with but decided to go for it since it was highly recommended. Everyone enjoyed the slightly buttery undertones but still felt that the dish was rather pricey so be warned.

We ordered the xiao long bao ($6.40) for the hell of it - decent.

Agree with PANERAI on the braised Ee Fu noodles with mushroom ($33) which really doesn't differ much from restaurant to restaurant but the Imperial Treasure really does take the prize for the best one I've tried. Definitely a great end to the meal.

The bill was rather hefty due to the crabs, the $6/cup Eight Treasure Tea and the soups. Only complaint - besides those ghastly chairs - was that service was rough and patchy. At times hard to get the staff's attention (sometimes you are led to believe that they are ignoring you) and they tend to be very rough when it comes to removing plates from the table or refilling our cups of tea. But was impressed by the sms I received from the restaurant manager the day after we dined there (as had left mobile no with them when I made the reservation).

Prices quoted above are based on portions for 8 pax.