My second time to this place and it did not fail me with its specialties. It was a group gathering for us and I take this opportunity to try more exotic dishes.
*I will only not list everything but the side dishes.

We ordered:
- 小籠包 (taste as heavenly)
- Carrot Pastry (In fact, it is white radish pastry. First impression is that it looks like a desert dish to me, upon first bite, it taste salty than sweet. I like it.)
- 南京咸水鸭 - Nanjing Salted Duck (It was smooth, soft but a little too salty)
- Red Bean Pan Cake (Okay)

What disappointed me was the service. The senior service staff that was in-charge of our table did some actions which disappointed me and my friends.

- It was a nice gesture for her to refill our tea but her style of refilling was bringing the whole pot to the glass. My friend was shocked as she was eating with his head tucked at her food. What if her face got scalded?

- This was worse. I have asked for quite a bit of shredded ginger. Lastly, we ordered more小籠包 and I attempted to ask for more but was rejected because, “Just now, I have given you quite a bit earlier and pointed to the leftover of the ginger by my friends.” I was insulted. It was not hygienic. Somemore, we pay a total of $150 for this meal and this kind of treatment? Hmm…

Other service staffs were polite.

*The competitor/s has revent their menu, when will be their turn?


meL

‘Food itself is very personal; do not be affected by what I have written. Try it instead and tell me.’

We ordered mushroom with chilli sauce la mian, Xiao Long Bao, Braised Pork (Fatty Meat), fried diced chicken with chili and eggs with prawns.

The la mian was quite nice. The noodles was soft and springy. The sauce went well with the noodles. Not too spicy. The only complain is that the amount of sauce is a tad too little.

The xiao long bao was pretty decent. The soup within the xiao long bao tasted sweet, The skin was a little thin and juicy leaked out quite easily. However, in my opinion, its better than Ding Tai Feng and on par with Crystal Jade.

Dear wanted to order to order the fatty meat. He loves fatty meat. However, he is carefully when deciding if we should order this as he knows that I don't really fancy fatty stuff. Glad that we ordered this as it was one of the better dishes. The fatty meat was soft and flavorful. The marination was totally immersed into the meat! I like the lean part the most. (Or rather I should say that I only ate the lean part). Lol

I didnt really like the fried chicken. I thought it was going to be like kong bao chicken. I thought there was going to be sauce. However, dear likes this dish and thought that the chef did a good job in frying the chicken. He felt that it was not over fried and there some moisture in the meat.

The last item was really just fried eggs with prawns of pathetic size. Not worth ordering in my opinion.

On the whole, I feel that there is a lack of variety of items over at imperial treasure. Taste wise is very similar to crystal jade. The two are good substitute for each other.

today's lunch went to Imperial Treasure La Mian Xiao Long Bao (Marina Square) as I feel like eating 小笼包.

Ordered the following

1. 红油抄手 Dumplings in hot chilli oil SGD 4.80 (6 pcs)

silky skin with meat dumpling. Not overly spicy. (rated 3 out of 5)

2. 上海小笼包 Steamed dumblings SGD 3.60 (4 pcs)

At first glance, the skin looked thick. Upon a bite, the dumpling is filled with meat juice. Light and juicy. (rate 4 out of 5)

3. 上海炒饭 Fried rice SGD 10.50

Fried rice with chicken pieces, eggs, prawns and green peas. Fragrant except the green peas do not go well with the fried rice. (rate 3.5 out of 5)

4. 肉碎干煸四季豆 Stir Fry French Beans with Minced Pork SGD 8.00

Crunchy french beans which I believe they have scalded with hot oil before stir frying. Sauce was a bit salty with pieces of preserved vegetables 酸菜。(rate 3.5 out of 5)

5. 四川酸辣汤 Spicy and sour soup SGD 6.00 (per serving)

Lots of beancurd, mushroom and black fungus, no meat. Not extremely spicy but its choking sourish. Nice. (rate 3.8 of out 5)

Service - prompt but not attentive as they never refilled our chinese tea.

Minus point - Limited varieties. (compared to 鼎泰豐). Only three 3-4 types of vegetables to choose from.

This outlet is tiny, i think it can seat less than 50?

Imperial Treasure at Marina Square sits at a small curved corner. It would probably take a mere 30 - 40 people to fill the dining area up.

Relatively unnoticeable and amongst the larger restaurants around, it's definitely not in my priority list to dine at.

However, after reading the reviews and sampling their food, it is now in my list.

Noodles are delectably soft yet springy. Yes, you can actually slurp the noodles with ease!

I had a Zha Jiang La Mian that finally tasted like Zha Jiang La Mian!
Most of the times, Zha Jiang La Mian tastes more like bak chor mee with a whoel bottle of black bean sauce.

Wanton Soup was... I don't know how to explain it to you but the soup is really good! Wantons didn't do bad either but I felt certain parts of the skin was kinda thick.

When I see Mapo Tofu on the menu, I can never resist. I must order it! It's almost like a calling for me...

Tofu was soft. And the most important gravy was good as well. Although it didn't hit right in the spicy department, other wise, it's good to go, even with just plain rice.

Si Chuan Style La Mian is a black sheep. Hate to say that but the gravy simply did not do the good noodles justice. The peanut sauce was overpowering and it got my tastebud sick pretty quickly. It's something that tasted good on first bite but not the second.

Overall, I'd go back again. To try the Xiao Long Bao and Wanton in Chilli Sauce (I saw other diners having it and it seemed lip-smacking).

And of course the dishes recommended by other reviewers as well.

Thursday (24 Jan 08). Had lunch here with 11 other colleagues today. I ordered for myself a "la mian" in hot and sour soup ($7.80++) and a barley drink ($1.80++).

The "la mian" in hot and sour soup was really nice. The soup was mildly spicy, and I was very thankful that its spiciness was not to an extent of overkill. Although I did have to sweat it out a bit, but I was not like breaking out in sweat profusely. There was a generous serving of spring onions and coriander on the spoon inside the bowl and I happily mixed it into the soup. (I realised that it probably wasn't pre-mixed in because they are aware that many people actually dislike spring onions and coriander.) The "la mian" texture as very nice.

I felt that $1.80++ for a glass of barley drink is a little on the expensive side.

As there were other items that were ordered to share among us, I also tried one piece of xiao long bao and a slice of a sesame-coated spring onion pancake. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the xiao long bao because it burst open the moment I picked it up and I lost the opportunity to savour the juices inside it. The slice of pancake appealed to me very much and I absolutely enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to coming again to eat the sesame-coated spring onion pancake again.

The meal was so filling that I subsequently skipped dinner because I was not feeling hungry.

Service was good, and we were well attended to. I do have to mention though, that it got really noisy in the restaurant at one point. Many of the diners were talking unnecessarily loudly to be heard by their companions I really dislike eating in noisy restaurants.