Apart from the renowned Michelin guide when it comes to good restaurants, another reputable ranking organisation is undoubtedly the 'World's 50 Best Restaurant'. Having recently tried Nahm, ranked third in Asia and previously Fook Lam Moon, ranked 48th in Asia, we are highly convicted of the stringent levels of assessment when it comes to food quality, ambience and levels of customer service.

Currently ranked 49th in Asia, we decided to revisit Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck as we realised it was more than a year ago since our last dining there. Named after their signature dish, the Peking Duck, can this superlative Chinese specialist continue to wow us?

Peking Duck (S$68/++)

It is highly advised to make reservations when visiting the restaurant on the weekends, especially if you are after their dim sum during lunch. As we called to make reservation, the lady politely asked if we wanted the Peking Duck for our meal as advance order of the bird is required if you want to guarantee its spot on the dining table.


Our last best experience with Peking Duck was at Kowloon Tang in Hong Kong. Similarly, a Chinese chef would be present to do the slicing of the fragrant and piping hot roasted duck. The glistening brown skin of the roasted duck looked too tempting and secretly, I was hoping that the chef could hasten the process!


We enjoyed the crispy thin layer of roasted duck skin that complemented the tender, juicy duck meat. All diners at the table were individually portioned a slice of the roasted duck skin which was supposed to be dabbed with sugar and you could literally hear the crunch of that crisp skin being munched!

My complaint was that the steamed pancakes was served at room temperature and was curled up on the sides which had hardened. It was also slightly too thick for our liking but apart from that, we felt that the roasted Peking Duck was cooked to perfection.

The puff pastry to the egg tart was rich in butter and had a beautiful fragrance to it. It was not overly satiating despite the buttery and flaky pastry base and was surely one of the better egg tarts tried. Arguably, we thought that the taste of the custard egg filling could be stronger.


Personally, I always find that coconut tarts belong to a special category of food where it has an acquired taste among foodies. I never thought of trying it till my days of living in Hong Kong led me to try it one day and since then, I fell in love with it and is in search for the best one in Singapore since it is not a common pastry even among the Chinese dim sum restaurants. This coconut tart easily won me over with that crispy puff pastry and the freshness of the coconut which had a natural sweetness and fragrance to match. It was good enough for me to request a second serving but it was sold out by then!

 

We enjoyed that the skin of the prawn dumpling was thin and not excessively starchy but serving dumplings with torn skin was hardly acceptable. The prawns used were fresh with a natural sweetness and had a nice crunch and it was really a shame that the wrapping workmanship let the dish down. Apart from that, in all fairness, it won us over in terms of its savoury taste and flavours.



We enjoyed the soft glutinous rice that was sticky and fragrant. Unwrapping the lotus leaf that imparts the fragrance to the rice, expect to dig into the savouriness of the diced chicken and Chinese mushrooms!