Imperial Treasure Noodle and Congee House, ION Orchard

Well, this is definitely an overdue post which I've put off writing for quite a few weeks already. What started off as an entry for a visit to Imperial Treasure (2 Orchard Turn, #B3-17 ION Orchard, tel : +65 6509 8283) has become a culmination of a few visits because getting on with this took much longer than I had expected. Still, it has marked the fact that I've found a pretty good place for Hong Kong styled food and dim sum to that I won't be thinking of getting back to Crystal Jade outlets anytime in the near future since this was very much better in terms of variety and for some instances, quality.

poached noodles with prawn roe

These noodles were something I missed having when I visited Hong Kong a few months back and I was pretty surprised to find them here. They turned out to be much like I expected with the powdery prawn roe providing a savoury flavour with a hint of crustacean sweetness over springy noodles. The noodles were of course not as good as I had unrealistically hoped for. There was something about their texture that didn't quite feel as springy.

bbq chicken liver with honey sauce

These barbequed livers were also another good find. Despite the method of cooking that resulted with the insides being well cooked, the livers still tasted creamy. Imagine liver versions of char siew. That was pretty much what these were.

cheong fun with pork liver

There were a variety of fillings for the cheong fun and the pork liver option came generously stuffed with the livers. It wasn't so much the novelty than the option of it that made this restaurant appealing to me and having innards stuffed into rice rolls definitely rings an attractive chime.

deep fried pig intestines

These deep fried intestines were really good. Crispy on the skin and lightly chewy and greasy on the insides, filled with a healthy amount of that porcine intestine flavour that wasn't overwhelming. If I had to gripe, it would have to be with the portions

har gao

The har gaos from Imperial Treasure are a little smaller than the usual ones but they still tasted decently good and were a lot more juice filled than the regular ones as well.

pan fried radish cake

Pan fried radish cakes were creamily textured and had would have done much better if the skin had a little more crisp. But I'm not complaining here at all. I've been ordering this almost every visit.

xiao long bao

Juicy and decently tasty, I think that these dumplings are a match for the over rated ones from Din Tai Fung which seems to see declining standards over the years.

egg tarts

The egg tarts were freshly made as we had to wait 20 minutes for them. I am able to attest that freshly made, these were definitely one of the better ones that I've had locally. They arrived almost scalding on a crispy crust that wasn't to heavy with the grease.

beef brisket e-fu noodles

I'm not usually a soup noodle person but I had to try the ones here as they had e fu noodle options which I don't remember seeing elsewhere apart from the trip down to Kau Kee last year. Keeping in mind that Kau Kee was suppose to be a landmark for beef brisket noodles, I found myself liking the ones here much better. For one, there was a greater proportion of the beef stew soup resulting in a much better flavour. To gripe, I only wished that the noodles were less well cooked.

roasted duck

The roasted duck was a little disappointing, tasting quite ordinary and lacking in the department of tenderness for some portions of the meat. The skin was sufficiently crispy, but lacking in the underlying layer of fat which could have better enhanced the flavour. I would definitely pick one of my favorites down at Circular Road over this.

salted yolk custard bun

We get some pretty good salted egg buns here. Not that I've been going around eating them but I thought that there were pretty well done, having had some terrible renditions before.

dumplings in chilli oil

Honestly, I've had better and the spiciness was really questionable since it wasn't really so at all. An note to myself to avoid ordering these again.

chee cheong fun with fish and century egg

This was probably not one of the better options for fillings in the rice rolls. The fish didn't taste exceptionally fresh and was rather flaky. There wasn't that much of the century egg to go around so here's something that I can strike off for the subsequent visits.