Imperial Restaurant

I rarely write about Chinese restaurants. Not that I don't visit them often, since (despite how I might appear to not be acquainted with my roots thanks to my mastery, or lack thereof, of the language) I can't survive without my Chinese food. I have to eat rice, otherwise I'll start pining for it, although you'll probably be shocked when you see how little rice I need to satisfy any cravings I have. Anyway, after my rambling digression as usual - the point. Imperial Restaurant has been around for quite awhile I believe, perhaps under another name previously, I'm not sure. But it's a restaurant which my family loved to visit, quite a number of years ago. After a couple of changes in management, we thought it'd disappeared, only to realise that it's now situated in Riverview Hotel. We were so excited to go back!! (: So this post is dedicated to one of my favourite Chinese restaurants and the dishes we love at this restaurant ^^

We never fail to order the Fu Rong (Fluffy Egg White) with Dried Scallop ($5/pc) at this restaurant. It comes in individual portions, and greedy me always wants to have a bowl for myself. Mummy stopped me this time though, because we (or I) always end up over-ordering in my excitement. It's an egg white that is beaten till a scrambled-egg kind of texture and mixed with scallop pieces, perched atop a crispy "bird's nest" base. Drizzle a bit of black vinegar to draw out the essence and stick your spoon in to eat the egg white and crunchy base together. Such a seemingly simple dish, but the resulting flavour is superb.

The restaurant's specialty lies in its soups and is founded on an old Chinese imperial cooking philosophy with low sugar, salt and seasonings. If that sounds unappealing to you, I would like to quash any doubts you might have immediately, because these soups are one of the best, most tasty soups I have ever drunk. Slow-boiled for hours with fragrant herbs and other ingredients such as meat and mushrooms, each bowl is full of nutritious, mouth-watering goodness. I'm not really a fan of herbal soups myself, but the soups here are really good!!! We drank the Lady's Tonic Soup ($10) and Brazillian Mushroom Soup ($8) and enjoyed both of them thoroughly.

The Pumpkin Butter Prawns ($24 small) were delicious! I'm hoping that the pumpkin helped to cancel out some of the sinfulness of the butter :P But in any case, it was worth it. 

The Imperial Chicken ($45) needs to be pre-ordered, however, we were really lucky and they happened to have one spare that day!!! So happy that we had a chance to try it because I loved it! It comes wrapped in a cling wrap of sorts after being stewed for a long time (I think). The resulting chicken is fork-tender, with the aromas and flavours of the deletable braising gravy infused into the meat. It's a pretty big portion, but I highly recommend that you order this if you come in a big group.

For our vegetable dish, we went for something different this time and ordered the Braised Winter Melon with Dried Scallop ($18 small). It was a deceptively simple dish, but thankfully, the fragrant broth made the whole dish taste fantastic! I believe it was the scallop that made it really tasty, as well as the goji berries which lent a touch of sweetness to it. 

And finally for dessert - this is a dish we always order at this restaurant as well! Our favourite Candied Sweet Potato and Taro Fritters ($28 large). Basically, it's sweet potato and taro slices slathered with a layer of malt/melted sugar. When it arrives at the table piping hot, you have to quickly grab the slices and dunk it in the ice cold water bowls provided on the side. What you get is slices that are crusted with the layer of hardened sugar - when you bite into it, the sugary layer crackles and you are greeted with the warm, soft sweet potato/yam. It's really good!!!! Try it! 

Imperial Restaurant

Riverview Hotel Level 2

Tel.: +65 6337 0491