A birthday celebration brought us to the new Imperial Treasure Restaurant in Causeway Bay. Its Tsimshatsui branch just got its first Michelin star in the latest guide so naturally I was curious how this one fared on the other side of the harbor. Interestingly, Imperial Treasure is one of the two independent restaurants operating under the roof of Crowne Plaza near Times Square and seem to be super popular with a full house on the day of our visit.
Menu has been worked out by the host – so all we need was to sit down and eat when everyone arrived. What was described as “small plates” to start was so huge that they could feed a village. The barbecued pork was done in the more traditional style with plenty of charred bits and a generous brush of honey glaze, and there’s plenty of rice wine flavor in the marinated pork knuckles served as a cold appetizer. The pork liver was done in the simplest way, gently boiled and served with soy sauce and bean sprouts, but its was amazingly good – soft and delicate with sweet flavor.
I was most curious about the suckling pig dish when I first saw the menu. A bit disappointed that they came carved in individual pieces already when the two pigs were brought to the table, but the taste was good. The pork skin was perfectly crisped and the sticky rice was rich and well infused with flavor – most of the time suckling pig was served with sauce on the side but for this one it’s hardly needed. The sand goby fish was another excellent dish – this giant riverfish was oil-poached and cut into pieces, and served with leeks, scallions and soy sauce. The meat has a delicate and firm texture (and was tasty) and even the bones can be eaten after deep-fried, and were crunchy with a slightly smoky taste.
Given this is a Cantonese restaurant with roots in Singapore they had a few Singaporean/Southeast Asian dishes on the menu, including the Pepper Crab served in the traditional way with black pepper sauce. The crab was huge and meaty and it’s completely smothered with the super rich black pepper sauce giving it much of the taste. I dare say it’s probably the best we had outside of Singapore. The Ipoh-style fried rice noodles was nicely done too, stir-fried with prawns and lapcheong, or Chinese preserved sausages. We finished with 3 desserts, including the birthday cake contributed by our household.
With this group there’s never shortage of wines, and this time, we started with a few champers then a large bottle of sake followed by a few Bordeaux red. And we finished with a 40-something-year-old Rhone Valley fortified sweet wine – forever young and full of energy no matter how long you keep it. I think the food here was decent enough that I am curious to come back for dimsum lunch some time, or coming back at dinner for the pepper crab again.
When? April 21 2018
Where? Imperial Treasure Fine Dining Cuisine, 2/F Crowne Plaza Causeway Bay, 8 Leighton Road, Hong Kong
Menu Highlights? Black Pepper Crab
Drinks?
Domaine Pierre-Peters Cuvee de Reserve Blancs de Blancs NV
Champagne Delamotte Brut NV (en Magnum)
Champagne Tarlant Zero Brut Nature NV
Champagne Gosset Grande Reserve Brut NV
Champagne Barons de Rothschild Brut NV
Isojiman Junmai Ginjo (en Magnum)
1998 Chateau Malescot St. Exupery, Margaux
2006 Chateau Malescot St. Exupery, Margaux
2008 Chateau Malescot St. Exupery, Margaux
1976 Domaine Cazes Aime Cazes, AOP Rivesaltes
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