Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Restaurant, Ngee Ann City
I hate Christmas shopping. There, I've said it. Don't be mistaken, I LOVE shopping per se, but I hate jostling with crowds and I hate queues. That's why I always shop on weekday mornings, the only other shoppers around are tai-tais and their broods and there aren't many of them around. I also hate window shopping. Seriously, if you aren't going to buy anything, what's the point?
I've always been a very focused and disciplined shopper, and I've always preferred shopping alone without anyone to drag me down. I once brought my brothers shopping and finished buying their year's supply of clothes, shoes and bags within 5 hours. That's how efficient I am, or so I like to think!
Today, I had no choice but to pop by Takashimaya and Paragon for "supplies" so inevitably, we had to wrestle the Christmas crowd. It helps that both the BF and I have nimble feet so weaving in and out of the human tangle was relatively easy.
Oh and girls, Salvatore Ferragamo is having a sale! That's where the BF got my Christmas presents, all 3 of them. I love that the BF is an extremely practical gift-giver, he ALWAYS knows exactly what I want. Also because (sometimes) he just pays for my purchases while shopping with me and calls it my Christmas presents.
(P.S. If you're a friend reading this and appreciate a discount, just call me for the membership card)
The one respite away from the maddening crowd was dinner at Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Restaurant, which serves Cantonese cuisine. Foreseeing the horrendously long queue come dinner time, we made reservations for an early dinner at 6pm, which is much earlier than our usual dinner time, so we managed to get a private booth table, which is quieter and more spacious.
We got my favourite soup, Crab Meat with Conpoy and Melon Soup ($7), a clear soup with chunks of sweet crab meat (freshly shredded, not frozen), decadent conpoy (dried scallop), sliced button mushrooms, sliced black Chinese mushrooms, diced wintermelon, flavoursome fish maw and yellow fungus (a cousin of the white and black fungus). This is delicate yet indulgent and robust. I love this soup. I can drink up to 3 bowls in one sitting.
WE also got another soup, the Pork and Vegetable Wanton Soup ($4.50). The soup base had accents of chicken, Chinese ham and various seafood which lent a nice rounded flavour. The BF and I loved it so much we ordered 2 refills ($1 per rice bowl of extra soup). I have to admit that the extra dollar charge per refill of the soup was a slight letdown though, simply because Crystal Jade has no problem giving out free refills.
Coarsely minced fresh pork with chives were wrapped in a delicately satiny wanton skin, the BF loved the heartiness of the wanton filling and silkiness of the soft wanton skins. .
We also got another favourite, the Steamed Egg White with Mushrooms ($10). This dazzling dish is exclusive to Imperial Treasure. Egg whites are mixed with water for a baby-bottom smooth consistency and topped with fragrant shimeji and shitake mushrooms sauteed in a tantalizing syrupy oyster sauce gravy. This was aromatic and addictive. Absolutely slurpilicious. Eating that many egg whites necessarily meant that the BF didn't have to drink that much protein shake that night, which is always a good thing. Unfortunately, we forgot to tell the staff to hold off the coriander (horror!), so we ended up picking off the teeny tiny pieces of coriander the entire dinner (there were a lot of them!).
We also got a carb dish, the Stir-Fried Hor-Fan with Sliced Beef ($16). The full-bodied beef was tender and the hor-fan had the necessary "wok-hei" flavour. It wasn't too oily, which is always a plus for stir-fried hor-fan.
Oh and something has to be said about the Sambal Chili here as well. This is more earthy than the usual sambal, because it's packed full of pounded dried shrimp. I've been known to order 4 saucers of this as an appetizer. Please note that this chili is only available at the Imperial Treasure outlets serving Cantonese cuisine, and Crystal Jade fine dining outlets.
Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Restaurant
391 Orchard Road
#05-12
Ngee Ann City (Takashimaya Shopping Centre)
Tel: 6738 1238
Open daily from 10am to 10pm
I've always been a very focused and disciplined shopper, and I've always preferred shopping alone without anyone to drag me down. I once brought my brothers shopping and finished buying their year's supply of clothes, shoes and bags within 5 hours. That's how efficient I am, or so I like to think!
Today, I had no choice but to pop by Takashimaya and Paragon for "supplies" so inevitably, we had to wrestle the Christmas crowd. It helps that both the BF and I have nimble feet so weaving in and out of the human tangle was relatively easy.
Oh and girls, Salvatore Ferragamo is having a sale! That's where the BF got my Christmas presents, all 3 of them. I love that the BF is an extremely practical gift-giver, he ALWAYS knows exactly what I want. Also because (sometimes) he just pays for my purchases while shopping with me and calls it my Christmas presents.
(P.S. If you're a friend reading this and appreciate a discount, just call me for the membership card)
The one respite away from the maddening crowd was dinner at Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Restaurant, which serves Cantonese cuisine. Foreseeing the horrendously long queue come dinner time, we made reservations for an early dinner at 6pm, which is much earlier than our usual dinner time, so we managed to get a private booth table, which is quieter and more spacious.
We got my favourite soup, Crab Meat with Conpoy and Melon Soup ($7), a clear soup with chunks of sweet crab meat (freshly shredded, not frozen), decadent conpoy (dried scallop), sliced button mushrooms, sliced black Chinese mushrooms, diced wintermelon, flavoursome fish maw and yellow fungus (a cousin of the white and black fungus). This is delicate yet indulgent and robust. I love this soup. I can drink up to 3 bowls in one sitting.
WE also got another soup, the Pork and Vegetable Wanton Soup ($4.50). The soup base had accents of chicken, Chinese ham and various seafood which lent a nice rounded flavour. The BF and I loved it so much we ordered 2 refills ($1 per rice bowl of extra soup). I have to admit that the extra dollar charge per refill of the soup was a slight letdown though, simply because Crystal Jade has no problem giving out free refills.
Coarsely minced fresh pork with chives were wrapped in a delicately satiny wanton skin, the BF loved the heartiness of the wanton filling and silkiness of the soft wanton skins. .
We also got another favourite, the Steamed Egg White with Mushrooms ($10). This dazzling dish is exclusive to Imperial Treasure. Egg whites are mixed with water for a baby-bottom smooth consistency and topped with fragrant shimeji and shitake mushrooms sauteed in a tantalizing syrupy oyster sauce gravy. This was aromatic and addictive. Absolutely slurpilicious. Eating that many egg whites necessarily meant that the BF didn't have to drink that much protein shake that night, which is always a good thing. Unfortunately, we forgot to tell the staff to hold off the coriander (horror!), so we ended up picking off the teeny tiny pieces of coriander the entire dinner (there were a lot of them!).
We also got a carb dish, the Stir-Fried Hor-Fan with Sliced Beef ($16). The full-bodied beef was tender and the hor-fan had the necessary "wok-hei" flavour. It wasn't too oily, which is always a plus for stir-fried hor-fan.
Oh and something has to be said about the Sambal Chili here as well. This is more earthy than the usual sambal, because it's packed full of pounded dried shrimp. I've been known to order 4 saucers of this as an appetizer. Please note that this chili is only available at the Imperial Treasure outlets serving Cantonese cuisine, and Crystal Jade fine dining outlets.
Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Restaurant
391 Orchard Road
#05-12
Ngee Ann City (Takashimaya Shopping Centre)
Tel: 6738 1238
Open daily from 10am to 10pm
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