This restaurant is the only one in Singapore that keynotes the importance of having Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) incorporated into the cuisine. Came back after a long time, because I wanted something easy to the body.

At Imperial Restaurant (previously known as Imperial Herbal), the traditional Chinese health concept has been incorporated into a unique dining experience where the secrets of herbal medicine are blended with the culinary skills of master chefs to provide healthy gourmet dishes.

First conceptualised by Mrs Wang-Lee Tee Eng 李世英, Imperial Herbal opened at her family hotel – Metropole Hotel in Seah Street Singapore in 1988, where no other restaurant offered to give you a health diagnosis by our in-house Chinese physician. The restaurant is founded on an old Chinese imperial cooking philosophy with an emphasis on low-sugar, salt and seasonings. A TCM cabinet, with drawers engraved with medicinal herbs and ingredients, is an accent piece for the dining area.

The Lunch

They used to have a TCM doctor recommending you the food to be cooked once your pulse has been taken, but the original family has sold the restaurant to a new owner.  These days the place is owned by Mdm Min Qian 闵倩, nothing much about her and the food was purportedly still the same. This was our lunch.

1. “Ling Zhi” Soup 灵芝汤
2. Brazilian Mushroom Soup 巴西菇汤
3. Braised Crocodile Tail 红烧鳄鱼尾
4. Quick-fried Shredded Fish w/ Chinese Yam 怀药芫爆鱼丝
5. Fresh Scallops Glazed w/ Chef’s Special Sauce 干烧鲜贝
6. Stewed Deer Tendon 红烧鹿筋
7. Braised White Cabbage w/ Dried Scallops 瑶柱扒津白
8. Shredded Chicken Noodle Soup w/ Snow Vegetable 雪菜鸡丝汤面

“Ling Zhi” Soup 灵芝汤

My guest picked the Lingzhi soup. Lingzhi 灵芝 (Ganoderma lingzhi) has natural healing properties and relaxes the eyes muscles, as well as restorative and immune system-boosting properties. Despite the overtly bitter taste of the Lingzhi Soup, it was a tonic that supposedly prevents cancer after all; my guest drank it all. 

Brazilian Mushroom Soup 巴西菇汤

Brazilian Mushroom 巴西菇 or 姬松茸 (Agaricus Blazei Muril) is supposed to help with immunity, reduce the risk of diabetes and improve the liver function, helps in weight loss and has antiviral/antibacterial properties to reduce inflammatory bowel disorders. It is often sold dry, so you would need rehydrate the dried mushroom to put it in the double-boiled soup. It has a mild earthy tone with a unique savouriness.

I was pleasantly surprised that they put Tianqi or Sanqi 田七 or 三七 (Panax Notoginseng) into the soup. Notoginseng is not a type of ginseng, but it had medicinal properties of improving qi and acts a natural anti clot agent.

Braised Crocodile Tail 红烧鳄鱼尾

A tough, gamey meat that would usually have you on its plate, it comes as no surprise to anyone that crocodile is an uncommon dish. The chefs at Imperial Restaurant have mastered this protein by adding fragrant herbs to it and by braising it for hours. Rich in Omega-3 the braised crocodile tail came across as soft and juicy. I liked the version at Dragon Chamber however but this is a total opposite of that version – light and no burden to your body, just the goodness from the collagen.

Quick-fried Shredded Fish w/ Chinese Yam 怀药芫爆鱼丝

This sautéed dish was my favourite for today. Chinese parsley 芫荽 was a misnomer as it was supposedly brought into Han Dynasty China from the West by Zhang Qian 张骞 (200-114 BC), the first foreign diplomat from China. We Teochew use it a lot, as a condiment, a herb and a vegetable. So I was surprised that they took the whole stalk and stir-fried this with julienne fish meat (I suspected it was snakehead 生鱼) and Chinese yam 淮山. Refreshing and tasty, I was surprised how the fish did not disintegrate during the cooking process.

Fresh Scallops Glazed w/ Chef’s Special Sauce 干烧鲜贝

This was the heaviest flavoured dish for the lunch, the scallops were coated with flour, deep fried and then coated with a special sauce that is tangy and savoury, a bit like a Texan BBQ sauce. $26 for 8 pieces of large sized scallops, wow!

Stewed Deer Tendon 红烧鹿筋

No, these are not chewy for your dogs. When consumed, deer tendon 鹿筋possesses the function of strengthening human tendons and bones, nourishing the liver and kidney, benefiting yang, and expelling wind damp, for the treatment of arms and legs weakness, pain of waist and knees. With all these goodness, the tendon when cooked properly is a very good eat too. Again I was surprised by the amount for a small $28 portion. Very bland though, as the tendon, like many other Chinese ingredients, does not contribute to the taste of the dish and pick up whatever they are cooked in.

Braised White Cabbage w/ Dried Scallops 瑶柱扒津白

I thought with the dried scallops, commonly known as conpoy, this would be more flavourful. But this dish turned out to be worst choice today. Very fibrous because of the way the Beijing cabbage has been cut, and totally bland as the conpoy was soaked to death.

Shredded Chicken Noodle Soup w/ Snow Vegetable 雪菜鸡丝汤面

Imperial Restaurant also offers simple one dish meal like shredded chicken noodle soup with snow vegetable so if you do not intend to have big sharing dishes. The soup was made with a very bland stock, but not lacking in flavours. The topping was made with in-house preserved mustard green 雪菜 with reduced salt. The only thing to fault was the noodles used, they turned soggy if left alone in the bowl for a while.

A Chinese meal is not complete without a cup of hot tea. Tea is popular because of its antioxidant and therapeutic properties. It lowers blood pressure, protects the heart, helps to prevent obesity, prevents tooth decay and boosts immunity, among others. And they don’t just use some cheap stuff, the pu-er tea 普洱茶 I had was from a proper Yunnan pu-er tea cake, and yet they only charge $7 for the pot of tea.

Afterthoughts

Imperial Herbal is quintessentially one of the “healthiest” Chinese restaurants, because every dish concocted by them is for the body’s well-being. You walk away, feeling satisfied and nourished. The food was excellently prepared, the presentation was good as was the service. And everything was reasonably priced.

If you do not like TCM, then Imperial Herbal Restaurant is not for you. Also if you do not like your food bland and low salt or sugar, you will not enjoy the food here. Take it as a detox meal once in a while, your body will thank you for it.

Imperial Herbal Restaurant 宏仁堂御膳餐
Four Points By Sheraton Level 2
382 Havelock Road, Singapore 169629
Tel : +65 6337 0491

Visited Apr 2023

#imperialrestaurant #imperialherbal #宏仁堂御膳餐 #宏仁堂