Imperial Treasure at Crowne Plaza

The family decided to dine at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport's Imperial Treasure restaurant last night. We ordered a few dishes to just commemorate the long awaited bonus.  Plus 1 July was also the 36th wedding anniversary of my parents so a nice meal is in order...

The highlight of the restaurant must be the Peking Duck because we were the 3rd table to order this even though there were only about 7 tables occupied when we started eating.  At $55 for the whole duck, its certainly cheaper than many other places that offered this dish.  

Peking duck with crackers - $55

The duck skin was nicely roasted and individually wrapped in pieces of "i dunno what".  It kind of reminded me of smaller portions of roti prata except that its nicer and softer.  You can definitely tell that effort has been put into preparing the wraps.  Verdict: I love it.

Peking duck skin with extra sauce - just how I like it

We had the rest of the duck stir fried with ginger and scallion and paid an additional $10 for this dish.  At $65, I still think its quite cheap for 2 dishes-Peking duck skin and stir fried duck. You can also have your duck shredded and minced so that you can wrap it in lettuce (definitely a winner IMO) or stir fried with noodles.  I'm sure there are other options too if you ask the wait staff.  

Stir fried duck with ginger and scallion - add $10 to cost of Peking Duck 

We thought that the charcoal grilled pork neck would sound like an interesting dish to try so we ordered it.  The dish came with more fat than meat and we were disappointed.  Maybe this serving just had a fatter pig than usual but I won't be ordering this anytime soon.   

Charcoal grilled pork neck - $8

We ordered the Soup of the Day that had some kind of gourd, red beans, pork and fish.  The soup was delicious and very tasty.  I suspected that it could be the MSG but I wasn't thirty throughout the dinner nor after, so I think its really the goodness of the ingredients that made the soup so amazing.  Just look at the contents that the wait staff fished out after emptying the soup from the pot.

Next up was beancurd.  The beancurd looked normal at first. Inviting but probably won't rock your socks off...

Beancurd with mushroom and spinach - $14

I was so wrong!  Its very tasty and when I cut it open I saw that its egg beancurd with some mashed vegetables embedded.  Tried it and it gave me the WOW feeling.  Definitely a rating of 9! 

Look at the inside of the beancurd...

The honey pork ribs was a recommendation by the wait staff.  We didn't like it as it didn't taste special and personally for me, I felt that the meat was too soft and didn't have a good feel in the mouth when chewing. I suppose this will be good for old folks who don't have good teeth to chew. lol

Honey pork ribs - $8 each

We originally wanted to order the steamed bamboo clam with vermicelli but ordered the stir fried bamboo clam with asparagus instead.  It tasted quite okay. Not that its bad but its nothing great that would make you go WOW...  Its just what you would expect with good seafood.

Bamboo clam with asparagus $42 for 3 portions of bamboo clam ($12 each)

We had the durian pudding for dessert. At $5 for a small cup its not exactly cheap, but I'll recommend this for durian lovers. Its got real durian pieces inside and this is what makes it so great. Long after dinner you'll still have the durian taste lingering in your mouth.  Tip: don't eat this if you're meeting someone after this meal. :p

Durian pudding - $5

See the durian bits in the durian pudding? That's what makes it so great!

Overall, it was a nice meal and I might come back for the convenience since its in the east.  But it won't be my first choice when it comes to great food when you need a "wow" meal.