Wineshark Mystery Restaurant - Imperial Treasure (CWB)

This Chinese restaurant originates from Singapore and is now part of a big group with over 20 outlets in different cities in the world. Having visited their Michelin 1-star outlet in TST a few years back, today we came to their newer one in CWB to try it out.

Located on 2/F of Crowne Plaza Hotel, the décor here has a glamorous vibe, with the use of brass and golden colour on the wall and ceiling. The comfortable chairs and circular tables, with also some booth seats, and all decorations create a nice dining environment.

We ordered Chilled Pig’s Shank ($98) to start. The pig’s shank has been marinated well, rich in flavours but not excessive. However, they were just taken out from the fridge and was too cold to enjoy and would be ideal to serve at room temperature.

The Barbecue Pork Belly with Honey Sauce ($198), from its appearance, was tempting, with thick cut, glistering with honey on the surface. The meat was unfortunately a bit too soft in texture; not sure it had been marinated with tenderizer or not.

For the soup, Ivy had Double-boiled Pig’s Lung with Almond Soup ($128), while I went for Hot & Sour Soup in Sichuan Style ($118). The almond soup was sweet and tasty, intense on almond notes while the pig’s lung did not have any weird flavour.

The hot and sour soup was also good, having a good balance of spicy and sourness. The soup had plenty of ingredients, from tofu shreds, shiitake and wood-ear mushroom, to bamboo shoots and fish maw. It had the kick of spiciness but not excessive.

The manager had recommended us to try the Pan-fried Live Prawns ($288), and the prawns were indeed beautifully done, infused with the savoury delicacy of the soy sauce to complement with the sweetness of the prawns.

Next was Frog Cooked in Two Ways: Deep-fried Frog Leg with Pepper & Salt, Sauteed Frog with Shallots & Preserved Black Olives ($268). The frog legs were meaty, and the batter was thin and not oily, very nicely done. The sauteed frog was also delicious but the black olives were too salty, affecting the overall enjoyment.

For dessert, I had Chinese Almond Cream ($78). Fairly standard in quality, it had nice almond flavours but nothing particularly stood out to reflect an exceptional offering.

Ivy had Double-boiled Pear with Chuan Bei ($45) instead. What she liked most was that the soup was not too sweet, with plenty pear pieces. We also had Deep-fried Sesame Ball with Custard ($60) to share. The sesame ball were freshly deep-fried to an appealing golden brown colour, with a runny custard inside.

Service was decent, and the bill on the night was $1,454, which was very reasonable. Considering the overall food quality, I would say this outlet was of a lower level than its TST counterpart, with some of the dishes not meeting the expectations.