Review: Imperial Garden, PJ

How many of you still remember the Tai Thong Group? If you do, you are probably rather ancient as they are the pioneer when it comes to Chinese (somewhat) fine dining about 2decades ago. In recent times, they have taken a back seat with the rise of other players e.g. Oriental, Jaya Group, Noble Mansions. To be honest, I was slightly surprised to find that Imperial Garden is under them.

In the past decade or so, a number of their restaurants were slowly shutdown. My parents used to go to the one in Klang for dim sum during the weekends but stopped because the  food got bad and the place reeked of a wetness. Thankfully, this place was rather spanking new (or so it looked).

Located just beside Hotel Armada, you can park in the building itself. Remember to get your parking ticket validated before leaving the restaurant for a flat rate of RM 4. Otherwise, that'll be RM3 for the first hour, RM2 for subsequent hours for entry before 7pm.

Our dinner was scheduled for 6.30pm but I arrived at 6pm. So much for taking Friday evening and rain into consideration as the road was relatively clear despite a heavy downpour. Still, it gave me a chance to explore this new territory (to me, at least).

I was there so early that service hasn't started and the crew was still being briefed ๏_๏ Luckily, they had rather comfy cushions to sit and pass time. Oh, after parking my car on the second floor, I took the lift to the ground floor because I didn't know where exactly the restaurant was. That's where the Neptune Club is and when I approached the guards at the counter, they asked, "are you student?" (´ー`)

Though my hearing is getting bad to worse lately, and it doesn't help there was a construction going on next  door. 

Washrooms in Chinese restaurants have always come across to me as being slightly dodgy, unkempt but my mind was blown away by the details they went into. Once you enter it, a nice aroma greets you. If anything, you could probably do your makeup here with its generous lighting and spacious counters.

This is the other washroom which is more private i.e. only one toilet.
Yes, this is the face behind this blog.

The area is not too brightly lit with warm lighting. The entire place has an Oriental theme going on but not over the top traditional.

I really like the pastel shades used here. It is soft and ladylike. Maybe this will be my house's theme next time.

Immaculately white utensils. Service that night wasn't particularly great but it's understandable as all the tables were occupied and the crew was doing its best. Few slip-ups but it's still the festive season, don't be so mean, ok?

Actually, why would you want to be mean any other time of the year?

Braised peanuts. I always like this but detest peanuts or groundnuts from the packet. Those are troublesome, leaves a lot of mess behind and hard to eat. These are usually braised until soft so not much of chewing required. Yes, my laziness has no bounds. Or they do tend to get pushed further and further.

After finishing the peanuts, this packet of fried crackers for yee shang was beckoning me to open it. Yes, my brain was hallucinating by then. The effects of waking up at 5.50am, a cup of coffee for breakfast, few biscuits and milo for lunch and an hour of exercise.

But it was nice when the folks who hadn't seen me in a year commented that I had lost weight  (/◔ ◡ ◔)/

Menu of the night. It was funny because few of us were Chinese illiterate. One took a look at the menu and nodding away when we asked what dish was next just for the fun of it =_=

Dinner finally started when everyone arrived by 8pm. A good toss to begin the dinner.
It is official. I am a yee sang lover. After all, what are the chances of me liking every single one I've tasted so far? These had a nice crunch to them. Not overly sweet.

Shark fin soup sans shark fin. We were all (somewhat) environmentalist and asked to omit the fin which they happily obliged. Not sure what they substituted it with but as flavorful as the soup was, it did lack of something. The vinegar helped somewhat though as a (confirmed) soup lover, this has my heart dancing away.

The set meal included roast pig and smoked duck. We were all expecting a small or perhaps quarter of the pig. Instead, they gave us precisely 8 slices. Actually, initially they gave us literally 6 pieces of the roast pork since it was a set for 6pax. After clarifying with the captain that we added 2 pax during the booking, they gave us additional 2 slices of both the pork and duck ('_')

Both were rather delicious with the pork skin being very crispy and not very fatty underneath. The duck was soft with a thin layer of fat underneath the skin, laying on a bed of sea jelly. I polished off most of the bits and pieces because I was really hungry and shameless.

Steamed fish in soy sauce.

The fish was rather fresh and sweet, certainly didn't have that fishy taste. So rare it was to find a fish that I enjoyed that I finished up this too though it was mainly the fin and bones (´▽`)

Vegetarian dish. Broccoli, dried oyster, bean curd skin, fish maw and mushroom.
I never really liked this dish when I was younger but learnt to appreciate the finer things in life. Maybe my mother brainwashed me too much into eating this dish by telling everyone how I was a silly girl not to like the expensive stuff e.g. fish maw, mushroom, oysters and abalone.

The broccoli was still crunchy. Dried oysters were a little overpowering with the gravy. Fish maw was just nice. Bean curd skin didn't have much of a flavor or texture of its own. Quite sad.

Fried glutinous rice with waxed meat. This is usually the filler for whoever that are still not stuffed from earlier dishes. That included me. Despite my no-rice resolution, I managed to chow down at least 2bowls of this because I was eating like a cow, storing the food for rainy days like now. Nvm that my digestion system is nothing like that of a cow. It's a psychological effect.

I was worried too because past experience with glutinous rice (lo mai gai) left me with a literally shitty bowel but when you haven't eaten properly in weeks, your brain tends to throw caution to the wind. The rice wasn't as sticky and they chopped the meat up into small sizes which is awesome for me who don't like them very much except for the flavor it  brings to the rice. Thank God because my tummy didn't cry foul that night and I slept like a baby through the night. Actually, babies don't sleep through the night. They wail like a banshee every few hours. The genius who came up with that phrase must have been a man who left it to his wife to tend to his offspring.

Prawns are typically my no-no food. Not because of allergy but the trouble to go through. Still, when this arrived at the table, I was almost gobsmacked by the aromatic herbs. Instead of the unhealthy deep fried soy sauce style, they opted for a steamed herbal prawn.

The soup was light but had a strong herbal flavor which I absolutely adore \( ﾟ◡ﾟ)/ The prawns themselves were generally fresh. Generally because there was a particular one where the brains had literally turned blue/green. Maybe those I ate did too but I didn't notice because I sucked the brains out. They all tasted sweet and fresh and I didn't end up shitting myself that night so yes, they passed my test. The sweet freshness of the prawn and the soup worked hand in hand that it was worth the extra cholesterol.

Puff pastry dessert. I think it's nien gao in the middle. As again, one piece for each of us.
I like the flaky skin and overall, not overly sweet.

On the other hand, you get sugar overdose from the sea coconut and longan dessert.