Chinese food, western-style, at Imperial Treasure

NEW RESTAURANT

Imperial Treasure Tasting Room Great World City #02-111/112 1 Kim Seng Promenade Singapore 237994 Tel: 6733 2292/6733-2232 Open daily for lunch and dinner: 11.30am to 3pm; 6pm to 11pm.

WE'RE back. It's been just a couple of months since we stepped into Imperial Treasure's newest reiteration in Great World City, but we've been lured back by its newly-installed restaurant-in-restaurant concept with the fancy title of "Tasting Room". Dangling the concept of counter-style, omakase-only dining, we take the bait because, like other trend-obsessed diners, we think eating with no personal space and having the power of choice taken away from us is a GOOD thing.

You can't deny that a lot has been spent on the set up. Walk past the main dining hall,take a sharp right and enter the inner sanctum of the restaurant - a slick L-shaped bar counter surrounding a serious stainless steel kitchen setup with two giant woks gleaming in the background. Table settings are fine dining style - napkins folded in origami fashion, woven placements and stainless steel flatware paired with chopsticks to remind you that this is a Chinese restaurant. There's even a maitre d' named Ali, who doubles as sommelier and lends upm…