Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck Restaurant (Paragon) Review

So my first food "review" is the Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck Restaurant at Paragon. It's ranked as the 49th best Chinese Restaurant food in Asia (In top 50s). I had a booking for 6 pm but have to leave the place by 7:30. We made a booking in advance for the Peking Duck, which is obviously the highlight of the restaurant. The restaurant itself is quite impressive and we managed to get a "private" room with a movable partition. We didn't request for this so it was a pleasant surprise.

I didn't take the picture of the room but the lighting was quite dim as can be seen by pic of the wall painting. The seats were really spacious and comfortable, very easy to lean back and fall asleep.

Anyway, as with all Chinese restaurants, Super Duck has this really bad habit of offering the "pickles" in this case some peanuts. Of course since I'm on a crusade against this practice (it's already 10+7%), I asked the waitress to take it away. The waitress served the tea ignored me the 1st time I asked so I had to remind her when she returned. Quite bad service from that particular waitress and she didn't cancel off the "pickles" in the receipt.







Now for the food bit, we ordered:
1. Peking Duck (Whole)
2. Peking Duck Second Dish (noodles)
2. Conpoy & Winter Melon Soup (Pax x3)
3. SiChuan Soup (1 Pax)
4. Claypot tofu with diced chicken & salted fish
5. Fried squid with salted egg
6. Mango Pudding (1 Pax)
7. Red Bean Cream (1 Pax)
8. Mango sago with pomelo (2 Pax)

Peking Duck
The chef came out to show off his cutting skills the duck so service-wise it's is quite good. The Peking Duck is more Beijing style with some meat attached to the skin. Personally I prefer just the duck skin but this duck wasn't as fat so it's quite good. Taste wise- it doesn't have the strong duck taste which I found good, but that's a personal preference. The meat is tender and the duck is overall quite good. The dish came with the standard spring onions and cucumbers and of course the pancakes. The chef didn't put the duck into the pancakes, which is pretty normal but they could have served it for more points.The pancakes were too thick and hence a bit hard to chew. So overall, only the duck was good.

Price: $68 + $10 (for the 2nd dish) 
On the higher-end but given the type of restaurant, it's expected.

Peking Duck 2nd Dish (Noodles)
We got the remaining duck meat to be cooked with the noodles, it was the last dish to be served. Overall: noodles wasn't soggy and maintained some springiness, taste-wise was decent and good to fill the stomach.Conpoy & Winter Melon Soup
Quite a small serving, but overall still good for an individual. Extremely sweet (as in soup sweet, not sugary sweet) and tasty. Would be a sure-buy if it was cheaper.

Price: $10 per pax
On the high end but still worth a try.

Sichuan Soup (aka Hot & Spicy Soup)
Not too spicy and not overpowering. Pretty good.

Price: $8

Claypot tofu with diced chicken & salted fish
Good serving size, easily serves 4 pax. Tofu and chicken is tender, overall good.

Price: $16
Well-worth the money.

Fried Squid with Salted Egg Yolk
If you like salted egg crab, this is the dish for you. Very strong salted egg yolk taste, a bit too much IMO. Texture wise is decent albeit too chewy and hard to tear without looking barbaric. Quite small serving with about 8 pieces.

Price: $18
On the high-end but good if you like salted egg crab.

Mango Pudding
Not overly soft pudding, has texture to it, mango taste is subtle. Overall quite good.

Price: $5
High for desserts if you compare it to other restaurants.

Red bean cream
Served warm, typical red bean taste with smooth texture. Subtle but good to round up a meal.

Price: $4

Mango with sago and pomelo
More liquid than the pudding but still quite thick. Has very strong mango taste, so slightly more overpowering than the pudding. The pudding is more unique as this dish is something like mango in liquid form.

Price: $5 (per pax)





Note: Miscellaneous Stuff
 As mentioned earlier, the restaurant serves the "pickles" at $3. Don't just let them eat up your money unless you are dying for the peanuts. Just reject it and get this free money idea out of Chinese restaurant's mind. They already charge for service and GST. They also provide a moist towel at the beginning to mop your hands. It's free of charge but remember to use it or they'll clear it without asking.
Tea was $2 per pax, reasonable and they frequently refill your cup.

Overall, came up to $208 after service charge and GST. On the high-end, but if you exclude the desserts still okay. Peking Duck is expensive but given the reputation of the restaurant and the ambience, it's still acceptable.

It should be noted that the restaurant has open areas and "private" rooms with partitions. If you want to make a reservation, it's better to request for the rooms rather than leaving it to chance. Service is generally good as they keep topping up your tea. Overall, slightly overpriced and does it justify the Super Peking Duck name? Not really, probably just a Duck with an established family name.

Score: 8/10
(Marked down due to the high price and subpar pancakes that came with the duck. Overly chewy squids. Not too filling but enough to fill your stomach, mainly because of the noodles)