Imperial Herbal Soup Restaurant (Vivocity)

Ever since, Imperial Herbal Soup restaurant shifted to Vivocity from its previous location at the 3rd floor of the Metropole Hotel on Seah Street, my dining experience has been deteriorating. Maybe it is the larger restaurant. So, it feels more commercialized compared to the previous quaint little restaurant. 

I think it still offers best herbal soup in town. I guess the menu has been evolving but the trademark dishes were maintained. Somehow, I feel something is missing but can't quite put a finger to it.

Anyway, the egg white with conpoy is still good. I had the wild brazilian mushroom soup which was quite alright. It was a bit sweet because of the dried longan. The herbal chicken was great. It had generous stuffing of herbs. The chicken could be bigger because there wasn't really enough meat to go by. The herb infused gravy was great with rice. 

What was a disappointing for me was the stir fry eel. I think the eel was stir fried separately and it was too dry. The "kow kei choi" with wolf berries was rather bland. Lastly, the dessert was also a let down - egg white with red bean paste. My Hong Kong friend who dined with us complained that it was not done right. We should be able to taste the egg white. In this case, it was like red bean paste glutinous balls coated with icing sugar.






Comments

Ho Soon Yoon said…
Why 3 cilipadis only? Looks good..
November 18, 2008 at 10:34 PM
Danny Chen said…
Maybe it is because I am too prejudiced... I prefer the former restaurant at Seah Street but I must say the food standard did come down after moving to this larger premise.
December 29, 2008 at 1:04 PM
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