Address: 196 Stanley Road, Teddington, Middx TW11 8UE

Telephone number: 020 8943 1059

Website: http://www.imperialchinalondon.co.uk/

Date of visit: 11 March 2011

Approximate cost per head: £20 plus

Comments on wine list/beer: Basic list. Mark up on the low side. Have got first growths (in a bad year) on the list. Pre-ordering required for first growth

Cuisine: Cantonese, Chinese

Parking: Outside on the road – after 6pm and at weekends.

Nearest station: Strawberry Hill

Summary:

I booked for 4. Unfortunately, J and C’s daughter couldn’t make it, so we were down to 3. J &C have always been generous to me so I decided to row the boat out.

Luckily for me, Simon (chef patron) was there and he made a few suggestions.

To start with, we had “dragon beard prawns”. This is a Simon invention and is not on the menu. It is a large “tiger prawns”, stuffed with sliced mango and deep fried in a batter with thin noodles. The result is that you end up with a “hairy” looked prawn. It was excellent – we had one each.

Next up was  lobster in ginger and onion sauce. Simon recommended that the lobster is served on top of a nest of fried crispy noodles. Again, this worked extremely well as the clingy sauce from the lobster is “soaked” into the noodles. The sauce was just right, not too gingery – perfect combination of garlic, spring onion, ginger and Chinese wine.

We then had a quarter crispy dick in taro. This is a boned piece of crispy duck – cooked but not shredded – covered in thinly shredded taro – a really fine combination of crispy exterior with melting duck flesh on the inside.

Next up was Chinese steak – sliced steaks in a tomato and onion sweet and sour sauce. What was nice about this dish was that it was not too sweet. This was accompanied by scallops with asparagus. This was very pleasant, slight down side was that the scallops were previously froze. We also had “do mew” – the greens of mange tout or pea shoots with mushroom and garlic and mixed fried rice.

The total bill including a bottle of Moet champagne (£45) and service charge came to £163.60.

In my view, Imperial China is probably one of the best Chinese Restaurants in the UK – offering “authentic” Cantonese cooking. It certainly is the best I have eaten in so far and I have eaten in a few rated in the Michelin Guide. The décor of the place is good. They will have to improve their wine list if they want a Michelin star.

E

Address: 196 Stanley Road, Teddington, TW11 8UE

Telephone number: 0208 977 8679

Website: www.imperialchinalondon.co.uk

Date of visit:  15 February 2010

Approximate cost per head: From around £20 per head.

Comments on wine list/beer: Not bad for a Chinese restaurant. Most priced around £20

Summary:

This is the “sister” restaurant of China Palace in Reading. The menu and décor is nearly identical.

We went on the “2^nd day of the First month” according top the lunar calendar.

It’s a medium size restaurant – smaller than the one in Reading – with ample space between the tables. There are several big round tables which could seat 12 persons. They have another room at the back for private parties and as a over mspill on a Sunday.

For drinks, we had tiger beer and a bottle of petit chablis (£26.50). I was told that the wine is ok – I was driving.

As its Chinese new year, we ordered two dishes from the chinese new year menu, the rest were from the a la carte.

On the menu was something called golden lobster. I was informed that its sauté lobster with egg. I asked for it to be changed to sauté lobster with ginger and spring onion sauce. The waiter informed me that it was not possible to order items NOT on the menu. Just then, my friend Billy turned up.

Billy is the owner of China Palace, Furama and Salt and Vinegar (fish and chips) in Reading and part owner of Imperial China. Billy soon corrected this minor problem and we had our ginger and spring onion lobster which was excellent. It must have been over a kilo in weight. The probability of Billy being there was 0.1 as he is normally in resident at China Palace.

We also had, steamed sea bass, squid with spicy salt (garlic, chilli), golden fried chicken, Singapore fried noodles, beef ho fun, mange tout in black bean sauce.

The singapore noodles were spot on. Normally, it’s slightly wet because the chef adds curry sauce instead of curry powder – I prefer the dry version. The chicken was a little bit on the salty side. The sea bass was very fresh and the sauce light rather than heavy. The squid was 10/10 – soft, chewy but not rubbery.

For desert, we ordered toffee apple and banana with ice cream. I never understood why it’s called toffee apple/banana. It’s essentially battered deep fried fruit in a crispy caramelised sugar coating – I thought that toffee is supposed to be semi-hard.

At the end of the meal, Billy introduced us to Simon – the executive chef and part owner. Simon informed me that (next time) I should ask for him if I wanted to order off the menu,

So if want to order off the menu ask for Billy (China Palace) and Simon (Imperial China). They will accommodate you.

The whole meal including service came to just under £180 – lobster was £32 and sea bass was £35 – for 4. This is not cheap but it is top class authentic Chinese cooking.

By the way, parking is on the street and there are all sorts of restrictions. So come on a Sunday or after 6.30pm on any other days.

Kung Hai Fat Choy!

Eddie

P.S. When I got back to my friend’s house, their baby sitter had a chinese take away from round the corner – we should have taken back a doggy bag for them!