"Two Michelin stars for Singapore's most precise Cantonese kitchen — book the black pepper mud crab for closing a deal in Tianhe."
Imperial Treasure brought Singapore's most exacting Cantonese cooking to Guangzhou, and the city's Michelin inspectors answered with two stars in the 2020 guide — a ranking it has carried since. The room sits on the fifth floor of IGC Mall on Xingmin Road in Tianhe, and the order to make is the black pepper mud crab, with a double-boiled fish maw soup and a lunchtime dim sum service that rivals anything in Hong Kong.
There is no celebrity chef here, and the menu does not pretend otherwise: Imperial Treasure is the Guangzhou outpost of the Singapore-based group, and the cooking is the work of a veteran Cantonese brigade trained to the chain's standard. That standard is high enough that the Guangzhou guide handed the room two MICHELIN stars in its 2020 debut edition, which it has held since. Traditional Cantonese technique is the whole game: live seafood, double-boiled soups, and a respect for the ingredient over the garnish.
The dishes to order have names. The black pepper mud crab is the signature — a whole crab, intense and aromatic. The double-boiled fish maw soup with shark bones is the comfort course. The crispy fried chicken stuffed with glutinous rice is the showpiece, and the steamed slender shad with diced ginger is the connoisseur's pick. At lunch the dim sum programme is the reason to come early: translucent har gow, rice-noodle rolls, and tofu-skin rolls stuffed with shrimp and chives, all cut to Hong Kong tolerances. Expect ¥600 to ¥1,000 per person at dinner before drinks, plus a 10% service charge; dim sum lunch lands lower. The MICHELIN Guide still lists it among Guangzhou's two-star rooms.
The dining room is mall-quiet and corporate-calm rather than theatrical: muted tones, generous table spacing, and round tables built for the lazy-Susan sharing that Cantonese banqueting demands. The sound level is a low hum, easy for a business table to talk over, and private rooms are available for the deals that need a door. Lighting is bright enough to read a contract, dress is business smart, and service is the formal, plate-clearing Cantonese standard. Book a private room a week ahead for anything sensitive.
Book Imperial Treasure for closing a deal or hosting clients because Cantonese banqueting is built for exactly this: large round tables, shared showpiece dishes like the black pepper mud crab, and private rooms that keep the conversation behind a door. Two Michelin stars signal you did not cut a corner. The dim sum lunch also makes a strong, lower-stakes business lunch. See our best Chinese restaurants worldwide and the Guangzhou dining guide.
Not for an intimate two-top — the room is built for round-table banqueting and sharing, and a couple ordering for two misses the point of the kitchen entirely.
Yes. It holds two Michelin stars in the Guangzhou guide and cooks Cantonese to a Singapore-chain standard that rarely slips. The black pepper mud crab and the double-boiled fish maw soup justify the bill, and the dim sum lunch is among the best in the city. Go with a group so you can order across the menu — see our Guangzhou guide.
Not very, by two-star standards — a week's notice usually secures a table, and a private room needs a little more lead time. The restaurant is on the fifth floor of IGC Mall at 222 Xingmin Road in Tianhe. Weekend dim sum lunch is the busiest service, so book ahead for that.
Business smart. There is no jacket requirement, but this is a two-star room popular with Guangzhou's corporate diners, so neat tailoring is the norm. The bright, formal dining room and the private banqueting rooms both read as professional rather than casual.
Plan on roughly ¥600 to ¥1,000 per person at dinner before drinks, plus a 10% service charge; the dim sum lunch costs noticeably less. Live seafood like the mud crab is priced by weight and can push the bill higher, so confirm market prices when you order.
Start with the black pepper mud crab and the double-boiled fish maw soup, add the crispy fried chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, and at lunch order broadly from the dim sum trolley — the har gow and rice-noodle rolls especially. See our best business lunch restaurants for the wider list.
Two-star Cantonese · book a week ahead
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Imperial Treasure proves Cantonese banqueting still earns two stars. See where Guangzhou's kitchens land against the global field.
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