Imperial Treasure

Imperial Treasure occupies a Grade II-listed former Lloyds bank on Waterloo Place, the St James's group's first restaurant in Europe when it opened at the end of 2018. Studio Liaigre kept the building's protected plaster cornices and arched windows and set them against dark timber screens, low light and panels of backlit onyx; a bar cut from a single amber block anchors the room. The cooking is Cantonese, precise and traditional, with Peking duck carved at the table and a dim sum list that draws people back on its own.

Private events use the mezzanine, where three rooms sit above the main floor. The Ru Yi seats eight and the Ji Xiang ten; the Wan Shou takes fourteen around a single circular table with a marble lazy Susan at its centre. The three combine for larger groups and are fitted with discreet audio-visual equipment, which makes them as suited to a working dinner as to a celebration.

For a party at scale the restaurant itself is available for private hire. The main dining room seats up to 100 and holds 150 for a standing reception, and sections down to groups of 30 or 50. The onyx cocktail bar, stocked with champagne and a collection of Asian spirits, opens the evening before guests move through to the tables.