1 February 2014

Min Jiang

Location, Location, Location (and Flavour...)

The first thing you notice when you enter Min Jiang is the view. The restaurant is located on the tenth floor of the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington and the panoramic windows allow you to look out on to London’s skyline. The décor is simple and modest, but the visual backdrop and the flavours of the food are what this restaurant is really about.

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Min Jiang serves classic Chinese food with a contemporary twist. We started off with the steamed dim sum platters and some crispy fried squid with salt, pepper, dried chilli and garlic. We also ordered the sesame prawn toast which had a surprisingly herby flavour. Our dishes were accompanied by a selection of (strong) cocktails from their bar menu. The appetisers were traditional and on par with my expectations.
We then moved on to the Beijing duck; one of the restaurant’s signature dishes. A duck technician presented and prepared the duck by the table and it is served in the traditional way. I can vouch for this after my (not so) recent visit to Beijing’s famous Da Dong Roast Duck restaurant.

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The first duck course is crispy duck skin that is dipped in fine granulated sugar and the second comprises homemade pancakes filled with sliced duck meat, plum sauce, shredded leek and cucumber.

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We were presented with a number of options for the third duck course and we opted for spicy minced duck with a lettuce wrap. This was one of the highlights of the meal – incredibly easy to eat (unlike the messy affairs that I have had with lettuce wrap in the past) and each bite sized portion was extremely flavoursome.

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The main course at Min Jiang was nothing short of spectacular. The dishes were spicy and intense with rich deep flavours. The Roasted Chicken with Fen Pi in Sichuan Sauce and the Diced Rib Eye of Beef with Black Pepper Sauce were excellent. In the past, I have found that Beef in Black Pepper Sauce has a tendency to be overly-peppery and overpowering. However, this particular dish was flavoured to perfection. The Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger and Spring Onion was the freshest I have had to date and was amazingly soft and succulent.  

I will definitely be visiting Min Jiang again and recommend this restaurant to anyone who is after a classy, authentic Chinese meal with spectacular views over London. 

Rating: 5/5


Min Jiang on Urbanspoon

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