Min Jiang — Yippie

Min Jiang Restaurant

Address: Royal Garden Hotel, 10th Floor, 2-24 Kensington High St, Kensington, London W8 4PT
Map→ Nearest Tube: High Street Kensington
☏ 020 7361 1988
4.2 Yummy stars
Average £40 pp for lunch (excluding drinks) (at time of writing)
Website→
Menu→

Buzz factor 4.2/5 stars

Food 4.4/5 stars

Value for money 4/5 stars

Pick a sunny day with clear blue sky to go to Min Jiang, which is perched on the 10th floor of Royal Garden Hotel, to take full advantage of the spectacular views over Hyde Park, London Eye and other landmarks. Pure joy and serene sophisticated surroundings. Quite a grown up kind of place and with the fairly hefty price tag, you might like to leave your precious little ones on a (long) playdate….

Dim sum here is generally of high quality, a few notches above your usual dim sum restaurant in London. My favorite dim sum here is the highly prized (well, in terms of technique and flavour) Xiao Lung Bao (Shanghai dumplings). It has a superb broth tucked inside (that is if you don’t leak it all before it gets into your mouth) blended perfectly with the pork filling skillfully encased in the ever so thin wrappers. Yum! Then, there was the flaky buttery barbeque pork puff, with toasted sesame seeds resting on top. I can’t go for dim sum without Har Gau (a prawn dumpling), another delight. The turnip was terrific on our recent visit – perfectly fried with slight crispiness and just the right amount of chilli.

Of course, you go to Min Jiang to have its Peking Duck, which you are supposed to order in advance. We managed to squeeze in an order of half a duck (enough for 2/3 persons) on the spot. A chef in his pristine chef whites appeared, ready to carve the duck on a side table, and you wonder if he has actually done any cooking that day.

The chef then started to carve the duck before your eyes. The methodic carving of the duck skin, resulting in perfectly same sized pieces, was just mesmerizing. The idea is to enjoy the bronzed shiny skin with just a bit of meat tucked underneath, wrapped in pancakes together with cucumber, spring onions and plum sauce or just eat it dipped in a little sugar. Well, you may wonder why you were paying so much for a bit of meat. Be patient. The chef would then offer you a choice of a dish made with the rest of the duck. We chose duck wrapped in lettuce leaves. However, you may wish to have the duck meat made into a stir fry or another dish.

Life is near perfect when you then finish the meal with their flaky egg custard tarts.

Service was slick and unintrusive. All in all, a most enjoyable dining experience.

If you are interested in learning more about dim sum, do take a look at my Dim Sum Guide under Yippie Blog.

2017

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