Min Jiang
Royal Garden Hotel
10th Floor
2-24 Kensington High Street
Kensington
London W8 4PT
Nearest Tube: High Street Kensington
4.6 Yummy stars
Price £££ £40 pp for dim sum lunch; other lunch/supper - starters £7.50-£19.50; mains £22-£76; Peking duck (2-courses) whole: £74 (excluding drinks) (at time of writing)
Peking Duck (Beijing Duck) at Min Jiang Restaurant at Royal Garden Hotel
Pick a sunny day with clear blue sky to go to Min Jiang, which is perched on the 10thfloor of Royal Garden Hotel, to take full advantage of the spectacular views over Hyde Park, London Eye and other landmarks. In the evenings, the views running the full length of the restaurant, are equally beguiling, with lights from the buildings peering out like diamonds sparkling in the night. You get a warm feeling of unadulterated joy and serenity while dining in the sophisticated surroundings. It is quite a grown up kind of place and with the fairly hefty price tag, you might consider leaving your little darlings, if any, on a (long) playdate….
Dim sum here is generally of high quality, a few notches above your usual dim sum restaurant in London. My favourite dim sum here is the highly prized Xiao Long Bao (Shanghai dumplings) in terms of technique and flavour. It has a soul satisfying broth nestled inside (assuming that you don’t leak it all before it gets into your mouth) together with the pork filling skillfully encased in the ever so thin wrappers. The barbeque pork puff, adorned with toasted sesame seeds, had the flakiest of pastry, taking you on a dreamy indulgent buttery journey. Naturally, I had to have one of my favourite dim sum, Har Gau (a prawn dumpling), which was another delight. The turnip was terrific, perfectly fried with slight crispiness and just the right amount of chilli.
Of course, you go to Min Jiang to have its Peking Duck (or Beijing Duck, as it is often called these days) roasted on a wood-fire. You are recommended to order it in advance. A chef in his pristine chef whites appears, ready to carve the duck on a side table, and you wonder if he has actually done any cooking that day. The chef then carves the duck table-side. The methodic carving of the duck, producing miraculously same sized pieces, is just mesmerizing to watch.
On all my visits, the mahogany-coloured duck was perfectly roasted, rendering the skin crispy, yet with the meat still juicy and as soft as a ripe peach. It was so full of flavour that you need just a small amount of the sweet sauce (as well as slivers of cucumber and leek) on the homemade insanely light and virtually translucent housemade pancakes. Pieces of the duck skin, in my mind the best bits, were presented separately. Just dip it lightly on some sugar and heaven awaits.
As with most restaurants, you are offered a choice of a “second course” of the Beijing Duck, a dish made with the rest of the duck. We opted for minced duck on lettuce leaves which was delicious. Alternatively, you can choose to have the duck meat made into a soup, noodle or fried rice dish.
The roasted Alaskan black cod in Sha cha sauce was beautifully cooked. Juicy flakes of the fish eased away with a gentle nudge. The Sha cha sauce (a paste made from brill fish, dried shrimp, soya bean oil, garlic, shallots and chilli) had a slight kick to it. The fish dish had a more subtle taste compared with the other dishes that we had and perhaps could have done with more of the terrific Sha cha sauce.
The diced rib eye beef with black pepper sauce was another stonking dish. The meat was tender and married well with the slight kick from the intense black pepper sauce.
The chicken with sweet basil and sanpei sauce was glorious. It is a classic Taiwanese dish. Translitereated, it means 3-cup chicken, comprising of cups of 3 main ingredients: sesame oil, soya sauce and rice wine. The flavours were bold and deep, with sweetness from the Thai basil and heat from the chillis. If I had to be picky, I found the sauce a little too sweet.
My favourite among the host of impressive dishes was the Tofu with morel mushrooms in black bean sauce. The tofu and morel mushrooms sponged up the intense flavours from the scrumptious (but a tad overly) sweet sauce,, while the black fungus/wood ear added a slight crunch.
Life is near perfect when you then finish lunch with their flaky egg custard tarts. On our recent supper there, we were all way too full to have any desserts.
Service is always friendly and unintrusive, though at times, we had to try hard to get some attention. Our waiter and waitress were knowledgeable and helpful with our food choices.
If you are interested in learning more about dim sum, do take a look at my Dim Sum Guide under Yippie Blog.
Updated September 2019
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