We took a big family trip last month, and I was in charge of booking multiple dinners for eleven…read morepeople, ages 2 to 69, with a range of dietary preferences. Min Jiang was the last of these large dinners, and I booked it specifically for the Peking duck--a dish with a sense of occasion, and that almost everyone in my family enjoys.
I also picked Min Jiang over a few other options because of its location, on the tenth floor of a small hotel, with a dining room overlooking Kensington. I emailed to make the reservation and this was easy enough, just had to agree to a minimum spend (£80 per adult) and share credit card details. The only thing I worried about was that the reservationist wouldn't guarantee a prime view. As it turned out, though, the restaurant was set up so every table seemed to have a view. Ours did, anyway. We dined with Kensington Park and a long stretch of London skyline laid out before us.
The restaurant was nice in every other way, too. The dining room was neat and attractive, filled with Chinese ceramics and natural light, round tables laid out with white tablecloths and lazy susans. Service was polite, prompt, and helpful. I'd pre-ordered two Peking--or rather, Beijing--ducks, but we added a few appetizers and other dishes, probably a little more than wise or necessary. We also got a couple bottles of wine, red and white, to go with our feast.
The food was outstanding. I don't understand the negative reviews here, like there are multiple people comparing Min Jiang to Panda Express. Are they okay?
Right away, we were set up with a little snack on our lazy susan, some kind of spicy fermented chili sesame edamame situation, tasty beans that I ate like bar nuts. We ordered some dim sum to start, plus some noodles for the kids, and these were all great. Enjoyed both the steamed xiao long bao, soup dumplings with pork and blue swimmer crab, and the poached prawn dumplings in Sichuan chili oil. The stir-fried egg noodles with king prawns were solid, and worked well for the children when purged of vegetables (and, for that matter, king prawn).
The wood-fired Beijing duck is Min Jiang's specialty, and it can be a pretty big meal all on its own. We got two whole ducks, which was more than enough for eight adults (actually, seven--my husband, who loves both duck and restaurants on high floors, felt sick and had to leave at the beginning of dinner; something went through our household on this trip, and we only managed one dinner with our full complement of eleven). The duck was carved at our table, the glorious lacquered skin laid out in neat rows on a giant platter. We ate the crispy duck skin with thin housemade pancakes and an array of condiments: plum sauce, shredded leek, cucumber, garlic paste, radish, and Tientsin cabbage. Absolutely delicious. Even my three-year-old got in on the duck-gobbling action. The rest of the duck meat was used for a second course, and we opted for the fried rice with diced duck and the fried noodles with sliced duck. Both satisfying dishes, if not nearly as memorable as the skin.
I hadn't accounted for the duck fried rice and noodles (or the absence of my husband) when putting our order in at the beginning of our meal, and we ended up with too much food. We probably should have skipped the Min Jiang fried rice, but it was a good, fluffy fried rice, with king prawns and spicy salted fish sauce. I do not regret our other big order, though, the native lobster with Singapore-style chilli sauce. It was a lovely dish, soupy and flavorful, with sweet lobster and thin noodles. I also liked the steamed scallops with black bean chilli sauce. They were firm and bouncy, and that sauce would've been good on anything. We got some sautéed morning glory for our health, and this was a nice simple side with a punch of garlic.
If you like roast duck and dinner with a view, Min Jiang is well worth a visit. I kind of want to go back with my husband next time we're in London. I know he'd love it, and I'd be happy to go again.