I have been truly spoiled for this years birthday celebrations, the finale was with my closest friends at Min Jiang. Boasting views from the 10th floor overlooking Kensington gardens. The lofty restaurant aims to please, booking a table of 8 we waited patiently by the bar.
The signature legendary Beijing duck was a must for me, constantly taunted by my foodie friends. The duck needs to be ordered 45 minutes in advanced. For starters we had a selection of dim sum, xiao long bao, and cheung fun.
The dim sums were a dream. The assorted dim sum, came with a mix selection, they were enveloped in silky soft skin, inside bursting with fresh ingredients that you can actually taste. Now, even I have to admit this beats my current favourite Princess Garden of Mayfair dim sum.
The xiao long bao, looked bigger then the usual kind I’ve eaten in the past. Looking like onion heads with, orange dots, the soup erupted out of its skin, slurping away the simple flavoursome broth it was pure bliss.
Pictured here is the deep-fried yam croquettes, unfortunately I didn’t even get to taste the dish.
Finally the legendary Beijing duck popped up from nowhere, the guy expertly craved away the duck, each piece expertly sliced to the same thickness. The Beijing duck comes in two servings. One was eating the crispy duck skin dipped in granulated sugar. This tasted like sugary crisp, and was very interesting.
Min Jiang, makes their own pancakes, and eating the duck with the two different sauces made the experience pleasurable. The lip smacking duck itself was on the slightly greasy side, however it was moist and juicy, the skin wasn’t overcooked or crispy. Whilst the rest of the duck went to be prepared for our second serving, we ordered two mains from the menu with rice.
The server, recommended two dishes to us, the clay pot sanpei corn-fed chicken and diced rib eye beef black pepper sauce. These two were the slight disappointment of the meal in my opinion, the meat was absolutely delicious, tender and juicy, and however the sauces were either too salty or sugary.
Even the second serving of the duck with fried noodles disappointment, bland, and failed to deliver any flavour.
Overall, I did enjoy my experience at Min Jiang, the dim sum was just lovely and first class, the first serving of Beijing duck was mouth-watering amazing. The mains were slightly disappointing; I will defiantly come back for the dim sum and duck.
Royal Garden Hotel | 2-24 Kensington High Street London W8 4PT
