Posh Chinese moves to Kensington
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On the tenth floor of the Royal Garden Hotel on Kensington High Street, it’s an elegant, windowy box of contemporary laquered Chinoiserie with astonishing views of Hyde Park and the London skyline In the wake of Hakkasan, London’s first Michelin-starred Chinese, and Yautcha, Alan Yau’s dim sum haven, Londoners no longer laugh at the idea of a gourmet Chinese restaurant.
But it has to dazzle, otherwise who can but scoff at the idea of paying £20 for a tarted up plate of crispy pork noodles? Min Jiang is pitching itself somewhere between the top and the regular, serving the kind of food you might like to have in a white box while you watch a DVD on a Sunday night, alongside the calibre of nosh suited to its well-laid tables with their abundant glassware and silky napkins.
The result is confusing; your eyes tell you you’re in Michelin-land and the service is over-fussy and obsequious. Is this basic Chinese ludicrously marked up for factors like view and interior design? Or is this a restaurant to be taken seriously? It is both. Min Jiang’s USP is to serve expertly prepared regional specialities, roughly divided along the lines of spicy Sichuan, dim sum and – drum roll please – Beijing Duck.
TAUT AND AROMATIC DUCK
The Beijing duck was what everybody was talking about. In its least noble form, it is to be spotted hanging greasy and grizzled in the windows of Soho’s Chinese restaurants. Min Jiang’s Beijing wood-fired ducks are a different story: taut, aromatic, muscular fellows whose meat and grease melt together just as the gods of cooking intended.
With great fanfare, a special duck chef brought out our bird to carve. First, we were presented with a plate of freshly cut skin: a mouthful of salty wet fat that I found divine but that shocked my lardshunning companion. There was a little bowl of sugar for dipping, designed to draw out the oil.
Next, the duck was carved and presented with shredded leek, cucumber, plum sauce and delicate wraps for pancakes, making for far and away the most delicious duck pancakes I have ever tried. The remains were left on a platter to eat with garlic paste and radish and cabbage in little bowls.
A whole duck will set you back £48 and a half – what we had – is £25, essentially a generous starter for two.
GOURMET DIM SUM
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There are other big, fancy chef specials such as sliced albalone with homemade tofu and seasonal vegetables (£55) and crispy seabass with “superior” soya sauce (£32). Then, disappointingly, the menu careens into take-away territory but at gourmet prices: hot and sour soup (£6.50), fried noodles with chicken and prawns (£12) and cold drunken chicken “Min Jiang style” for a starter (£7.50).
Our Slovak waitress recommended the sauteed diced beef with black pepper (£20) and it was moreish but not special – of that gloopy, MSG-tinged quality you’ll recognise from a million takeaways (though to be fair, the beef here is probably from a better place). Sauteed prawns were also too syrupy, their freshness and subtlety mowed over by sauce and that homogenous savoury flavour.
The menu is certainly spirited in places; steamed vermicelli with lobster in egg white and crispy eel in a butter and vinegar sauce are zingy and different. But who wants deep fried Dover sole in sweet and sour sauce? Seabass drenched in soya sauce?
UNIVERSE OF GLOOP
At the end of the day, Chinese “classics” (as promised on the website), mean ginger sauce, black bean sauce and a whole universe of gloop. Elements of this menu convinced me otherwise, particularly the duck. But if you’re just after good, classic Chinese food, go to your favourite local and pay a fraction of the price.
If, however, you’re after good Chinese in Kensington with astonishing views of London, you can’t do better than this, not least as a super elegant space in which to wine and dine those you want to impress. The artful little bar is also perfect for a stylish cocktail or two.
On appearances, then, Min Jiang is about as seductive a place to entertain as anywhere in London. The question is whether the food fits the space. Some doesn’t, but some, like the duck, soars just as high and more.
MIN JIANG ROYAL GARDEN HOTEL
2-24 KENSINGTON HIGH STREET
LONDON W8 4PT
Tel: 020 7361 1988
Zoe Strimpel