Restaurants

By Charmaine Mok

What can we say about Min Jiang, the new Chinese restaurant on the tenth floor of Kensington's Royal Garden Hotel? It's perfectly nice, in the way that vanilla is. The decor was positively inoffensive – a cream colour scheme with the occasional splash of red and handsome dark wood accents. And it has a spectacular view of Kensington Park, though only seen by day; by night, our view was rather more narcissistic as we peered at reflections of ourselves.

The food, too, was nice. Xiao long bao were well made, the thin dumpling skins encasing a wonderfully aromatic broth – an auspicious start. So we eagerly awaited the centrepiece of the meal, the focus of many a rave review in other parts of the media: the special wood-fired Beijing duck, presented in the traditional multi-course manner.

The theatrics begin as the chef carves the duck at your table, as nimble as can be. First comes the choice crisp skin near the neck of the bird, to be dipped in fine white sugar – a little like an amuse bouche, but neither the bland taste nor soft texture impressed.

Next came pancakes served with accompaniments of shredded spring onions, cucumber and hoisin sauce. The pancakes were springier and more al dente than we're used to, a pleasant difference. More accompaniments followed: strong minced garlic paste, pickled radish and zingy pickled tientsin cabbage (chinese leaf), which was a refreshing foil for the duck.

The rest of the duck meat is prepared according to the diner's choice. We skipped the stir-fry, rice, noodle and lettuce wrap options and chose salted vegetable soup with tofu as we bid goodbye to the sizeable chunk of meat still on our duck. What returned was delicious; rich with salty-sour slices of preserved vegetables and cubes of silky tofu. But it was also laughable – two dinky bowls. Where was the rest of our duck? As time passed and no tureen of extra soup appeared, we discovered that the only pieces of duck in our bowls were chunks of bone.

When it comes to mains, the menu is strong on regional classics, with a good focus on northern and western China. Desserts are of the fusioneering variety – tiramisu with jasmine tea, say, or cinnamon cheesecake with green tea ice cream. Glutinous black sesame balls covered with ground peanuts left us saying ‘oh’ instead of ‘ooh’. There was a lot of that, we felt.

Time Out London Issue 1994: November 6-12 2008