Min Jiang at One-North: Still Going Strong
Min Jiang at One-North is the only Chinese fine dining restaurant housed in a two-storey black and white colonial bungalow in Rochester Park. The first Min Jiang restaurant is still at Goodwood Park Hotel. This outlet at One-North is located in the quiet and lush neighbourhood, surrounded by verdant greenery and trees. Access to the restaurant is via a narrow winding road with limited parking space. Valet parking is available if you want to park near the restaurant.
The ambience of this 3,000 sq ft restaurant is elegant with chic furnishings and artifacts. It has a homely feel as though you are dining in your own house. There is also a spacious timber decked alfresco on the first level just outside the dining hall which is ideal for outdoor dining or pre-dinner drinks.
Min Jiang is well known for its duck dishes. At this restaurant, the house specialty is its Beijing Duck served with 8 different condiments. Instead of the Beijing Duck, I had the Camphor tea smoked duck served with homemade crepes ($30 for half a duck). Interestingly enough, I had a meal at this restaurant when it first opened 10 years ago, and the experience was enjoyable. The smoked duck is still as succulent as before and the meat is tender. There wasn’t much fat too.
The pan fried Sichuan onion pancake ($8 for 2 pieces) is also another specialty. It was served piping hot and I could taste the fragrant onion in the pancake. Crispy eel coated with vinegar sauce and sesame seeds ($12) is the other appetiser which I found addictive. This is best eaten with a cocktail drink and the eel was very crispy with hardly any oily taste to it.
Along with the duck, I had a few dim sum dishes like the famous steamed Xiao Long Baos ($9 for 4 pieces). Although juicy, I found that the bao somehow did not taste that special. I also tried the steamed scallop and dried scallop dumpling ($5.50 for 3 pieces) which was very flavourful. The last dim sum was the deep fried yam stuffed with scallops ($5.50 for 3 pieces). This dish was well executed as the outer layer was crispy, yet the yam inside was still soft. The bits of scallops were a bonus.
I also ordered the braised ‘Mee Pok’ with eggplant and minced meat in X.O. chilli sauce ($20 small). It was unusual to braise noodles with eggplant. Taste-wise, the Mee Pok was passable but the dish had too much gravy for my liking.
The choices for desserts were varied and I chose the Sichuan pancake with ice cream ($15). The chef was generous with the red bean paste stuffed in between the pancake. In fact, it was good enough to eat it on its own without the ice cream.
Min Jiang at One-North has won many awards and accolades over the years since it started in 2006. I am glad that the restaurant still maintains a high quality and standard in their food. The service staff were friendly and efficient, and personally, this restaurant is definitely worth another visit again.
Address:
5 Rochester Park
Singapore 139216
Tel: 6774-0122
Opens daily.
Lunch: 11.30 am to 2.30 pm
Dinner: 6.30 pm to 10.30 pm