Friday, April 26, 2013

Mei Jiang Chinese Restaurant Review - Peninsula Bangkok Hotel

Mei Jiang - Chinese Restaurant at Peninsula Bangkok Hotel Review




Overall Score  9.5/10
Taste   4.5/5
Ambiance  5/5
Service  5/5
Value   3/5

Mei Jiang - Chinese Restaurant on BumRes.com (For more pictures and menu)


Mei Jiang is the luxurious Chinese restaurant at the Peninsula Bangkok Hotel.  Being in the five star hotel and targeting the upscale crowd, the atmosphere of Mei Jiang was surely impressive with the mixture of European interior design of the hotel and Chinese decorations.  The charm of Mei Jiang's dining room must be the large window facing the green lawn leading to the riverfront.  With the private rooms lining along the back side of the restaurant, I was personally attracted to the window seats.  Though, in our party of six, the large Chinese round table with the Mary goes round was more suitable.    The private room was nice, decorated with wooden wall features and paintings.  The lattice was an elegant concept of the interior at Mei Jiang, seeing it as a ceiling, wall partitions, and window frames.  The classy atmosphere of the Mei Jiang was surely breathtaking.  

The Mei Jiang is similar to other Chinese restaurants in hotels with top notch standard.  At lunch time, they would be serving the Dim Sum and at dinner time, they would have the a la carte in the form of Modern Cantonese style.  The culinary is unique, different than other top Chinese restaurants in Bangkok.  Their signature dishes are highly customized so customers can only get it here.  Other Chinese restaurants usually have similar dishes selection and compete in the areas of ingredient quality, freshness, sizes of the seafood, and so on.  The Mei Jiang totally differentiate their menu to their own style of Chinese culinary, which sets themselves apart from other Chinese restaurants.     


Many people would assume that there is no Dim Sum serving at dinner time but the Mei Jiang just came up with the new menu, the Dim Sum Bottomless Basket for the dinner time.  There are six choices of Dim Sum plus other choices of soup, fried rice, dessert (one from each category per person). This menu creation is a new breed of course serving style combining the Chinese and Western's eating culture.  The price of this buffet is 999+ Baht, which is reasonable for a serious dinner set menu.  This review is on the Dim Sum at dinner time - Bottomless Basket of the Mei Jiang at the Peninsula Bangkok Hotel.  







Dim Sum - Bottomless Basket

Crystal Prawn Dumplings - Thai people call this dumpling Ha-kao.  The size was specular, so big.  The whole shrimp was stuffed inside.  It was a delicious Ha-kao.  If you tried the Ha-kao here, you might forget all the Ha-kao you have had in the past. 

Traditional Siu Mai - Quality Siu Mai, nicely done with well mixture of the ground pork and shrimp.  I can eat this traditional Siu Mai all day, with the basic sour soy sauce. 

Barbecued Pork Buns - I remember the pork bun I had at the afternoon tea  and I was so fond of it.  I knew this bun was going to be amazing and it was absolutely lip smacking good.  The texture of the stuffing was perfect.  The white bun was perfectly firm and soft.  It was just heavenly delicious.  

Pan-fried crabmeat dumplings - Just seeing it, I thought it was just a basic gyoza.  Well, I guess it is the same as Japanese gyoza made with crabmeat.  Everybody loved it. 

Shanghainese Pork Dumplings with Shaoxing Wine - Shanghai style Siu Mai is usually rarely found.  It looked much like the Xiao Long Pao.  Too bad it wasn't anything exciting.  

Steamed or Deep-fried custard buns - Personally I don't really like the sweet pork bun in general, so I can't really say much.  My friend said it was better than the barbeque pork one.  I am glad that they like the custard bun because I was all over the pork bun.  








Soups

Soup of the day traditional Cantonese-style - I didn't know what other soups the Mei Jiang would have for other days but all I can say is that I didn't like this one so much.  Its flavorless broth was just nothing to crave for.  Supposedly this one was a healthy soup with the Korean Ginseng.  This soup is meant for old people who likes really really light flavor soup. 

Braised spinach soup with chicken and mushrooms - This soup was more me.  The spinach was nearly blended into every bit of the thick gravy like broth.  Together with the eggs and the mushroom, this soup was truly enjoyable.  





Rice & Noodles

Fried rice Yueng chow-style - The Yueng chow fried rice has become so popular in the Chinese restaurants these days.  I happened to find it all the time.  Served in one bowl per person, the fried rice was colorful and full of contexts; barbeque pork, shrimp, and veggies.  The rice was nicely fried to fine looking grains but still soft.      

Stir-fried egg noodles with mixed vegetables - This noodle was also delicious but not as good as the fried rice.  I liked how the sauce was glazed every bit of the noodle. 





Desserts

Sesame dumplings and ginkgo nuts in ginger tea - The size was just right, not too big, not too small.  The ginger tea was not too intense; not too sweet, not too spicy.  My friends really liked it.  

Mango pudding - The pudding was just right sweet and the texture firm yet soft with the contrast of the mango bits.  It was a wonderful ending dessert, refreshing.





A la carte Dinner 

Braised sea cucumber with tofu in mild chilli sauce (800 Baht) - There was just not enough sea cucumber.  Coming in the thick gravy was different from what I have had in the past but everyone seemed to like it this way.  The shitake mushroom and the tofu were great together with the gravy and the sea cucumber.  







Pan-seared scallop, minced shrimp and crispy shanghainese cabbage (620 Baht) - Prepared like a Chinese style pizza or crepe.  It was crispy on the outside.  Presence of the shrimp and the scallop was spectacular.  Dip it in the sweet plum sauce even made it more delicious.  If the price wasn't a factor, this dish was surely worth to try.  

Deep-fried crispy fillet of snow fish with home-made dried shrimps and chilli salt (680 Baht) - Fillets or chunks of snow fish was battered and deep-fried.  The topping of dried shrimps and chili salts complimented the fish with full flavor.  Salty and spicy, crispy and soft; complex flavor and texture was surprisingly enjoyable.  





Australian beef with szechuan pepper and spicy chilli oil (800 Baht) - Another delicious dish in my superior dinner at the Mei Jiang was again delectable.  Honestly, the culinary team here really impressed me with the taste and the quality.  I may make you feel that I am praising this restaurant too much but I am really telling you how I truly felt about each dishes.   

Australian beef with szechuan pepper and spicy chilli oil (800 Baht) - The beef was super tender and juicy.  Its sauce was slightly sour but mostly soy and oyster sauce flavor with nice spicy touch from the chili oil.  I really liked this dish.  By this time, I was so full but I was still enjoying this dish.  

Lamb chops wok-seared with lemongrass sauce (900 Baht) -  This is the last dish of the feast and it was one of the least like dish among all the past dishes.  However,  the lamb chops and the gravy was still good.  I just felt that I had enough of the gravy like sauce.  The sauce was too overwhelming.  According to the name, it was wok seared but it seemed like it was braised.  Without the gravy, the browning on the skin of the lamb chops could the charm.  



For the first time experience at the Mei Jiang at the Peninsula Hotel Bangkok, I was very impressed with many aspects of this fine Chinese Restaurant; the atmosphere, the service, and the food.  The restaurant is beautiful, great for business lunch or even a romantic dinner.  The customer service was superior.  Staffs were kind and welcoming; knowing the right moment to clear out plates and refilling drinks.  Originality of each a la carte menu was exciting.  Using good and fresh ingredients is definitely an advantage in serving up delicious dishes.  The Dim Sum bottomless basket special will be available whenever you crave for awesome Dim Sum at dinner time.  I highly recommend the Mei Jiang to all of you.  I am certain that you will enjoy it.  


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feel free to leave a comment and you can also contact me via channels below.
http://www.bumres.com
http://www.facebook.com/BumRes
admin@bumres.com
ร้านอาหาร

No comments:

Post a Comment