Let me start by saying how I had sort-of high expectations for Min Jiang @ One North. I expected it to be a swankier, finer version of Min Jiang at Goodwood Park. In all, I was disappointed. Perhaps I should not have had such high expectations to begin with.

1. The service at Min Jiang has some high notes, but lacks the finer touch. Some staff are unable to speak or comprehend proper English well. One even wrongly described the dish that was served - as we were a little puzzled. The captain was attentive and friendly but the same can't be said of the rest of the staff. Maybe its a traditional Chinese restaurant thing - but the clanking of expensive cutlery when placing, the complete ignoring of the blatant need to change plates after 3 dishes and the thumping of plates and drinks when serving gets to me a bit.

2. The food. The food is average by all standards of comparison. For some reason, I felt everything felt extremely oily - even the Tofu.

We had the following dishes:
A. The Appetiser Platter - which has all the recommended stuff - lobster medallion, scallop, and a wasabi chicken and fried eel. Quite disappointing overall. I felt the chicken was the most original and solid one out of the 4. The scallop and the Lobster did not really amaze. The description on the menu way outdid the actual taste. The humble chicken was the most well done. I originally thought it was prawn!

B. Hot and Sour Soup - Averagely Decent

C. Sea Perch - We had it done 3 ways and I would say it all turned out very oily tasting and I had to have multiple gulps of tea to wash down the oil from it.

D. Deep Fried Sole in Milk crumbs ( I think) - Oily again

E. The Spinach Tofu - Decent, very soft, but the outside was overfried, making it a bit too crisp. It felt really oily too for some reason.

F. Camphor Tea Duck - opted to give the Peking Duck a miss, since we didn't have one "booked" and didn't want to start begging for it. Was good and tasted like a sturdier version of Peking Duck. Same as I remember from the original Min Jiang

G. Pork Belly - Average at best. I think I've tasted better. Also beware that the mantou bun that is supposed to come with it is actually some fusion interpretation and its a "stick of mantou flour" So if youre like me and need your pork belly with a good ol' mantou bun, you'll have to order that separately.

H. Also, Tea comes at something to the tune of $10 a person if you let them pick what Tea.

All in all, don't think we will be visiting it any time soon. Hei Tien Lo at Pan Pac and Summer Palace at Regent is a tingle more expensive but a whole lot better. Not just the food, but the service makes you feel all happy to part with those few hundred bucks for a 2 hour meal.

On the high side, Ambience (minus the service) was good. We had it alfresco and even as a typical air-con loving singaporean, I must say the alfresco was well received by my parents too!