In a nutshell:

Beautiful Romantic Setting, attentive service, average to good food.

Address & other details: Jing

Cuisine type: Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

Meal for 2: Rs. 1000 onwards

Short description – In case u r in a hurry:

The guys who planned the Restaurant, I wud say, are wizards. They have created an outstanding place amidst an otherwise office complex. The overall look & feel of this place, the color schemes, interiors, the huge glass walls, the ‘dim but not dark’ lighting, the interior decoration & most importantly the greenery on other side of the glass wall – all seem perfect.

With such a cool ambience & peppy but non intrusive music, this place positions itself as a great place for a romantic evening out. It can also be good for casual get togethers for small groups.

I had heard people complain about the service earlier. We however found the service to be good except for two issues –
Firstly, refilling of water was being done abruptly. At times it was quick, at times after gap of 10mins or at times it wud be refilled only after u wud wave at someone.

Secondly, we ordered for two starters – one was a dimsum & the other was fish fried in Sichuan spices. As u know, any Sichuan dish is spicy & chatpata while a true blue Chinese dimsum is mostly on the other extreme – super subtle. The order of serving these was completely wrong. First we were served the spicy Sichuan fish & then the subtle dimsum. In European restaurants , palate cleansers are served in such situation – an ‘in between’ food that helps clean the taste & flavor of the previous dish & makes way for the tastebuds to appreciate a new taste. As a result, the subtle Dimsum started tasting absolutely flat till I rinsed my mouth with water thrice. A smart way to serve (in absence of palate cleanser) is subtle first, followed by tangier ones.

Overall, the staff members were very well behaved.

The food was average to good , urely not wow.

Detailed Description – In case u have the time to enjoy reading:

We started with Deep fried sliced fish in Sichuan Pepper powder. It was river sole Fish – tossed with an aromatic wild Sichuan pepper. It was very chatpata – unstoppable. However, we cud not feel the fish even consciously. The content cud very well be something else like tofu / paneer. That was dissappointing for a fish lover. The fish pieces had a enjoyable crispy outer layer & the spices mentioned above stuck to it.

I wud call this dish unputdownable. Its like the Saif ali khan ad for lays chips – ‘no one can eat just one’. I have had something like this in China – instead of fish it was fried chicken palms. This dish wud do superb as a chaat with ‘daaru’ (alcohol) & otherwise also if u r not expecting ‘fish’.

Next came the Dimsum ‘Steamed Shrimp Crystal wrap’– very very subtle dimsum – similar as I have had at good restaurants in china. As good as it can get. If u r used to chinjabi versions of dimsums/ if u r used to eating maida momos with tangy tomato sauce, u might hate this. The cover of the dimsum, we were told, was actually a paper thin potato wrap!!!! – though it looked similar to the dimsums having rice cover. It being potato, when u eat the wrap separately, it tasted a bit sweeter than the rice cover version. The stuffing was minced shrimps & bamboo shoot. Loved this dish inspite of the fact that the bamboo shoot was meek – it did not make its presence felt.

For the Main course we had Sauteed prawns in celery & preserved chilli sauce. The prawns were real big sized but they suffered from the usual glitch – they were not rubbery / hard but were not super soft melt in the mouth either. I have had prawns in good restaurants both in India & China that r super soft melt in the mouth & exude all flavors of the sauce & the preparation. The latter was also a problem with the dish – the prawns seemed to be thrown in later – they did not exude the flavor of the gravy.

The celery added a bit of flavor. Huge chunks of spring onion were going well with the dish.

Preserved Chillies were excellent & they had a unique taste & flavor. They added a true different dimension to the taste & had the potential to take the dish to a different (higher) level altogether . However, it was used very miserly in the dish – just 2 half inch pieces in the full dish.

Bamboo shoots usually have a pungency & flavor that one either likes or hates but can hardly ignore. I do not know what was done at Jing but these bamboo shoots had no character. They were flat in taste almost like cucumber!!!!

The resultant gravy was thus tending from average to good (in short ‘not bad’) but surely not outstanding. At approx. Rs. 750 a plate, one surely expects a better taste (honestly, I do not mind paying double this amount for a prawn dish if the taste is wow).

For such real Chinese dishes (unlike ‘Manchurian’ that was invented in India) one should either go the real authentic pungent way like some of the dishes at Royal China or go the chinjabi way like in Yo China. Taking a middle path landed the curry nowhere.

The disaster of the evening was the dessert – ‘Double fried Milk’. We were told that it is reduced milk coated & deep fried. We got the impression that it wud b something like a fried ice cream with reduced milk in place of ice cream. The way it was explained, we thought ‘reduced milk’ was something like a rabri / milk cake that is made by ‘reducing milk’.

The first bite was not bad as it was at the corner.The outer almost crispy layer had a good texture & taste. However as we took the second bite, hell broke loose. The ‘reduced milk’ in the middle turned out to be a gelatinous substance with no taste – not sweet, not sour, not salty, nothing. No flavors either. Did not taste even remotely like reduced milk or even milk. ………….. unless it was thickened by using corn flour. I have never had such a bad dessert after paying for it.

Assuming that this is an authentic Chinese dish, the explanation needs to be better to set the expectations right.

The staff member were however very polite & nice & took detailed feedback.

Logically, after such an experience, I wud never think of going back here. But I think I will – to taste the ‘popular’ dishes that the waiting staff were recommending. There was something nice about the place (the staff surely left a very positive impression in my mind) that is not letting me mentally write it off. Well I guess I will bet my hard earned money once more & try out more dishes sometime in future………& I will surely keep u updated.

…………..by the way if u r not a hardcore foodie (for whom nothing other than taste matters when he / she goes to a restaurant), u might actually like this place.