Jiang Nan
Due to a slew of Chinese spicy restaurants opening up in the Long Island City neighborhood, this was one that caught our attention. Jiang Nan has several locations spread around the tri-state areas and more, and the Flushing location even received a Michelin Bib Gourmand. The restaurant advertises itself as Asian fusion, but I noticed many of the restaurant ingredients were definitely more Chinese centric. We were able to walk in at 5 PM without reservations for 2 on a Saturday evening.
Ambiance & Service
The interior has a lot of light colors with maple wood, so everything felt spacious and vivid. There were a lot of Asian clientele inside with families ordering lots of those spicy fish dishes. Because my partner can’t really handle spicy well, I tried to avoid that.
The service was typical Chinese, i.e. it was very fast and speedy. They can speak English, so it’s not a problem to order. The one thing we could do different if we were to visit again is to bring a larger party so that we can try more things. Other than that, the dishes we ordered today were adequately filling.
Food
They gave us complimentary pickled veggies that had some spicy peppers in it. It was all pretty good, but definitely be careful of the peppercorns.
The Pink Passion ($15.95 - left) came with Bacardi white rum, lime juice, passionfruit strawberry syrup, and club soda. My partner really enjoyed this because it was on the sweeter side.
The Mojito ($14.95 - right) came with Bacardi white rum, triple sec, mint leaves, and club soda. I did ask for the passionfruit variant. I thought this was just OK.
The Sauteed Shrimp with Dragon Well Tea ($26.95) came with glistening tiny shrimp. The shrimp was very small, such that my partner was asking if these shrimp were even real. The dragon well tea reminded me of the ginger vinegar served with soup dumplings, but with a little sweetness to it. Despite the appearances, the shrimp was succulent.
The Dan Dan Noodle ($14.95) came unmixed with ground meat, cucumber, and spicy sauce. After mixing it, everything was quite flavorful.
The Half Peking Duck ($46) came with several thin wraps, hoisin sauce, cucumber, sugar, and pineapple. The duck meat was actually pretty tasty, though I am not sure why this thing came with both sugar and pineapple chunks. Neither is something that was really needed. The wraps were super thin, which made it rather delicate to handle. We’ve definitely had better peking ducks in the city, such as Red Peony.
Final Verdict
Jiang Nan was a decent restaurant, and I don’t really understand any hype about it. The food here wasn’t all that different than other places nearby. At some point unless the population continues to grow at an exponential rate, I expect some of these Chinese restaurants to potentially start to close.
Yelp Jabs
The peking duck at Jiang Nan is unparalleled. It’s hard to find a better peking duck in NYC, in my opinion, and I’ve tried many. They have really perfected their technique and successfully manage to produce a very tender and juicy duck that has amazingly crispy skin. They add edible gold leaf to it to elevate the presentation, which is a nice touch, but not entirely necessary.
I disagree with this Elitist. The duck was good, but definitely not unparalleled. The gold leaf was an epitome of a gimmick.
Service was friendly, but the serving of the actual dishes was a bit off. The rice came after several dishes came out, so we were eating our entrees without the rice.
I also noticed this somewhat in that they just serve out whatever is ready. There was definitely no order for the dishes. Fortunately for our dinner, things came within a minute of each other, so it wasn’t that big of deal.
Revisions
- April 27, 2024 - Initial revision.