Bank Holiday - Gold Mine, Bayswater

As we were already in the Bayswater/Notting Hill area, Nadia and I (joined by two hungry boys, Stuart and SW)decided to have a roast duck dinner. Usually I would head for Four Seasons, where their roast duck is known far and wide, but a few months ago I discovered Gold Mine. Opened by an ex-chef from Four Seasons, Gold Mine is only a few doors down from Four Seasons and I actually prefer the food here.



A whole de-boned roast duck was just as good as Four Seasons. Crispy skin with a melt-in-the-mouth layer of fat underneath and lovely tender, moist meat with no bones to fiddle with :) Beneath the meat lay a good amount of boiled Chinese leaf - yay! The dish was topped with a good ladle-ful of roast duck gravy (mostly soy sauce), which was excellent over hot rice.



Stir fried beef with XO sauce. XO is actually a spicy seafood sauce and nothing to do with extra fine, aged cognac :) The dish was good but with most beef stir fries in Chinese restaurants, the meat was slightly chewy, the sign of too much tenderizer on a cheaper cut of meat. I guess I've become so accustomed to this, it's hardly something to complain about.



Braised tofu with minced pork in a hotpot. Made with deep fried pieces of Japanese egg tofu and mince pork in a thick corn starch sauce. I detected some miso used in the sauce, perhaps I'm wrong.



Our obligatory vegetable, braised aubergine with minced pork in a hotpot was really delicious. Fried pieces of aubergine with mince pork, chili , garlic in lots of oil. Yum!

The verdict?
Two thumbs up from everyone. I would have liked some green vegetables but with the two hungry boys demanding meat, that is what we had. All the dish were really good but I liked the beef the least. With our tummies full and smiles on our faces, we each left with £13 less in our wallets.

Gold Mine
102 Queensway, London W2 3RR