I went to MaxiMini a few weeks back, taking a friend there for her birthday. The reviews online seemed pretty good so thought I would check it out. Nestled, in a quiet corner of Paddington / Bayswater about 10 mins walk from the station, MaxiMini serves up good Chinese food.
The iconic fashion and shoe designer Jimmy Choo owns all or part of this restaurant. The night we were in there, he was also there at a business meeting so my friend went a little star struck.
I really like where the restaurant is situated, tucked away at the end of sussex place. The décor inside was simple and elegant. We were offered a booth by the window.
Most of the dishes on the menu are your standard Chinese dishes, but done well. The chef’s specialities and specials are noted on the menu and are worth trying.
We started off with a 1/4 crispy duck. As they brought the duck over, you could smell the divine fragrance of 5 spice. The duck was perfect, one of the nicest I’ve eaten. Crunchy on the outside, soft and juicy meat and the hint of 5 spice really was brilliant.
My friend always orders chicken in black bean sauce as standard whenever we go to eat at a Chinese restaurant. She says ‘you can judge a good Chinese restaurant on how good their black bean sauce is’ – and maybe she is right. The MaxiMini black bean sauce was really good and made fresh.
minced pork with green bean at MaxiMini
I ordered minced pork with green beans and a side of garlic pok choi and garlic rice to share. I was in a very garlicky mood that day. What I ordered was really good. When you eat it, I could clearly taste each layer of flavour, one by one, in natural sequence. Very more-ish. I had a little left over so took it to eat the next day.
divine toffee lychees at MaxiMini
Time came for dessert. Lychees are one of my favourite fruits. One of my favourite desserts to eat in a Chinese restaurant is toffee lychees. I noticed they had toffee apples and bananas as well plain lychees, but no toffee lychees. When I asked them if they could make me toffee lychees, the waitress seemed puzzled, and went to ask the chef. The chef was happy to make them, which made my day. He made a generous portion of 7 crispy, sticky sweet, fried orbs of divine goodness that are toffee lychees. I devoured each one, wanting more. I really appreciated them doing this for me.
We were also given an almond liquor on the house – which was very kind of them.
Overall, the price we paid was reasonable – around £55 for the two of us including two glasses of wine. Personally, I thought it was really good and would definately go back.
MaxiMini is located at 31 – 33 Sussex Place, Bayswater, London, W2.
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@mrfoodieuk The connection between Maximini and Jimmy Choo wasn’t known when @lateral and @ljrich and I happened there in Sept. 2009. We would agree that the Chinese cuisine was well crafted, and the interior was well-appointed (although we were sitting outside in the nice fall weather).