8.1
Great
Restaurants

Jason Allen 04/10/22


Mr Ji Camden

Allow us to introduce you to Mr Ji Camden.

Camden being the location, of course, not his last name.

It’s the reincarnation of the Soho original, and this time around it’s in a decently-sized space, which is the only (very small) grumble anyone could ever make about the Soho one. They’ve also gone with the deliberately unfinished, stripped-back, industrial type of interior, with polished concrete floors, a few pieces of tasteful art here and there, raw, stucco walls and a peach-and-cream tiled border around the open kitchen window, where you can see the chefs hustling away. The kind of interior that screams low-intervention wines, freshly-pressed sake, and craft cocktails – which as it happens, is the bulk of the drinks choices they have on offer.

Zijun Meng & Ana Gonçalves, AKA the team behind TĀ TĀ Eatery, AKA one of the hottest pop up restaurants in London, are the duo you can thank for the food menu – a convening of Asian and European flavours, starting at small snacks like ox tongue with a wasabi dressing, and ending with larger mains like a mountainous pile-up of king prawn fried-rice swimming in a hot and sour soup. It’s the best of both worlds; all the good stuff from Soho and enough new creations to kick the relocation off with a bang.

mr ji

Mr Ji’s famed fried chicken, The O’Ji, is here and on top form – a big ol’ breast of chicken accessorised with chilli sprinkles & golden kimchi that requires a pair of scissors to be cut up. The Prawn in Toast (yes, in) has returned for the sequel too; a golden deep-fried rectangle of brioche caked in parmesan and filled to the brim with prawns, sweetcorn and béchamel sauce. Then there’s also the mapo tofu wonton, pineapple buns and chicken hearts in a sweet curry sauce. It’s definitely worth enlisting a few friends, so you can make an attempt at conquering the whole menu.

To aid you in that cause there’s a tidy list of low intervention wines to work your way through (each handily coming with a sentence about the profile and flavour notes), sake, Asahi and six cocktails that add a new dimension to the classics – a salted plum Negroni with mezcal and tequila, a ‘filthy’ martini with truffle and brown butter, and a margarita with lime leaf and citrus oils. And it’s almost as if they know you’ll be too full for dessert, since there’s only bite-sized mochi ice cream on the set menu…

…just in case you do have room for a little mo’ Ji.

 

NOTE: Mr Ji is open Tue-Thu 5-10pm, Fri-Sat 12-3pm and 5-11pm. You can book a table HERE.

Mr Ji | 63-65 Parkway, NW1 7PP


Dinner…check. Afterwards? Our guide to the best pubs in Camden might come in handy…


Mr Ji Camden


63-65 Parkway, Camden, Camden, NW1 7PP

8.1 | Great