The main dining room is no less delightful, featuring pure-white crockery and East-meets-West settings.

Gold and maroon brocade cover the chair and banquette backs, contrasting smartly with indigo seats, stenciled wall elements and decorative pieces such as gowns hang like artwork and add to the charm. Even the lantern-shaped light fixtures speak of the East.

Into this space Ming’s talented staff, headed by executive chef Sundar Kumar, sends works of culinary art based on the Yin and Yang philosophy of harmonious contrast – vigorously spicy along with subtly mild.

Appetizers such as fried shrimp with garlic and fresh chili may seem typical of an Asian restaurant, but at Ming the shrimp enshrouded with coconut powder takes on a unique sensation.

T he chilies are left in large pieces,” Mehtani says. “Those who want less heat can move them aside.

“ Our coriander soup is a house specialty,” Danashekar adds. This Malaysian specialty is created from golden mushrooms, coriander leaves and lemon.
Although seafood dishes abound and poultry dishes feature both chicken and duck, it is the lamb selections that have customers doing back flips of delight. Leading the way are: shredded lamb cooked with green pepper and bamboo shoots then laced with hot ginger sauce and spring onions; and slow-braised, medium-spiced sliced lamb massamam, from the south of Thailand.

Eastern cuisine treats vegetables as a main dish.

The number of vegetable and rice entrees offered is exhaustive. Kung bao potato is a main dish featuring diced potatoes, cashew nuts, dried chilies and sesame flavoring. Eggplant stuffed with paneer (a tofu cheese similar to pot cheese or cottage cheese) cooked in a spicy hoisin sauce.

Those who like a hot-spiced dish can’t go wrong with the fire-of-Sukothai, which may be vegetarian but is laced with fiery red chilies and fresh peppercorns.
Even desserts are exotic at Ming. Date pancake with ice cream is just that; ais kacang, a specialty from Malay, combines sweetened red beans, corn, palm seeds, herbs and lotus jelly, topped with rose syrup and coconut milk and served on a bed of shaved ice.

Owner Mehtani sums up her newest restaurant: “ At Ming, we intend to give our guests as authentic a culinary experience as it is possible for them to have without taking a flight to Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur.”

Oak Tree Road is the nexus of Central Jersey’s “Little India” community, one of the largest and most vibrant in the United States.

It is fitting that the operators of the state’s highest-rated Indian restaurant, Moghul, have opened another restaurant on Oak Tree. Ming Far Eastern Cuisine offers an exotic blend of cookeries in an atmosphere that evokes the spirit of the Far East.

“We call it pan-Asian cuisine,” says Danashekar, general manager.

“We feature the cuisines of China, Thailand and Malaysia, which have influenced the cuisines of India,” adds Sneh Mehtani, who owns and operates the Moghul family of restaurants with her husband Satish.

Mehtani burst on the dining scene in 1984, when she opened her first restaurant in Manhattan. Her next venture was a restaurant offering a blending of Indian and Chinese cuisine. It was denounced by critics who, complained it couldn’t decide if it was Chinese or Indian.

“I was ahead of my time,” Mehtani says.

Ming, on the other hand, opened to raves and intense word of mouth. In the six months since opening, it has reached the point where reservations are necessary.

Visitors to Ming are greeted by a simple red canopy over the door, a graceful Buddha in a golden wall niche, an ornate carved hostess desk (it’s from Bangkok) and the friendly smile of a staff member. The interior space is a visual delight. Nothing was left to chance. Mehtani and Danashekar spent time in Bangkok gathering recipes, scouting for artifacts and ordering several sets of crockery for service. One set sees service in the small Mandarin Room, while the other graces the main dining room.

The Mandarin Room is dominated by two large rectangular tables that look like counters because of their solid base. They are topped by plate glass that is kept meticulously clean, awaiting guests. Each place is set with dark-brown reed placemats, crockery western flatware and chopsticks. The Mandarin crockery, from Bangkok, features decorative trim that speaks of the East. That, however, is not the most intriguing element of the room.

In the center of the table, and the reason for the glass top, is a deep, rectangular space filled with crystal water. Danashekar calls it a “fish pond.” Among the charming decorative items within, several goldfish serenely swim. At times, candles float just as serenely.

If any word can describe the interior of “Ming”, “serene” is it.

Biena of Eastern Specialties – by Frank Curcio (correspondent)