Eating at Ming II

I went out to dinner tonight at Ming II in Morristown. It’s a pan asian restaurant owned by the family that owned Moguls. Well Moguls closed and they opened up a restaurant “complex” in Headquarters Plaza. There is Mehndi, an Indian restaurant, SM23, a bar and lounge, and Ming II. The original Ming is in Edison. You walk into a common atrium for all three and it’s beautiful.

Ming II is a pretty small restaurant but it has the posh atmosphere you’d find in it’s New York brethren. It was relatively early on a wednesday evening so the place was pretty empty. As we were sat we were told that the wines were good but the cocktails are amazing.

I ordered a watermelon coriander margarita. Vanessa got a raspberry lemongrass martini and Jeremy got a special (I forgot the name) bloody mary. For an appetizer we all got soup. I ordered a chili shrimp wonton soup. It was really good. I tasted some of the others and they were all tasty.

They serve family style so we ordered Jasmine rice, shrimp pad thai, bok choi with tofu, and lobster with honey and chili. The pad thai was presented wrapped in very thin pancake/omelet and the entrees were all decorated with lovely carved flowers. The lobster was like a classed up version of General Tso’s and the bok choi was delicious.

I’d finished up my margarita so the waitress suggested a 23 Martini. It was lemongrass and lychee and tasted totally refreshing. We all split date pancakes with vanilla ice cream.

This place isn’t cheap - with the included 18% gratuity it was $185. However I don’t think I’ve been to a restaurant in New Jersey that was nearly as good. This would be a great date restaurant. If I found myself in Morristown, I’d certainly go to SM23 for drinks. They are pricey, but not nearly what you’d pay for a drink in NYC with all those fresh ingredients.

We asked our server why the bar was called SM23 and she explained SM was for Shaun Mehtani’s initials. He’s the owner…or at least the sons of the owners of Mehtani Restaurant group. Shaun oversees all three of these venues, and in fact was the person who seated us. They opened on Shaun’s 23rd birthday on February 23rd so it’s a lucky number.

On a side note, I’d like parents who’d give me 3 restaurants for my 23rd birthday.

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