In this 5 part series, I travel through China tasting along the way the local delights of some of its most influential food cities. My first stop is the capital Beijing, where the competition for the best Peking roast duck heats up.
In Beijing there's no shortage of restaurants that serve this national treasure.
I compared 3 of these and here are my thoughts:
DA DONG ROAST DUCK - 6th Floor, 88 Jinbao Street, Wangfujing, Dongcheng
With branches all over #Beijing #China and numerous restaurant awards under their belt, I was keen to try Da Dong. So I headed to the one closest to my hotel in Wangfujing. The dining room at this particular branch was quite impressive. The kitchen takes centre stage and I mean this literally as its one of the first things you notice upon entering. Like the Forbidden City, the area where the ducks are prepared and cooked is separated by a moat of water complete with a pool of goldfish. It really is a spectacle and a shining example of how grandiose the chinese can be sometimes.
They get so busy here that reservations are essential otherwise you can take a ticket and wait for your number to be called.
At the heart of Da Dong is their presentation and service. The menu is modern chinese food with a Beijing twist and beautifully presented. The menu is huge with over 150 pages (I kid you not) with big glossy photos of delicious looking food that pops out at you. Although most diners come here for the Peking duck, Da Dong is a restaurant worth visiting on more than one occasion to sample some of the other items on their extensive menu.
Upon arrival my duck looked most impressive. Adjoining each table is a smaller serving table where a chef slices and plates your duck in front of you. In most restaurants, traditionally the duck is served with cucumber, green onions and hoisin sauce but here at Da Dong it came with additional condiments, in total eight, including rock melon batons, pickled salty vegetables, minced raw garlic, radish and the one I was most curious about, white sugar.
Da Dong claims to have the healthiest version of Peking duck with less fat and boasting a crispier skin than their competitors. Da Dong's Peking duck was certainly crispy and melted in my mouth and paired with the sugar was just plain moreish, but when it came to the duck meat itself, although very lean, unfortunately mine was a bit on the dry side and wasn't as juicy as I was expecting. It was however, like they promised, less fatty than the other ducks I tried. The fat was indeed rendered down so I commend them on that, but I can't help but think that perhaps it is because of this lack of fat that contributed to the overall dryness of the meat.
It's a real pity about the duck being dry as the skin was incredible and was the nicest tasting of all of the ducks sampled. If they had nailed this aspect then it would have been a perfectly cooked duck in my opinion but unfortunately this was not the case.
I also found the pancakes a little dry around the edges too which is a shame. The duck set came complete with a bowl of duck soup which had a very strong duck flavour.
Personally, I found it too gamey tasting for me.
To round off the meal I also ordered a plate of Zha Jiang Mian, Beijing's national noodle dish and another classic local food that must be tried. It arrived in the usual fashion with bean shoots, lettuce, celery, cucumber, soybeans and a sauce made up of diced pork and a sweet/salty soybean paste. This version was more oily than others I ate during my time in Beijing, but was still very tasty.
At the end of my meal I was treated to a complimentary plate of a local chinese fruit, winter jujube. It was my first time eating this wonderfully crunchy sweet fruit.
It reminded me of a cross between a nashi pear and an apple with a small seed inside.
Delicious!
QUANJUDE - 30 Qianmen Street, Beijing (original location)
A close competitor to Da Dong is this Peking duck restaurant which has a much longer history having been around for about 150 years since the Qing dynasty.
I tried the original location in the Qianmen area of Beijing.
A quick perusal of the menu and I was intrigued by little duck shaped pastries, so I ordered a plate to try whilst I waited for my duck to arrive. The pastries were flaky and buttery and filled with a sweet date filling. Just the thing to get my taste buds going!
Soon after my roast duck appeared accompanied by pancakes and duck soup.
Quanjude's approach to Peking duck is more traditional, presenting just the cucumber, green onions and hoisin sauce sides. They also left some fat on under the skin which made the duck more succulent than Da Dong's though the skin was not as crispy and the duck was the oiliest of the three restaurants. It came with about half a dozen pancakes and they were the best tasting of the three establishments. I also preferred the flavour of the duck soup at Quanjude over Da Dong as it was less watery, more creamy and less gamey tasting than at Da Dong. Overall service however was better at Da Dong.
TIAN WAI TIAN - Wangfujing, Beijing
The last of the Peking duck restaurants I tried was a local place which came recommended to me by my tour guide. With no english signage out the front, it is one of those places that can be easily overlooked by a tourist but I was fortunate enough to have my guide point it out to me as we drove pass. If you're staying downtown in the Wangfujing area it's close by. My guide tells me that a lot of locals consider Da Dong too expensive and this is a more affordable option. My half duck cost roughly 78 CNY which is about $16 australian dollars. This was almost half the price of Da Dong's duck so she wasn't wrong there. And although the skin wasn't as crispy the duck was more enjoyable with good flavour. There was also a generous amount of pancakes and like Quanjude it came with all the traditional condiments.
Service was also friendly and it was busy with lots of locals which is always a good sign.
TO SUM UP:
If you're looking for a healthier modern interpretation of an old chinese classic with the crispiest skin in the business and also a really interesting menu of other local delicacies then try Da Dong #BeijingRestaurants
My overall favourites though were Quanjude and the more affordable Tian Wai Tian as they delivered on juicy, succulent duck and delicious pancakes.
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