Peking Roast Duck
(北京烤鸭）
Peking Roast Duck is a famous duck dish from
Beijing. The dish is prized for the thin and crispy skin with authentic
versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and little meat, sliced in
front of the diners.
The meat is eaten with pancakes, Shandong scallion (山东大葱),
and a sweet and salty sauce made of wheat
flour (plum or hoisin sauce may be used).
Some Chinese restaurants outside China often use
Chinese green onion as substitute for Shandong scallion due to necessity.
Shandong scallion, which tastes far better than green onion, must be fresh
and tender (maintaining proper moisture) or else it'll become too chewy.
The sweetness and saltiness of the sauce must be
balanced to perfection. Many restaurants buy from trusty sauce makers such
as Liu Bi Ju to ensure quality. However, it may be necessary to add sugar
and water to the sauce to lower saltiness of the ready-made sauce.
The pancake must be thin, soft with enough
elasticity. If it breaks or contains holes when you gently pick it up, you
are eating at the wrong place.
Some restaurants also put out a dish of white
sugar for the diner to dip the duck and claim this is a tradition but we
advise against using it.
Below is our review of the top Peking roast duck
restaurants based on first-hand experience. Please note the order is
not arranged according to popularity and/or
price.
 Notable
Peking Duck Restaurants in Beijing
A number of restaurants in Beijing specialize in Peking Roast Duck. The
most popular high-end ones include:
- Quan Ju De (全聚德): one of two oldest
Peking roast duck restaurants with franchise locations throughout major
Chinese cities. This is a state-owned business favoured by Chinese
tourists from outside of Beijing.
- Bian Yi Fang (便宜坊):
one of the two oldest Peking duck restaurants with 6 locations. This
state-owned restaurant is not as well known as Quan Ju De and the price
shows that. This restaurant cooks the duck slightly differently from
Quan Ju De.
- King Roast Duck (鸭王): privately owned
with a a couple of locations in Beijing , innovative founder/owner
fluent in English. The location at Jianguomen right beside New Otani
hotel is always full of customers. They even have tables in the hallway!
We like the taste of its duck cooked to perfect crispiness.
- Da Dong (大董烤鴨店): one of the best Peking
roast duck restaurants in China's capital with three locations;
consistently rated a favourite by the expatriate community living in
Beijing; owner is a chef and China's first MBA running a restaurant;
there is a lot of hype with its marketing but, as many put it, it's
certainly worth the high price.
- No. 1 Chang'an Ave (Chang'an Yihao,长安一號):
located inside Grand Hyatt Beijing; beautiful decor, excellent service,
many people eating here don't pay out of their own pocket (read
corporate and government types).
- Hua Jia Yi Yuan (Hua's Courtyard
花家颐园）: this restaurant chain is also wildly
popular but not all of its locations maintain the same standard in our
opinion. It serves all kinds of stuff while claiming Peking roast duck
is its specialty. Be careful with what you order - stick to the
traditional crispy type if you want to try its roast duck. The soft type
and packages made with vegetable juice should be avoided.
- Xiao Wang Fu (Little Wang's 小王府):
several locations; not as pricy as the others mentioned above.
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