Peking Garden, Tsim Sha Tsui
Peking duck was one of my favourite dishes as a child. I used to demand my parents ordered it whenever we went to a Chinese restaurant. I loved to see (still do) the duck coming out on a trolley, being carefully sliced, and then arranged in front of us. It was almost like a show in my eyes.
The essence of Peking duck is the crispy skin. Air is pumped between the skin and the flesh of the duck, then boiling water is poured over it to contract the skin. It is coated in maltose syrup, and then dried for at least twenty four hours, before roasting in a cherry wood fire. Traditionally Peking duck is part of a duck feast, where the brain, livers, feet, and the rest of the duck are used to form individual dishes. Restaurants nowadays still offer two or three-way duck dishes to customers.
It annoys me (quite a bit) when people get confused between Crispy Duck and Peking duck. Crispy duck originated in the Sichuan Province in China. The duck is first marinated, steamed for three hours, hung to dry, and then deep fried until the skin is crispy. Unlike in the UK, where the duck is shredded to ‘meat dust’ on a plate, it is cut into portions and reassembled to its original shape to serve. Most of the restaurants in the UK use processed duck so that it is ready to deep fry, the resulting meat is usually dry and tough...
Peking Garden is one of the better restaurants to go for Peking duck in Hong Kong. There are four branches, I particularly like the one in Tsim Sha Tsui, where I found that the duck is a bit better than the branches on Hong Kong island, and the restaurant is (slightly) less touristy.
The waiter skillfully slices the duck skin. This is where the alternative name for this dish came from - 'Pin Pei Ngap' (sliced duck skin).
The fun part of eating Peking duck is you get to DIY - fill your steaming pancakes with fresh cucumber and spring onion slices, then top with Tim Min Jeung (sweet bean sauce). I always sneakily put more than two pieces of duck in one pancake when no one is watching. I never manage to wrap it up properly before putting it into my mouth, so the sauce ends up all over the place. The dripping sauce, together with the crispy skin and tender meat, was absolutely divine.
We also had...
Deep fried spring chicken with garlic crumbs
Stir fried Chinese pea sprouts with mushroom
Fried whole Mandarin fish in sweet and sour pine nut sauce
It was a pleasant dinner highlighted with an outstanding Peking duck, and the show-stopper fried Mandarin fish. The service is a bit hit and miss, I did feel we were being rushed a couple times, even though the restaurant was not full. Another restaurant called ‘Spring Deer’ in Tsim Sha Tsui East also has Peking Duck as one of its signature dishes. I heard the style of the food is more rustic, and the quality is more consistent than Peking Garden. I have already added it to the to-eat list for my next trip home!
北京樓 Peking Garden, 3rd Floor, Star House, 3 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Peking duck was one of my favourite dishes as a child. I used to demand my parents ordered it whenever we went to a Chinese restaurant. I loved to see (still do) the duck coming out on a trolley, being carefully sliced, and then arranged in front of us. It was almost like a show in my eyes.
The essence of Peking duck is the crispy skin. Air is pumped between the skin and the flesh of the duck, then boiling water is poured over it to contract the skin. It is coated in maltose syrup, and then dried for at least twenty four hours, before roasting in a cherry wood fire. Traditionally Peking duck is part of a duck feast, where the brain, livers, feet, and the rest of the duck are used to form individual dishes. Restaurants nowadays still offer two or three-way duck dishes to customers.
It annoys me (quite a bit) when people get confused between Crispy Duck and Peking duck. Crispy duck originated in the Sichuan Province in China. The duck is first marinated, steamed for three hours, hung to dry, and then deep fried until the skin is crispy. Unlike in the UK, where the duck is shredded to ‘meat dust’ on a plate, it is cut into portions and reassembled to its original shape to serve. Most of the restaurants in the UK use processed duck so that it is ready to deep fry, the resulting meat is usually dry and tough...
Peking Garden is one of the better restaurants to go for Peking duck in Hong Kong. There are four branches, I particularly like the one in Tsim Sha Tsui, where I found that the duck is a bit better than the branches on Hong Kong island, and the restaurant is (slightly) less touristy.
The waiter skillfully slices the duck skin. This is where the alternative name for this dish came from - 'Pin Pei Ngap' (sliced duck skin).
The fun part of eating Peking duck is you get to DIY - fill your steaming pancakes with fresh cucumber and spring onion slices, then top with Tim Min Jeung (sweet bean sauce). I always sneakily put more than two pieces of duck in one pancake when no one is watching. I never manage to wrap it up properly before putting it into my mouth, so the sauce ends up all over the place. The dripping sauce, together with the crispy skin and tender meat, was absolutely divine.
We also had...
Deep fried spring chicken with garlic crumbs
Stir fried Chinese pea sprouts with mushroom
Fried whole Mandarin fish in sweet and sour pine nut sauce
It was a pleasant dinner highlighted with an outstanding Peking duck, and the show-stopper fried Mandarin fish. The service is a bit hit and miss, I did feel we were being rushed a couple times, even though the restaurant was not full. Another restaurant called ‘Spring Deer’ in Tsim Sha Tsui East also has Peking Duck as one of its signature dishes. I heard the style of the food is more rustic, and the quality is more consistent than Peking Garden. I have already added it to the to-eat list for my next trip home!
北京樓 Peking Garden, 3rd Floor, Star House, 3 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
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