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The consolidated Peking Duck thread

The consolidated Peking Duck thread

Old Jul 30, 2008, 8:17 pm
  #31  
 
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Most of my friends prefer either quanjude 全聚德 or da dong 大董
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Old Aug 1, 2008, 8:25 am
  #32  
 
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Bianyifang is widely known by locals and a lot of expats and is well thought of. It's not as expensive as a place like Quanjude, which may be why it is favored by a lot of Chinese who are looking for a good meal at a good price rather than fancy marketing to tourists. It's been awhile since I've been to BYF but as I recall it was pretty good. I think I've been to another branch as well in north part of town that was very good. I'd put DaDong and Liqun before either of them, though.
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Old Aug 1, 2008, 11:03 am
  #33  
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Thanks. I'll try to try at least one of these restaurants this month.
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Old Aug 1, 2008, 12:14 pm
  #34  
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We walked out of Quanjude after being told it would be an hour wait for a table and the hostess that greeted us had an attitude like they were doing us a favor by allowing us to eat at their restaurant. We asked to see a menu while we were waiting. The hostess said we could not view the menu until we were seated. We said no thanks, and walked out.

I figure if I'm going to have to wait for an hour for a table, they could at least give me the courtesy of letting me look at the menu and prices so I can decide whether I want to wait that long. Maybe I caught them on a bad day, but they just gave me a bad feeling, and seemed to have a very arogant attitude.

We ended up going to a more "local" duck place with no other foreigners around and had a great meal at a low cost. I can't remember the name of the place. Sorry.
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Old Aug 1, 2008, 7:20 pm
  #35  
 
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Originally Posted by rdchen
It should be "pianyifang" 便宜坊.
We liked pianyifang better than qianjude.

The skin was crispier.

To us the crispy skin is what makes a better duck. Qianjude was better ambience but our choice most definietly is pianyifang.
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Old Aug 2, 2008, 5:02 am
  #36  
 
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We've been to Quanjude before and liked it. We went on a weekday and didn't see any of the crowds mentioned, and the duck was good, though can't say it was any better to the Peking Duck we've had, say, in Hong Kong.

Am interested in Bianyifang, which uses a closed oven as opposed to a hung oven used in Quanjude, but have heard mixed reviews, here and elsewhere.

I've also heard that Dadong is the best, irregardless of price, from many sources. Anybody that's been to all three that can comment?
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Old Aug 19, 2008, 11:25 am
  #37  
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As an update, I did try Bianyifang. I thought the duck was quite good, but it didn't knock my socks off. Indeed, I thought the duck I had at Xihe Ya Ju on the edge of Ritan Park was more enjoyable. It could be because it was a nice night and they offered outdoor dining, though.

FWIW, Ritan Park also has a branch of Xiao Wang's, which is another excellent restaurant. Xiao Wang also has good duck, but Xihe Ya Ju's is probably better.
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Old Aug 26, 2008, 12:51 am
  #38  
 
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Surprised no one has mentioned Li Qun. This restaurant is in a hutong neighborhood, and looks ancient, even though the restaurant itself is only 17 years old. Opened by the former head chef of Quanjude, the place has quite a reputation as a lot of famous celebrities and dignitaries have visited, as shown by the photos on the wall, despite the "run-down" atmosphere of the place.

Compared to Quanjude, I have to say the duck "looks" not very pretty at all. The ducks look anemic, and the skin rather saggy, not the fat, shiny, beautiful duck that you expect. Taste-wise, it's very good. Not too oily, and the skin sliced how it should be sliced.

The restaurant itself is pretty bad. I've eaten in a lot of dumps, but this one nearly takes the cake. Forget about the toilet. If you need to drop the kids off at the pool, you're s*** out of luck. If you see the toilet, you would rather soil your pants than take them off, even after you have puked all over yourself. Definitely not a place to take a date or the kids.

Despite the quality of the duck, still, compared to Quanjude, which was a bit more oily, I liked Quanjude better.

I also went to Da Dong on my latest trip. This was the best of all.

I hereby proclaim Da Dong the best Peking Duck restaurant in Beijing!

First off, the restaurant itself is gorgeous. There are at least two Da Dong restaurants in Beijing, and I don't know the English address, but the Chinese address as sent to me is: 大董北京烤鸭店,北京东城区东四十条甲22号南新仓国际大厦1-2楼(东四十条桥西南), Tel: 86 10 51690329. This is the one I'm recommending.

The atmosphere of this place is incredible. Just a beautiful, classy restaurant with a lot of atmosphere. We had ten people and our server had politely reserved a private room for us upstairs, but I would have preferred the main downstairs dining room as the atmosphere is much better. Unfortunately, they were fully booked so we couldn't change the table. If you go, I would definitely make a reservation in advance.

Beside duck, they had a lot of other incredible Peking-style dishes, and the best was it came with an English menu with lots of photos. In fact, nearly every dish had a photo so it was easy to know what you're ordering.

But the duck, it was fantastic! Not greasy at all, it looked gorgeous and tasted better than the other two famous Peking Duck restaurants we went to. They also provided a lot more condiments, with two types of hoisin sauce, sugar, green onions, cucumbers, and some kind of pickle, and they provided the thin flour pancakes as well as a type of hollowed bread. Delicious.

After we finished the duck, they brought a duck soup made from the carcass of the duck. Awesome!
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Old Aug 26, 2008, 1:18 am
  #39  
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Originally Posted by Skyman65
We walked out of Quanjude after being told it would be an hour wait for a table
I went there with a group of 7 two weeks ago, during the Olympics, and we had someone from the Olympic desk at the hotel call and make reservations for us about 3 hours ahead. Place was pretty full when we arrived. Our reservation was under "7 Americans" as the hotel didn't ask for a name, and that seemed to work fine with the restaurant. Enjoyed the dinner very much.

PHOTOS of our dinner
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Old Aug 26, 2008, 11:51 pm
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> It should be "pianyifang" 便宜坊

Actually the first character is a duoyinzi, and Bian is correct, 'bianyi' meaning in this case 'convenient'.

The prices at the restaurants two locations are a little cheaper than at Quanjude, and the method of preparing the duck a little different. Whereas the Quanjude bird is traditionally roasted over pear wood here the method involves millet stalks. The restaurant claims an even greater antiquity than Quanjude, although not at either of its two last two addresses, and now it's in the ground floor of a modern hotel. It's the sort of place middle-ranking out-of-town cadres go to eat at the work unit's expense.

For those who like the old-school restaurants there's real and unaffected early 80s atmosphere at Jiuhua Shan, the service a bit tiefanwan (lacklustre and uninterested), which is inside the Zibao Fandian, just inside the West Third Ring Road between Hua Yuan Qian and Hang Ten Qiao. It's nothing more to write home about than Quanjude or Bianyifang, but it completes the set. The 九花山精品烤鸭 or 'top quality' duck is 128.

The Da Dong branch at the Nan Xin Cang (as mentioned in characters in a posting above) remains my favourite of sensibly priced ducks (as opposed to Made in China, etc.) not least because of a large supporting case of other inventive dishes. Several people of unknown reliability have recently been speaking warmly of somewhere called Duck de Chine, but I have yet to try it.

Peter N-H
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Old May 19, 2009, 5:37 pm
  #41  
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We enjoyed a superb duck at Xiang Man Lou restaurant the evening of May 18 (2009) - this is more of a family / neighborhood restaurant, no fancy decorations, just a full house of locals enjoying a night out with the duck as the menu highlight. Carved tableside, of course, crispy skin, lots of good accompaniments from preserved jellyfish to duck soup after the repast and fruit to end it all. From City Weekend:

Xiang Man Lou / 香满楼
Xinyuanxili Dongjie,
Chaoyang
新源西里东街
6460-6711

Open 11am-10pm
Price Less than / 元 / CNY 100 per person
(my figures, not theirs)

Link to reviews.

Last edited by JDiver; Mar 6, 2012 at 10:40 am Reason: update
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Old May 20, 2009, 12:08 am
  #42  
 
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Xiang Man Lou--I've had the duck here, and it's pretty good (IMHO, better than Quanjude), as are the other dishes on the menu. Good value restaurant, just not on the "tourist trail" and maybe a bit harder to find. I'd say it's better than Xiheyaju's duck.
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Old May 20, 2009, 12:22 am
  #43  
 
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Was at Duck de Chine last month and it was very good. Of course, the Firm we were with booked a private room and all that jazz, and personally I thought the setting/atmosphere was the best part.

I still think that Da Dong made the best impression on me duck-wise (the other food is very good to - unlike Liqun) closely followed by Liqun (great for a hutong stroll before/after the meal - killing 2 birds with one stone).

What I need to do is to get a group of friends together one night and hit all three places and just have some duck at each place to make a comparison.

I tell people to avoid Quanjude - the duck is quite good, but its too crowded and too commoditized in my opinion.
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Old May 20, 2009, 3:00 am
  #44  
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No pun intended, I am sure.

Seriously, I will look forward to reading your report! Not to mention, that will be fulfilling research on your part.

Originally Posted by Jamoldo
...
I still think that Da Dong made the best impression on me duck-wise (the other food is very good to - unlike Liqun) closely followed by Liqun (great for a hutong stroll before/after the meal - killing 2 birds with one stone).

What I need to do is to get a group of friends together one night and hit all three places and just have some duck at each place to make a comparison...
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Old May 20, 2009, 5:01 am
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If I can find the time and 2-5 people willing to join me, I'll be sure to do it and post results here...
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