I know there are lots of threads on this, but this is the most recent one, and given the post immediately above, I thought it would be an appropriate place to put this review of Da Dong during my first trip to BJ.

Reviews from several sources including here suggested Da Dong, although as with any ‘best’ list, there is always some disagreement. There are three locations, and I went to the newest one in the Jin Bai centre, in Dongcheng. It was a last minute reservation – they said I had to be there in 10 minutes, and leave within an hour. Since I was dining alone, and only wanted to check out the duck, I agreed to those terms. This branch is on the 5th level of a soul-less high end mall. I turned up, and was shown to my table. My jacket wasn’t taken, but when I draped it over my chair, someone put a chair cover over it, so clearly I did something wrong there!

I was given a menu upon being seated, but then was totally ignored for about 10-15 minutes. There was no water offered nor a drink order taken until I gave my meal order. My table was overlooking the duck oven area, which is open, so one can view the chefs at work, which helped pass the time while I waited for someone to take my order. This is a pricey place. Certain specialties, e.g. sea cucumber, were Y350/pp and up, and many other dishes were much, much more. The duck is Y200, with Y8/pp for the accoutrements. I asked for half a duck (which wasn’t on the menu, but I had read reviews that suggested one could get this). After some time, a chef (with face mask) comes out with a whole duck, and proceeds to slice it in an elegant manner. I was sl. concerned that I would be charged for a whole duck, but he only gave me half of the duck (including half of the head!) and took the rest with him. Given that everyone gets the show, I presume they use the half-duck for soup/ stock etc. A waitress shows you how to wrap a pancake in a very elegant manner, with chopsticks, that I tried to emulate, and failed miserably at.

In addition to the usual spring onions/ cucumber/ sauce, there were many other things one could put in the pancake, including radish, ginger and some pickles. There is also sugar to dip the skin into. On top of the duck skin dish, I was also brought a bowl of duck soup, which was rather delicious. I also ate the duck brain that was in the half-head, which was pretty good actually! The duck itself – it is extremely rich. Much more so than any peking duck I’ve had in the west. In fact, it was too rich for my taste, and I love fatty foods! I enjoyed it, and though I pretty much finished my serving, I wouldn’t have been able to have more (again, unusual for me). I had chrysanthemum tea to drink with it (this, at Y20 for one glass is the cheapest tea on offer – there were some teas that were 10 to 20 times that price).

After the meal, a complimentary dessert of (I think) fresh crab apples on a bed of ice was brought to the table, which I thought was a very elegant and fitting end to the meal. They were so delicious I had 5 or 6 of them. The total damage including a 10% service charge was about Y135, which was pretty good value. However, I could see how a more elaborate meal could become many times that price (per person).

On the good side: the whole spectacle of the duck was great, especially for a first time tourist such as me. Despite being in a charmless room, there was an elegance to the place. The meal, if one just has the duck, is good value. The duck itself was not my thing, but it was very succulent. I had duck two more times in my brief stay (on the next two days, at meetings). All were similarly rich, so I guess that that’s the authentic taste to the dish. The one at Da Dong was more refined, but not leagues above the others.
On the negative side, the staff (not the chefs, who are silent behind their masks) are very arrogant. The place appears to be packed all the time, and unlike most of my other experiences of china, there was no friendliness in the albeit ruthlessly efficient and elegant service. I would recommend it to a tourist as a show, but if I were a local, unless one gets treated differently, this would not be a regular haunt.

tb