Originally Posted by
jiejie
Anyway, to add to one more place to eat a pretty good and cheap duck: Xiangmanlou. I've been a few times to the one in the north Xindong Lu area, not far from the Kempinski, Kunlun, new Westin, Sanlitun Embassy areas. This one is across the street from the Yuyang Hotel, about 5 minutes east of the big DinTaiFung restaurant. Can't miss the lanterns across the front, and it's popular with locals and a few expats in the know. Has pretty darn good duck (about RMB 120 for a whole duck including the condiments) and also very good homestyle side dishes. Simple atmosphere but very clean. Haven't been to any of the other XML branches yet.
I'll key off a rather old post, but the only one mentioning
Xiangmanlou. Had a very good duck and other meal there recently. It's located on Xinyuan Xili middle road - not sure if that's the same place, which also happens to be close to a DinTaiFung. (Doing a search it's possible it moved a couple of blocks, but is in the same area).
Very good duck - RMB 180. Not fancy, without lots of accompaniments - just pancakes, hoisin, cucumber, and scallion/green onion. But that's fine for me! Very tasty, on the drier (not oily) side, smoky flavor more prominent than others I've had.
Also good other dishes - sichuan and shandong are the claimed styles. I will say the ganbian sijidou were excellent, among the best I've had (or at least the closest to the way I like them).
Ambience was nothing special, nor decor. A bit slow getting us the duck. But otherwise an option worth considering if you're in the vicinity.