People seem to complain about the service - not me, it was fab. All our servers spoke enough English, smiled a bit, were precise and attentive and the food came out pretty quickly. Admitedlly it was all rather drilled and brisk but at least it seems like they've got a staff training manual. The duck itself got a general thumbs-up from my out of town guests, though I did feel the slices were a bit crude and the pancakes thick and stuck together (ha, stupid out of towners...). The hoisin sauce was good, very sweet and sticky. Other dishes drew mixed feelings: duck liver was icy cold straight from the fridge (not nice), whereas the duck tongue dumplings were juicy and delicious. We had a great shrimp dish too - the sort of thing you'd see on a menu in Britain or the States - plump, peeled shrimp cooked just tender in a sweet sauce. The wine list is a complete disaster, and yes you can find better food elsewhere at half the cost if you know where to go, but ... the ground floor room of the original branch at Qianmen has a special character AND - most important - you get a certificate of authenticity with each duck. Wicked souvenir. It completes the holy trinity along with a fake Beijing 2008 gold medal and an "I climbed the wall" t shirt.
- 440 reads
- 0 comments