A Night of Firsts at Peking Duck House

With all of the Chinese food I've eaten over the course of my life, I was pretty surprised to realize that I had never had quintessential Chinese Peking duck. Luckily, a friend from college was in town, and I was able to catch up with him at Peking Duck House in Chinatown. He's currently doing a diplomatic tour in Afghanistan. Needless to say he and his partner, Husband J, Roo Mi (you remember her) and I were up for a full Peking duck FEAST.

If you've got at least four people in your dining party at Peking Duck House, you definitely have to take advantage of the Peking Duck Dinner. We had five people, which allowed us to have a whole duck for ourselves as well as soup, appetizers, three entrees AND dessert. Not a bad spread for about $27.50 per person (add some for drinks, etc.).

Our soup course:

House Special Duck Soup

Miso, bok choy, tofu and duck.

This was nice introduction to our meal, but I honestly would have preferred a little more salt and seasoning (so says the Salt Addict).

Appetizers

Some meat on a stick, a dumpling and a spring roll

Definitely your regulation mainstream Americanized Chinese apps, but all still very good.

After appetizers, the waiter brings out the duck to show us. I guess so we can admire it? Not sure, but thanks for showing us. :) Afterwards the chef gets to carving it, and he does so super quickly I might add.

After all of that cutting and plating, our duck was ready.

The duck is served with light pancakes (sorry for the odd angle. We were at a large table, and I was too busy stuffing my face to get up and get a proper one),

celery (I think it's celery) and scallions,

and add some hoisin sauce (I lurve the salty sweetness of hoisin sauce so much that I was putting on some of our appetizers).

The duck: Perfectly crispy skin, juicy and seasoned quite well. The skin really was one of the highlights of the dish. Is it bad that I could have eaten the skin separately?

Oh, yes, we had other entrees (I was already half way full!):

Sliced Beef with Scallops

Fried Sliced Prawns with Chili Sauce

There was another main dish, but I was too busy stuffing my face. I had purposely saved my stomach and calories that day for this meal. Apparently, even after all of this we were STILL not done. I don't think I've ever had dessert at a Chinese restaurant other than ginger ice cream, but tonight was a night of firsts.

Fried Banana with Walnuts

Caramelized, everything was caramelized. That crispy coating surrounding the banana was such a nice touch and added another texture to what could possibly be a boring dessert. This was definitely not the cade. How do I do this to my bananas at home. Anyone know? I'm used to fried plantains (remember those from last week?), but fried banana was just as good.

Considering the smorgasbord of food that we got, I think this was an amazing value. I'd be interested in trying Peking duck in some other local Chinatown restaurants for comparison as I wonder if PDH is spiffed up for non-Chinatown regulars like me. Hmmm.....

Have you ever tried a new dish in a cuisine that's familiar to you?

Peking Duck House has two locations. We went to the Chinatown location.

28 Mott Street

New York, New York 10013