DaDong: Amazing Duck, and Much More

DaDong, the restaurant named after its chef-owner,  is where I would recommend you go when you ask–as you inevitably will when you visit Beijing–“Where should I go for Peking duck?”

You’ll ask because, of course–its one of the must-do things in the capital. Your list: Great Wall? check. Forbidden City? check. Hutong Visit? check. Tiennamen Square? check. Peking Duck? oh yes.

Peking Duck has long been a speciality of Peking/Beijing, and it is an amazing dish: the bird, specially raised for its fate on Beijing tables, prepared and cooked to a state of crisp laquered skin that sometimes is so sweet it is nearly honeyed in taste, it is hard if not impossible to find elsewhere in the word.

Succulent, tender flesh and crisp laquered-brown skin is carved into smallish morsels, arranged on a plate that arrives along with thin pancakes, sweet-savoury dipping sauce, and a handful of fresh accompaniments: cucumber, cilantro/coriander leaves, green/spring onion: you take a little duck flesh–dab of sauce, plop in the fresh stuff, and roll it up. It is divine: a smallish morsel so uniquely well-balanced as to sweet-savoury-umami tastes and lovely textures: crisp, fresh, long cooked, I mean: that little delicacy you hold in your hand is one of China’s most opulent, perfect, specialities.

(confession of greedy feelings: in general the plates of duck always seem too small but that is because the duck is so luscious my inner glutton starts carousing for more ahead of time: but to be honest: Beijing duck is so rich one really can only eat a small amount.)

At a Peking Duck dinner, the service of duck is but one of an array of courses, albeit a high point of the meal, the course that you expect and are so excited to see, situated in a menu which balances all other tastes and textures–which Chinese food does so brilliantly.

Many restaurants in Beijing are known as roast duck restaurants, slinging out duck after duck. But DaDong is not one of those centuries-old Peking duck palaces: it is famous purely for its amazing duck (and imaginative, delicious food in general). Here, the classic,  demanding duck is transformed to an even higher level of delicious, finesse, until it becomes a thing of beauty. The ducks are rubbed, air-dried, roasted while hanging in an oven of open flames from which  they emerge: succulent fleshed, with a skin that is so crisp and crackling, the luscious fatty layer under the skin turned into an exquisite mouthful, light, crunchy, without even a trace of greasiness. It is a genius of a roasted bird, and there is a cadre of staff working hard and skillfully to produce this amazing roasted duck. I was told that they are experimenting with new ways of cutting the duck, that is how devoted to his craft is Chef DaDong.

I’m not saying that the other traditional roast ducks you find in Beijing aren’t brilliant: a handful of years back my favourite duck was served by an acolyte of Chef Doh, whose face was at the time appearing on a postal stamp along with a selection of other chefs. I must get the name and address for you, because not only was the duck wonderful, but everything on the menu was as well: fresh, traditional, delectable. And the staff was so kind to us, poor foreigners, pointing and trying hard to figure out what to eat. (in addition to the duck, i loved the cucumber salad, and the cloud ears fungus among other things).

But we were on the other side of Beijing this trip, and were invited to DaDong by Edouard Cointreau, member of a prestigious food and drink family, descendant of Rabelais, and founder of World Gourmand Awards and Paris Bookfair, among other events. He is also President of China Food Television. I’m sure there are roles he plays in the food world that I don’t even know about, so forgive me if I don’t mention them. Edouard lives in Beijing much of the year, and wherever he is, Europe, China, wherever, lives the life of wonderful food. So if he recommends or even better, invites, I go.  “I eat there about once a week” he shared as we wandered through the kitchen, lucky enough to be given a peek at what goes into the food at DaDong.

The duck at DaDong is revolutionary, so to speak, in raising and cooking methods, as well as attention paid to the best way of slicing and serving the duck. Also, its presentation is updated and freshened: the little handkerchief-like pancakes that you expect are served, yes, but also puffy little sesame-seeded cakes. The cucumber, cilantro/coriander, green/spring onion has also fruits/vegetables in season: sweet red pepper, juicy melon, chopped garlic, red turnip. I like also that the DaDong duck skin is not as candy-sweet as sometimes the skin can be. At DaDong, the skin glistens crisp and brown-hued, tasting slightly sweet and uber-umami. It is lusciousness.

All in all, DaDong’s duck is transcedental: the oh-so-traditional dish elevated to a new level by sheer good cooking and vision.

In addition to duck, Dadong creates and serves some of the most inventive, modern food: its not really fusion, yet it fuses: past and future, east and west, traditional and modern: its a modern view of food in China right now, at its very best. For instance, one of its signature dishes is what appears at first to be a plate of cherries. You are instructed to pick two next to each other. At first glance they are both glazed, plump, enticing, but otherwise appear the same. Bite into one: it is a glazed cherry. its lovely.  Bite into the second: it is a glazed…..tiny ball of foie gras (France’s Rougie Foie Gras is producing foie gras in China). Its a surprise and it is delicious, and makes you smile as the delicious liver melts between your lips.

(The restaurant is a combination of tradition and modern, balanced and lyrical, with great horse sculptures as you walk in along a sort of boardwalk, over a modern stream full of fish which were being caught for someones dinner as I crossed….I am told it is located in what was formerly an imperial granary. Oh, and in addition to the duck: they are so proud of their sea cucumber–dried, braised, served in a fragrant pot–that it appears on their neon-lit sign, right next to DaDong and Duck…..)

1-2Nanxincong, Shangye Daxia, 22A

Dongsishitiao, Dongcheng District

tel: 5169 0329