Oh, this is going to be a fun one.
So my girlfriends were planning a get together and couldn’t decide where to eat. One of them mentioned a Korean restaurant that does Peking Duck, and upon hearing that I announced that we have to go – it can’t be good! So we all agreed.
We had 5 people so we decided to pig out and order the Peking Duck set meal for 6 people – which included:
1. Peking Duck & wraps
2. Noodles or Congee with the remaining of the Peking Duck
3. Seafood Pancake
4. Jap chae
5. BBQ beef short ribs
Let’s begin with the Peking Duck and the wraps. It was advertised that the head chef specifically went to Beijing QuanJuDe 全聚德 – the origin of Peking Duck – to learn how to make the duck. I made a comment saying just because he went to Quanjude to learn, doesn’t mean they taught him how to make the duck! I happened to be fortunate enough to try Quanjude when I was in Beijing so I told my girlfriends I should be able to tell whether if it’s even in a similar league!
In Beijing Quanjude, they slice the duck in 3 ways (in front of you too!) — i) just the duck skin; ii) duck skin with meat, and; iii) shreds of the duck meat. Then you can actually ask to pack up the bones of the duck so you can go home and use it to make soup or congee – which can be sooooo delicious.
Anyway, when the duck came, it was visibly dry – very dry. Parts of it were so dried you can’t really bite into. There wasn’t enough fat between the skin and the meat to maintain the moisture of the duck. Any other places with BBQ duck would probably be better than this. But here’s the fun part! The wrap you use to wrap the Peking Duck!
When the wrap came to our table we all looked at it in such amazement. It was so…small. We wondered whether it was actually wonton/dumpling wrappers they’re using LOL. We had a huge laugh over this, poking fun at the wrappers when we try to wrap the duck with it. You probably can’t tell from that picture, but here is another one in my palm:
It was so small you couldn’t even wrap the duck in it – you’ll try and try and end up with a Peking Duck Taco kind of thing — making this restaurant even more fusion than it already is. The wrappers were also dry and chewy, and fairly thick – not a texture you would like. It was definitely not fresh as it was pretty cold when it came to our table 
The remaining parts of the duck were made into noodles hot pot (we chose noodles but you can choose congee). Overall, the soup was bland and the noodles tasted simply like dough – nothing else. It would break off really easily and mushes up quite quickly. Using one word to describe this dish would be – blah. To be fair though, the portion was huge and decent enough for its price point.
The BBQ beef short ribs were actually quite decent! I use the word actually because at this point everything else had been a funny joke to us, as the quality of the food as well as the idea of Peking Duck in a Korean restaurant was quite funny in itself. We didn’t expect a lot to begin with, but I guess they can still perform normally with their own Korean BBQ cuisine. The beef was quite tender and it was quite sweet and savory (why I like Korean BBQ more than American BBQ because American style tends to be more heavy and salty in its taste). But the portion here isn’t that good considering it was a meal intended for 6 people.
Now let’s move on to the REALLY GOOD dish in this restaurant. The Korean Seafood Pancake was soooo good. I’m not sure whether we had our expectations sooo low that anything normal was considered great, but I have to say it is very good. It was crispy and hot when it came to our table and in combination with the sauce, the seafood pancake was crispy and fluffy enough to create an interesting contrast as you chew. It seemed like to be slightly burnt in some areas but you can’t taste the flaw too much so I wouldn’t worry much about it.
I would totally come here again just to order this dish. Sooo much yum.
I think Jap Chae is my favourite dish from Korean cuisine. Unfortunately, this dish didn’t really meet our expectations (lol) as it was very…gooey. The noodles stuck together and and was too mushy for my liking. Taste wise, it was only okay. Probably wouldn’t order this again.
Well, while the food was quite sub-par, my girlfriends and I had sooo much fun that night it really compensated for everything. After all, this is what a good meal truly means– Quality time with your loved ones can make stale bread taste like rainbow.
But seriously, I wouldn’t order the Peking Duck meal if you are looking for decent quality food lol. Stick to their Korean items if you must try this restaurant.
Half Fat Chasiu 