Peking Duck in New York
This year, food editor at large Marjan ate the famous roast Peking duck by star chef Dong Zhenxiang in Beijing, better known by the name of his restaurant chain, Dadong. Now ‘Dadong’ is opening its first branch outside China. Not in the Netherlands, but in New York.
Eating Peking duck at Dadong in Beijing is an experience: in a luxury tower in an upscale neighborhood, surrounded by extravagantly wealthy Chinese and discreetly affluent expats, with Chinese farmed caviar as an optional extra.
Hutong
For less than a third of the price, you can also eat delicious Peking duck in an authentic hutong (a narrow, winding alley), but the spectacle in this Chinese Michelin-starred restaurant is priceless. The service and stark-white interior are impeccable, the duck and caviar still reasonably priced compared with Western restaurants, and the well-to-do clientele just as intriguing as the hutong residents.
Beijing star chef Dadong is now also roasting Peking duck in New York
The fact that by half past nine (Beijingers eat early) the staff are already busy with the cleaning cart while you are still eating your duck is also memorable. Especially when you consider that in an average little Chinese eatery, cleaning products seem about as rare as a white tablecloth.
East meets West squared
That the towering star chef Dadong is making the move to New York in mid-December is perfectly understandable. Restaurant guests increasingly want authenticity. Not a restaurant that does things exactly as they do in China, but one straight from China itself.
In his New York establishment, too, the two-storey interior exudes luxury, and the menu is longer than many a queue outside a New York restaurant. And, naturally, the signature dish Peking duck is not missing from that menu, roasted in the hearth of an open fireplace. Just as in Dadong’s home city, it is considerably more expensive than one elsewhere (in this case, in Chinatown), with caviar as an optional extra.
Granulated sugar
But it is all still reasonably affordable when you realize that a whole duck at $98 is enough for at least four diners, working out at around $25 per person. A bargain for a main course in NYC. And especially for food prepared by a star chef.
The big question: will Dadong also introduce New Yorkers to the old Beijing tradition of dipping the ultra-crispy duck skin in sugar?
