Owner and Head Chef Dong Zhengxiang became famous in Beijing after he launched his original Da Dong Roast Duck in his Tuanjiehu branch. Dong Zhengxiang became successful thanks to his clever refinement of the original Peking duck that is fat and high-cholesterol and not adopted for today’s lifestyle. The Head Chef came up with his “Super Lean” concept that is a special processing and cooking method not to make the duck as greasy as the original.

Dong Zhengxiang’s roasted ducks are not as healthy as he proclaims them to be, but they are a big improvement compared to the original Peking duck and you will still have the original serving with duck skin with scallions and cucumber wrapped in a pancake. The succulent roasted duck is shiny when it is time for the waiter, who looks like a surgeon with a mask on his face, to do the traditional cut up of the crispy, thin skin with a sliver of duck meat underneath.

You can have your duck with fine sugar, sweet sauce with leek, cucumber and radish and with garlic paste. We recommend trying a little bit of each if you have never tried the roasted duck before. Just place a slice of the duck on pancake with plum sauce, take any of the additional ingredients, roll it and yummy.

The Tuanjiehu branch is the original one, but we recommend the restaurant located in the Nanxincang shopping mall with more contemporary interiors. The main dining room is very noisy and a bit chaotic so choose one of the private rooms if you want a little bit more privacy. The service is not that good so you probably have to call for the waiters attention on several occasions.

There is a massive menu of more than 80 pages to choose what you will have, with images and several languages in a typical tourist fashion. There has been a stronger focus on other dishes like the shark fin soup and the braised sea cucumber to move focus from the hyped roasted ducks, in later years. If the duck is not enough for you, you should try the fried oysters in Sichuan pepper and salt, the steamed chicken with ginger passion fruit salad and the fired Gordon Euryale seed and green peas with olive oil.

Dong Zhengxiang has really come up with a successful concept and has unabashedly taken inspiration from Western restaurants as well in his cuisine and presentations of it, but compared to the whole world’s very best restaurants there is more to be done with the Da Dong Roast Duck restaurants before they are top class.

Written by Andy