Eating Peking roast duck rates alongside climbing the Great Wall as a must-do while in Beijing, for both foreign expats and Chinese tourists. Among the fast-changing trends of the food world, Peking roast duck is one of the few enduring classics, with a history stretching back to 400AD.
For the Chinese, Quanjude (the name means, "a complete gathering of virtues") is the most popular of the local roast duck restaurants, but it is no longer the only famous chain serving this specialty. There are also Da Dong, Bian Yi Fang, and Ya Wang (King Roast Duck). Foreigners also like Li Qun, a courtyard restaurant, and Li Kang, a longstanding and reasonably priced duck eatery.
In the six years he stayed in Beijing, American James Heinritz went to Quanjude one or two times and Da Dong several times, but his favorite is Li Kang, "because it is not oily". The former general manager of a restaurant in Colorado admitted that he did not eat much duck before, because it is not a regular food for Americans. But now he visits the duck restaurants once in a while.
Da Dong, founder and general manager of Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant, which is particularly popular with local foreign expats, has ensured his business evolved with the changing trends of people's tastes.
"Before 1990, I saw people here happy as long as they had something to eat," he said. "But after 1995, there were great changes in people's ideas about food. People look for new, different things."
Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant introduced super lean roast duck in 1995.
"In the past, the criteria for roast duck was 'crisp at the skin and tender inside, fatty but not greasy.' But now, 'fatty' is not acceptable to customers," said Da.
Da prolongs the 45-minute roasting process to an hour and 10 minutes, reducing the grease, and improving the flavor. He also made renovations to the drying process. He designed a number of new dishes at the restaurant, to make the cuisine unique.
Opened in 1985, Da Dong has two outlets and is opening another two branches in Beijing and Hangzhou. He attributes the restaurant's popularity to a good inheritance of the Peking roast duck culture.
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