Peking Duck?

[lisacooks]

Anyone know of a restaurant in San Francisco that serves a great Peking Duck?

[Jack Tien]

Actually I've found that Fook Yuen in Millbrae does the best Beijing duck. I have had as much as 5 courses with my duck before in the Bay Area. It's been a long time since I've had a really good one. 5 courses being-skin with pancakes (oh by the way do you know why they have pancakes? It's actually to help wipe the grease off your mouth as an edible napkin....neat huh!), lettuce rolls, sauteed shredded duck meat with vegetables, sauteed egg with the drippings from the duck fat, and tofu and napa cabbage soup with the left over bones.

[Doodleboomer]

just outside of SF, in Daly City is Koi Palace, Pekind Duck is fantastic there

[Porthos]

Second that. The skin is cripsy and delicious and you can get the duck "two-ways". They take the remainding meat from the duck and make lettuce cups out of it.

[lisacooks]

Thanks. I've eaten at Koi Palace once but didn't have the duck. Will be sure to order it next time.

[K K]

How does Koi Palace's Peking Duck compare with Great China in Berkeley? Never had either, but what is the starch wrap used in both places? The steamed bun, or thin crepe (preferred at least for me)?

[tanspace]

Have not tried Koi Palace's. But Great China uses the "right" wrap - paper thin flour wrap rather than the puffy white buns sometimes seen.

The sauce is sweet black bean sauce, similar to one used for Zha Jiang Mian. It should NOT be hoisun sauce.

But they only do it one way, with meat and skin to be wrapped in the wrap. There's no additonal stir-fried or soup choices. (at least not by default)

[Porthos]

KK. I also prefer the crepes. Unfortunately, I think the Koi Palace version is with buns (can't remember exactly).

[augustiner]

buns, not crepes.

[OldTimer]

FYI, they are not crepes, but "po ping".

[augustiner]

well, good to know what they're called natively. it wasn't my intention to mislead anyone, but to me they seem analogous in english to crepes, "pan" cakes, or other thin flat breads, even though they are all quite different. just out of curiosity, is that the mandarin word? just wondering because the chinese dialects are so different, and the fact that this dish is known as peking, or beijing duck, i assume it is a northern dish?

[Gary Soup]

Don't sweat it. "Crepe" is probably the most accurate English translation, and is often used on menus and in cookbooks. To nit-pick, "po ping" isn't correct Mandarin, either, it's "bao bing" which just means something like "thin pancake." It's definitely a Northern dish, and "po ping" is just Cantonese(?) dialect, as is "Peking."

[K K]

Phonetically I believe the prounciation might be buo/puo bing, or thin cake. But yes rice flour, likely no eggs.

I remember having Peking Duck in HK aeons ago, and they used "crepes" too. That just my generic more relative term to use rather than steamed buns (yawn). I'll have to find some opportunity to try Great China, heard so many great things about their duck.

[Melanie Wong]

One thing that surprised me about Great China's duck, the one time I had it, was that the meat was pulled into shreds and plucked completely free of any fat. Someone once posted that you can ask them to not remove the fat so fastidiously and that it will taste better.

[liujenny]

Actually, the Chinese word "薄" can be pronounced as Bao or Buo... it's one of those characters with multiple pronunciations, but they mean the same thing.

[OldTimer]

Hey...I don't want a food fight. Its just not a crepe. Made quite differently. As a matter of fact, po ping are really a lot of trouble to make, and I sometimes make crepes with BBQ duck. Garlic, ginger and minced green onions make a tasty crepe.