La Mere at Finch/Midland, lovely Beijing style meat pancakes joint

[Royaljelly]

A lovely little Beijing style chinese food, specializing in meat pancakes. My wife is from Beijing and she definitely confirms that this place is as authentic as it gets. Don't come expecting the typical Cantonese style fare that you see often discussed on Chowhound (eg. Maple Yip, Omei, etc).

Cold veggie dishes are lightly seasoned and very refreshing using very fresh ingredients. Meat pancakes are lovely flavoured, thin tasty skins that goes well with their ultra dark vinegar. Noodles are cooked perfectly and soup is rich and complex. Mildly spicy bite sized lamb chunks. Highlight is the sesame paste pancake which you must eat hot (as good as the one I had in a famous Beijing Peking duck restaurant I ate at earlier this summer). Tiny menu and not many tables, but turnover is quick so come for a quick bite and get a taste of some real Beijing style food.

[Royaljelly]

Also a short walk further down the same side of the strip mall, there's a place called Kung Fu Duck which just does duck. Apparently it's Hu Bei style cooking. We got some for take out, but haven't tried it yet. Apparently their duck tongues are delish.

[Charles Yu]

Tried that after featured on Fairchild TV. Found them 'one dimensional' with some offal seasoned too heavily on the spicy side!

[Royaljelly]

I couldn't find where my wife put the takeout duck in the fridge, but she said it was nothing special. Guess I'll pass.

[TorontoJo]

Ooh, those pancakes look fantastic! Is the texture similar to a good green onion pancake -- a bit of chew, a bit of crunch, lots of layers of dough?

[Royaljelly]

I know what you mean about the really good green onion pancakes, but these meat pancakes are a bit different. The out skins are a bit crunchy, but there's a nice balance in eat bite between dough and meat. They do each layer quite thin which is nice.

[TorontoJo]

Sounds really good, thanks. On the topic of green onion pancakes -- is there any place that you think is making a really good one? So many restaurants really skimp on the layers, and I find them to be one thick layer of dough rather than many many thin layers. And the worst offenders are the ones that deep fry them rather than pan fry.