Da Dong

On our last night in Beijing. Before our train to Xi'an, I ( with much
pleading and bribing) dragged the girls to Da Dong. A famous Beijing
restaurant hailed for their roast duck. If I was going to have Peking
duck, damn sure I was going to have to sniff out the best place to get
it. Word of mouth aswell as a review I found in a Beijing magazine
cemented my plan. We HAD to go. If we didn't I'dve regretted it forever.

We were definately looking like serious hobos and I was unsure if
they'd let us in with our giant backpacks but they didn't mind. The
dining room was formal but relaxed. I saw a woman in sweat pants and
flip flops and decided we were going to be ok.

The menu was epic. Not only extensive but physically humungous! I wish
I could have had a copy. I scribbled down as many as I could. I was so
fascinated.

I wished I'd had 7 stomachs and 70 hungry friends to try the many
exotic sounding dishes:

Crispy kelp
Pickled jellyfish
Sauteed fresh mushroom with goose liver
Sauteed gingko nuts with lily bulbs
Steamed humphead wrasse with green shallot
Steamed leopard coral grouper
Grilled French blue lobster
Hairy crab ( in shell)
Braised shark fin with saffron sauce ( I know I know but it's a
delicacy here)
Steamed egg with crab roe
Sliced Canadian geoduck with alfalfa
Barbequed Eel
Spicy turtle soup Sichuan style
Sauteed scallop with sweet corn
Crisp skin chicken
Sauteed venison with apple
Stewed oxtail with Longan & Honey
Braised beef tongue with garlic
.... It went on and on and on

I was like a kid in a candy store. The presentation was completely
amazing. Every dish they paraded out of the kitchen in poofs of steam
made my neck stick up like a giraffe and I had to restrain myself from
running over to other tables to photograph the food.

We ordered the famous duck which was carved table side by some pretty
serious young chefs with weird knives. The worked so efficiently and
slowly arranged the meat on dishes which were then presented on our
table with different accompaniments. I also tried the braised sea
cucumber. From what i could gather Chef Da Dong ( ya ya haha penis
poop pee fart) set out to perfect many signature Chinese dishes and
make them a little more refined and healthy. He developed a way to
roast the duck to the perfect tenderness and crispness while reducing
the fat by 50% so as to create a more healthy and palatable dish. It
was sooooooo good. My sister told me I'm a nerd but I have seriously
never tasted anything so delicious.
If I ever find myself in Beijing again I will be returning !