Friday night and it's double date night with Ling and Noah. We decided to head East and meet at Simon's Peiking Duck which has a reputation for having the best Peking duck in Melbourne.
Noah made the reservation and had pre ordered two ducks for the four of us. Basically one duck is done into Peking duck with the pancakes, then the meat is stir fried with either noodles or beansprouts and then the carcass is used to make soup.
It's $55 per duck with the beansprouts and $63 for the noodles and one duck feeds 2 people or 3 if you order some other stuff. They do two sittings in one evening so we went for the later one at 8pm.
We arrived and Ling and Noah were already there. We were slightly delayed as we stopped to help some guys in our basement car park jump start their car. Simon's was a full house! The tables were close together and there was a little bit of "excuse me, could you move your chair slightly" so we could squeeze by and get to our window table.
Noah made the reservation and had pre ordered two ducks for the four of us. Basically one duck is done into Peking duck with the pancakes, then the meat is stir fried with either noodles or beansprouts and then the carcass is used to make soup.
It's $55 per duck with the beansprouts and $63 for the noodles and one duck feeds 2 people or 3 if you order some other stuff. They do two sittings in one evening so we went for the later one at 8pm.
We arrived and Ling and Noah were already there. We were slightly delayed as we stopped to help some guys in our basement car park jump start their car. Simon's was a full house! The tables were close together and there was a little bit of "excuse me, could you move your chair slightly" so we could squeeze by and get to our window table.
Before long the duck starts to come out and this is what every table is waiting for and every table orders. The homemade panackes come out first and the waiter does a quick demo of where to put your spring onion and cucumber.
The crispy duck makes an entrance and it's all golden and glistening.
The crispy duck makes an entrance and it's all golden and glistening.
It's pile it on time and add a slosh of sauce before fold, fold, fold and voila!
It's incredibly unctuous, tasty and I'm not sure whether to use the word greasy or juicy. Greasy seems to have negative connotations but there's no denying that it is. I guess the grease does stop it from being super crispy but then super crispy may make it dry. This is far from dry and it is very good. The pancakes disappear quickly but no fear as round 2 of duck makes an appearance along with another bowl of sauce.
The other great thing is the pancake wrapper. Definitely home made and it just has that soft chew good bread has rather than the dry stuff that is shop bought.
By this time, we're up to our elbows in grease and wiping our fingers all over the paper table cloth. We weren't given serviettes or napkins and our first request for them doesn't materialise. Eventually we get one napkin each which isn't really sufficient. Service at Simon's is brisk and apart from the napkin scenario, on the whole efficient. Our teapot is filled regularly and the food arrives quickly.
After our dishes are cleared away, the next course arrives. No photos though as my hands are still too greasy! We have the duck stirfried with handmade noodles first then with beansprouts. My preference is for the noodles but the beansprout dish isn't bad. The stir fry dishes are not as good as the Peking duck but nice enough. I wouldn't travel out of the city just for this course but I would for the whole shebang. There are some shitake mushrooms and other bits in the noodles. We ask for chilli sauce or oil and get a small dish of freshly chopped chillies.
Final course is the duck soup which is the Chinese broth like consomme soup. It's clear liquid and has the taste of duck. There are a couple of pieces of tofu, some green veg and the flavours of dried mandarin peel, star anise and pepper. It's okay but not amazing.
So at Simon's, the first course is super yummy, the second course is pretty tasty and the final course just ok. Lucky for Simon the first course is good enough to ca
It's incredibly unctuous, tasty and I'm not sure whether to use the word greasy or juicy. Greasy seems to have negative connotations but there's no denying that it is. I guess the grease does stop it from being super crispy but then super crispy may make it dry. This is far from dry and it is very good. The pancakes disappear quickly but no fear as round 2 of duck makes an appearance along with another bowl of sauce.
The other great thing is the pancake wrapper. Definitely home made and it just has that soft chew good bread has rather than the dry stuff that is shop bought.
By this time, we're up to our elbows in grease and wiping our fingers all over the paper table cloth. We weren't given serviettes or napkins and our first request for them doesn't materialise. Eventually we get one napkin each which isn't really sufficient. Service at Simon's is brisk and apart from the napkin scenario, on the whole efficient. Our teapot is filled regularly and the food arrives quickly.
After our dishes are cleared away, the next course arrives. No photos though as my hands are still too greasy! We have the duck stirfried with handmade noodles first then with beansprouts. My preference is for the noodles but the beansprout dish isn't bad. The stir fry dishes are not as good as the Peking duck but nice enough. I wouldn't travel out of the city just for this course but I would for the whole shebang. There are some shitake mushrooms and other bits in the noodles. We ask for chilli sauce or oil and get a small dish of freshly chopped chillies.
Final course is the duck soup which is the Chinese broth like consomme soup. It's clear liquid and has the taste of duck. There are a couple of pieces of tofu, some green veg and the flavours of dried mandarin peel, star anise and pepper. It's okay but not amazing.
So at Simon's, the first course is super yummy, the second course is pretty tasty and the final course just ok. Lucky for Simon the first course is good enough to ca
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