Peking Duck House

One of the more popular places to eat in Chinatown ofr Tourists is Peking Duck House. It has more modern looking decor and the waiters speak English. But how does the food compare?

Some of the patrons wanted soup. Here is the Hot & Sour soup ($6.75 per 2 bowls). I didn't taste this but people seemed to like it.

And the specialty of the house: Peking Duck ($43). It's essentially a slowly roasted duck that's hung while cooking so that the fat can drip off rendering the skin crispy and delicious. Here, the master is slicing the duck meat off the bones.

He moved with quick hands and certainly was a master with that knife. Sharp and precise.

The waiters also prepared the ducks pancakes for us since we were a large group. With each large crepe like pancake, he placed some duck, scallions, cucumbers, and hoisin sauce.

It was wrapped up neatly like a burrito.

However, one end remained open. You can see the fatty duck and hoisin sauce sticking out.

And my first bite! The duck was flavorful, the skin was crsipy. The scallions and cucumbers were crunchy and fresh. The hoisin sauce is salty but also slightly sweet which pairs well with the duck. And the crepe held everything nicely without being too thick and chewy.

And now the rest of the dinner. We ordered sauteed shrimp in ginger scallions sauce ($18.50). The shrimp was okay. The shrimp wasn't chewy but the flavor was just okay for me. Nothing special.

And here is chicken with black bean and garlic sauce ($14). The chicken was sliced thinly and stir fried with strips of green bell peppers. This was again, just okay for me. I think this would be better if the chicken was served in larger pieces. I think it was kind of dry.

And here we have 5 spice pork chops ($13). There were deep fried and actually pretty dry. I wouldn't order this again.

Some fried rice for the table ($8). Again, just okay for me. Nothing special.

And here's eggplant in garlic sauce with mined pork ($10). I liked this dish. It had a lot of flavor, mostly garlic) and the eggplant was soft. The sauce over the rice was a good match.

Beef with oyster sauce ($14.50). This was better than the other dishes but still just okay. The beef pieces were too big. Sharing this dish was not ideal. However, the vegetables, the meat, and the oyster sauce was tasty enough.

And lastly, we ordered steamed sea bass ($36). It was simply prepared with soy sauce, ginger, and scallions. This was actually pretty good. You can tell that the fish was fresh because of the simplicity of the dish. The taste of the fish itself shined through with some complement from the soy sauce.

Overall, I thought the restaurant was just okay. A couple of things, the table that they gave us was too small for our party. They shoved as many chairs as possible which left us with no leg room. The table service was quick but can also put people off if they're not used to it.

The food was just okay as well. The peking duck was the best dish, then the eggplant. The other dishes can be easily forgotten. I would come back only for the specialty duck. Otherwise, skip it.

Peking Duck House
28 Mott St # A
New York, NY 10013-5000
(212) 227-1810
pekingduckhousenyc.com