We have had peking duck in various different restaurants in Dubai.
Some add it as part of their brunch feast (Toy Brunch, Le Rivage, Asian Channels), and some restaurants have it as a choice in their mains (Noodle Room). My hometown in Malaysia does it well, as does the chinese in Auckland. My memories of having it in Beijing are vague when I was 16, as we honestly thought it wasn’t as good there as it was back in Malaysia 😉
What a pleasant surprise to find out that the chef behind our glorious feast last night, Chef Eddie Sim Leong hails from Malaysia. Double surprise as well, that he used to be the hands behind our favourite chinese restaurant in Dubai – Shanghai Chic. Salute to you 🙂
So last night, G and I were invited to try out the Peking Duck Evenings at Hong Loong. Honestly, I was somewhat sceptical prior to the night. I mean – really, how can you possibly enjoy a whole night of eating just, peking duck?
I’ll let you know why 🙂
(a) Classic chinese setting
Located on the second floor of Sofitel the Palm, Hong Loong (red dragon, in mandarin) is what I’ll call quite a simple but tastefully decorated chinese restaurant. Red lanterns off the ceilings, hardwood furniture, and chinese staff to serve. It was really nice to hear oldschool chinese music in the background. Ah, I should’ve came in my cheongsam 😉
(b) Crazy feast
The feast itself, was to be honest, way too much for two. Well, two chinese, at least 😀 It was, however, very very tasty.
We started off with the double boiled hot & sour duck soup, with soft tofu, wonton dumpling, chinese fungus and chinese baby cabbage. So appetising.
Next, came the classic peking duck dish. Skin was crispy, pancakes were thin and warmed, and once rolled together with hoi-sin, scallions and cucumber, just perfect. Please use your hands when you eat this! 🙂
Soon after came, what they call, the ‘mains’. In chinese tradition, there isn’t really a ‘main dish’. You just bring everything out, and share it all with the family in one go. That’s the way we did it, and boy were we absolutely stuffed afterwards. We were surprised how they came up with a variety of dishes to cook with duck meat. They were all good, though my personal favourite was the stewed duck breast in claypot.
(c) Delicious asian cocktails
I like it when restaurants come up with a menu incorporating chinese liquers and ingredients to make cocktails. Rouge in the now Hilton Capital Grand does it, and since we’ve been there, we’ve yet to found another ‘chinese bar’ that does good ‘chinese cocktails’. Now we do 🙂
I had the chance to try the Mu Lan, concoction of bacardi rum, Domaine de Canton, mint leaves, lime juice, violet syrup topped with ginger ale. Their signature drink, the Oriental Cosmo was just as good, with lemongrass replacing the classic toothpick on olive 😉
(d) Dessert
No meal is complete without good dessert at the end. With the Peking Duck Feast comes green apple jelly with lychee inside, and crispy custard dumpling to the side.
I love anything lychee. So this was good for me. G however found the jelly a wee bit too sweet. The custard dumpling was heavenly. I miss it ay. We use to get this in buns for yum cha 😉
(e) Service
We were there for a review, so it won’t be fair to comment on service (which was of course superb). I’m keen to go back another time and hope that they don’t recognise us (hee hee) to see how service is like 😉
As we were in a bit of a rush, we didn’t stay around for nightcaps. I would want to come back to try the rest of the cocktails in the menu 😉
Happy to have found another restaurant that does good chinese food. Not so surprising to have found out that he was the chef behind Shanghai Chic though 😉 I highly highly recommend, if you feel like some chinese, to give Hong Loong a shot. For 460AED for two, it is on the pricey side but if you want to splurge a little for something different, give it a shot. If you don’t want to do that, they’re in the Entertainer Fine Dining for 2 for 1s, so you can sample their ala carte menu to see if it suits your taste.
Mmmmmm, quite curious to try out their yum cha on Saturdays now. If the food is as good as their Peking Duck feasts, I’m in 🙂 Please tell me you would have pork dishes in your dim sum menu though? C’mon, you know you can’t do chinese food without pork 😀
- Peking Duck Evenings
- Every Thursday and Friday, 460AED for two
- Hong Loong
- Sofitel The Palm
- Entertainer 2 for 1 for mains in the Fine Dining book
Disclaimer : We were guests of Sofitel The Palm to review the Peking Duck Evenings in Hong Loong. All thoughts are our own, though it is entirely up to you to judge.
I had the most amazing Peking Duck at Private Kitchen in Beijing a couple of years ago and ever since, I’ve been looking for a good Peking Duck restaurant in Dubai. Until now, without any luck, but Hong Loong looks promising:)