Quan Ju De (Peking Duck), Beijing

If your are not a vegetarian, I think Beijing roast duck you don't miss when you travel to Beijing, and Quanjude restaurant enjoys a high reputation among domestic and overseas customers for its Beijing roast duck.

Favorite Dish: Beijing roast duck is renowned to be one of the most delicious Chinese dishes all over the world.

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I stayed near to the Qianmen branch of this famous Peking Duck chain but the road that it's located on (Qianmen Dajie) was closed due to renovations before the Olympics and so I made my way to this branch, just off the pedestrianised Wangfujing Dajie, to the east of the Forbidden City.

It is thought that Beijing roast duck, like the tradition of roast turkey in America and the UK, owes its origin to the roast goose that is still popular in Europe on festive occasions. Westerners like Marco Polo brought certain European customs to China and may have introduced the concept of roasting poultry to their Chinese hosts during the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368). Ducks had long been domesticated in China and the plump ducks proved to be an excellent substitute for goose. However, there is another school of thought based upon certain records that show roast duck has a much longer history dating back as far as the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420 - 589). Up until the Southern Song Dynasty (1127 - 1279), ducks were roasted in the area around Jinling, today's Nanjing. However, the later Yuan Dynasty rulers moved their capital city to Beijing from Jinling and took with them their cuisine thus making roast duck popular in the city that was eventually to make it its very own specialty.

Whichever way, you can't come to Beijing and not have one and I decided to come to one of the best duck restaurants in the city. It isn't cheap with half a duck costing RMB120 but its well worth it in the end and is more of an occasion than just food.

Duck places in Beijing are plentiful!

Below are my recommendations:

Hua Jia Yi Yuan
Great duck and lots of other yummy dishes from all over China. Set in a traditional courtyard...very pretty and the price of duck although higher than before the Olympics is lower than other duck restaurants around town. It is on the 24hour restaurant street.

Hua Jia Yiyuan Restaurant

Da Dong
Have had duck here maybe only once. Different branches around town. Huge restaurant area. I have heard its popular with the expats.

Da Dong Restaurant

Quanjude
One of the oldest Duck chain restaurants in Beijing. Established in 1864, the oldest branch can be found in Qianmen Main Shopping Street. Prices are higher here but it really does have an old feel to it that will transport you back to ancient times!!!

Quanjude Restaurant

Eat lots and have fun!

Favorite Dish: The Beijing Duck of course! Also I love eating spicy dishes so I would go for Sichuan cuisine too such as:
Gong Bao Jiding (Spicy chicken and peanuts),
YuXiang Qiezi (delicious aubergine dish),
Xilanhua (brocolli like you've never tasted before with garlic!),
Dan Dan Mian (spicy noodles),
Si Ji Dou (green beans with a delicious sauce and spices on it)

These are just some of my favourites! Most restaurants these days have picture menus and English translations so you can just point!

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February 14, 2009. Valentine's Day. I took my wife Diana here for dinner to have some world famous Peking Roast Duck at the one and only Quanjude. Couldn't get in the same day at the original restaurant at No. 32 Qianmen Avenue so we went to the one at Houhai Lake.

We've had roast duck before, back home in Los Angeles, so the 45 minute wait for a table had me anxiously waiting and all the hype was intensifying. Service was amateur at best. They sat us at a dirty table and didn't clean it off until a few minutes after we were seated. When the table linen and plates were set we were given a knife and fork while every other patron in the place is eating with chopsticks and no fork in sight! We actually took that as an insult, we're no experts with chopsticks but we can easily manage eating our food with them. We ordered the Roast Duck with all the fixings and shrimp wrapped with bacon and asparagus as a separate dish. Side dish was decent but bacon was very undercooked as is typical throughout SE Asia.

The Roast Duck finally arrived and carved beautifully tableside. The carvers work swiftly and accurately, having it down perfect. The waiter came by and fixed us up a pancake each with duck and fixings and we dug in. I was a bit disappointed with all the hype the Quanjude chain gets regarding its roast duck. Don't get me wrong the duck was great, but honestly, I've had roast duck thats up to par, if not better, here in Los Angeles. For me the best part was the fatty skin carved from the belly that you dip in sugar.

Someday we'll return to Beijing and have roast duck again. Only this time I will have Da Dong and/or Li Qun before I even consider Quanjude.

With reasonable prices considering the fancy atmosphere and the delicious food, this place is a good place to check Peking Duck off your list of things to do/eat in Beijing. It's 196 Yuan for a whole duck, 98 for half. Pancakes and sauce are extra. It had been highly recommended to me by a friend, and I was not disappointed. Just thinking about it makes me hungry . . .

Favorite Dish: The Roast Duck here is a must, of course. Be sure to eat the brain too - it's tastier than it looks. As a starter, the cream mushroom and duck meat soup is delicious, with just a touch of sweetness, it's the perfect preface to the actual duck.

this place is know for it's ducks! most foreigners and Chinese people coming to Beijing from all over China will come here to have duck.

i've been here a few times, and other than the first time i went (with a tour) to the Qian Men restaurant i was disappointed. The Duck here is now just over priced and it is sometimes even worse than the duck i have had at normal restaurants for around 50 RMB.

the typical duck at Quan Ju De will cost around 200 RMB and other dishes are also rather expensive. But if what you're looking for is "mian zi" (face in chinese) or if you want to treat locals to a very "nice" (by that i mean expensive) meal. this is the place to go.

othe wise, if you just want good duck, i suggest you check out Li Qun Duck (it's in my other tip)

Favorite Dish: Anything when it's being payed by someone else. Overpriced food never tastes as good to me :)

You need to know that all restaurant branches close at 8:30pm. It's annoying to take a long taxi ride only to discover this...so remember that you're reading it here. This is Beijing's oldest duck restaurant (the one near Qian Men (near Tiananmen Square)).

Favorite Dish: Obviously the duck.

There are two famous restaurants for beijing roast duck, Quanjude(1864-) and Bian Yi Fang's roast duck(1885-). The first one hangs the duck in the half-open roast oven over heat source such as fire. The second one put the duck in a closed oven (where the heat is from inner oven wall ) under the earth and soup is filled into the duck and during the cooking, it is actually roasting outside and boiling inside.

Quanjude:
Qianmenxida street 14, beijing
+86 10 63023062

Qianmen Street 32, beijing (open again after October,2007)
+86 10 67011379

Wangfujing Street Shuaifuyuanhutong 9, beijing
+86 10 65253310

Huizhongbeili 309 Tianchuangshiyuan A
+86 10 64801686
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Bian Yi Fang's:
Tiantan Eastern Street 73,beijing
Tel: +86 10 67020904

Favorite Dish: The staff will push a small table with the whole roast duck to your table, and slice it into about 120 pieces with both skin and meat for each. u can take some pictures :D
You should wrap 3 duck slices, green onions, and sweet thick sauce in a particular thin pancake or a hollowed sesame bun, which served together with the roast duck, with your bare hands. So, WASH HANDS before eating!!!
Other parts of the duck will be served as either cold dishes with its livers, wings, stomach, webs and eggs, or hot dishes with its heart, tongue and kidneys.
But so many meat will be too heavy for u, order only half duck or not order so many meat,but order some vegetables.
And do order the soup, it will be excellent! they cook the bones of the duck very long time till the soup turns white. very delicious!