Peking Duck @ Peach Garden

My friend had some sort of voucher at this Chinese restaurant in Chinatown Point. 

Asked me whether I wanted to go.

We talked a bit about what we would order there.

As it turned out, the place was known for its weekend dim sum selection, and its Peking Duck.

My friend thought the duck a good thing to have for lunch- the Cantonese in me was in full agreement- so we went.

There're two, or three Chinese restaurants that Chinatown Point is known for. 

The first one is on the ground floor right next to the side entrance and near Chateraise. 

This one- Peach Garden- on the second floor, tucked between a Korean food place and a Japanese-style collagen hotpot place, boasts a bit of second-floor view where on one side you can look out towards People's Park Center on Eu Tong Sen Street, and Parkroyal Pickering Hotel on the other. 

Anyone who has had a taste of Peking Duck will tell you that it's very hard to not fall in love with it. 

Because, unlike roast duck or roast goose, it's prepared in such a way where the taste, texture and feel are overall different. 

I don't know if it's the crepe making the difference. 

Or the sweet sauce, which varies from place to place, by the way. 

Some places- like my regular old haunt- which closed down at Odeon Tower and reopened at Raffles City- serves it with plum sauce. 

Here the sauce is as sweet, but a little tangier. 

The thing is, I don't know how to tell the difference between one good Peking Duck and another.

It's generally all delish to me.

Maybe the only things I can tell are whether the skin is shinier, brighter, oilier, or crispier.

So whilst I can tell you that the duck skin here at Peach Garden seemed to be darker and slightly fatter compared to what I normally have, I cannot tell you whether one is better than the other.

Then again, I can tell you that their crepe skin was different too. 

Peking Duck is one dish which you must eat when it's hot. 

Not that it's inedible when it's cold, but I've found it to be way nicer when the skin's warm and crisp and the fat bursts in your mouth even as the oils go down your throat. 

Unfortunately I usually end up with cold duck skin near the end of the dish, and that's because I have this habit of spending too much time savoring the first few ones. 

It's happened at other places before.

It happened at Peach Garden today as well.

First few pieces were warm and crisp and oily- I ate them using chopsticks before switching to my hands- but twenty minutes of conversation with my friend after and the last few pieces were a little hard, and cold. 

My fault entirely, it didn't ruin the pleasure of chewing through the skin, the crepe plus all the cucumbers which my friend had taken out from his portion and left behind. 

Some places serve leek.

They here serve cucumbers.

I like both.

Especially if the vegetable, cold, firm and green, is refreshing. 

I pretty much liked this rendition.

Even though I did wonder if we should have ordered half portion (then we'd eat faster) instead of a full one, but then we could pack up the meat- in any case- and anyway there was space enough for another dish. 

I thought of ordering some dim sum. 

My friend however opted for the sweet sour pork.

Which, I tell you, was a great idea.

Not every place does it in such a way where there're no pieces so hard you can't chew through, or a sauce so cloyingly sweet you feel awkward after.

Their chunks were chewy, their sauce was fruity, and there were cute little bits that I happily crunched through after all the bigger chunks were finished.

By the way, the presentation of the tea surprised me. 

I'd thought it would come in a regular white tea pot like most Chinese restaurants do. 

Instead it came served in this pretty, contemporary-looking shiny thing with a tea cup that can be doubled up for coffee.

Somehow it made the meal feel more fun.

Perhaps Chinese-style dining has become more casual post-Covid days, perhaps customers are now more accepting of light, casual dining, and perhaps that's what more and more places are now attempting to do- switch up the image of tradition whilst keeping the quality, service and enjoyment of the food in tradition.