Peking Duck

Apologies for posting this so late!

On Wednesday we treated ourselves to Peking Duck at one of the two most famous Peking Duck restaurants in Beijing, Li Qun. It was a delicious meal that I will never forget. The restaurant was nestled in a hutong, that was a little difficult to find. Hutongs are essentially old Beijing neighborhoods that look like small concrete/ stone structures. They are filled with rich Beijing history and culture. The Chinese government destroyed many hutongs in the process of modernization, but my understanding is that now their cultural and historical value is recognized so the remaining hutongs are preserved. Fortunately, I brought my friend, Gloria along who is a PhD student as the Peking University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and obviously speaks perfect Mandarin Chinese, so she was able to ask people and help us navigate our way to the restaurant.

Once we were close to the restaurant, there were very cute drawings of ducks on the hutong walls that led us the rest of the way. As typical tourists we were taking pictures next to the walls. It had started to rain as soon as we left the subway station, but when I arrived at the restaurant, I was instantly warmed by a fire roasting ducks and the delicious smell of roast duck greeted me. We ordered two ducks, a duck gizzard dish, and all the fixings, including the delicious hoisin sauce. Peking Duck is traditionally cut into about a quarter inch thick slices and one puts it in a pancake with hoisin sauce, white scallions, and cucumber. I'm not sure if the duck or the hoisin sauce is more tasty. We devoured our duck quickly. When initially asked if we would like to take our duck carcasses home with us we said no because we did not have a refrigerator to keep them, but after eating the duck so quickly and enjoying it so much, we changed our mind and asked for the carcasses to take with us as a snack.

I hadn't realized it when we initially entered the restaurant, but as I took a walk around after eating I noticed that all the dead ducks both cooked and raw hung by their in plain view with their heads in tact. Let's just say it's a good thing I already ate my duck. It was so delicious though, I would go back to Li Qun and have it again in a heartbeat.

When we left the restaurant we walked by Tiananmen Square on our way back to the subway. I had not seen the square at night, but it was beautiful and I was happy to stumble upon it on one of my last nights in Beijing. It was empty except for a lone guard standing in between the Chairman Mao Memorial and another equally ornate building. The square and surrounding buildings were lit up with a yellow glow of lights. Since it had just rained, everything seemed to glisten. It was a very magical end to a delicious meal.