Eric's Beijing Diary

Went with Raymond and his girlfriend to a restaurant near the West Gate of Renmin University. That place has the best kao ya west of the Mississippi. Way west of the Mississippi. There is a Peking Duck restaurant down by Tiananmen that is a lot more famous (and about five times as expensive), but I don't believe that the quality is better. I have often wondered if this stuff would be legal in the United States, because of the force-feeding procedure that is used to fatten the birds.

There's a certain technique to eating Peking Duck. I don't know how or when the standard was developed, but somehow it did, and it's probably going to be a standard for some time, because it seems to work pretty well. What you do is to grab a piece of the roast duck with your chopsticks, and dip it in the meat sauce. Then you lay it on a flat flowered shell like a soft tortilla shell. You do this a few times, then grab some sticks of cucumber and do the same with them. Then you roll the whole business up in the tortilla shell, and shovel it in. I generally like Peking duck, but I will say that it varies somewhat, depending on where you get it. The stuff at this particular place is very tender. And cheap. Only 38 RMB for an order. It's a good idea to get a vegetable with it or something, but not too much, because a few mouthfuls of that juicy roast duck will really fill you up. One order easily takes care of three people. It probably would not be a good idea to eat this stuff every day, because it is certainly designed for flavor. But if you're hungry, this meal will definitely satisfy you.