We were at the Gateway Mall in Cubao, Quezon City, last Saturday evening with friends. The plan was to have dinner at one of the numerous restaurants there and to go shopping if there’s anything interesting. By the time we got there, shopping was the farthest thing from my mind. We were all very hungry. One of our friends, probably knowing my penchant for Chinese food, suggested Duck Duck China Gourmet on the ground floor. As the name suggests, the house specialty is Peking Duck. We went over the menu, not knowing how big the servings were. Since we were a party of 9, adults and kids ranging from 7 to 13 years of age, we decided on a set menu for 10 people. We thought it was a good deal–PhP 3,100.00 and the menu included 5 dimsum items of our choice, 5 entrees including half a duck, Yang Chow fried rice, drinks and fresh fruits for dessert.
There was about a 20-minute wait while the food was cooked. Our drinks were served and we whiled away the time talking and the kids, playing with cam phones and digital cameras. I took photos as well. When the food started to arrive, I didn’t have the energy to take a photo of each and every dish. I just wanted to dig in–it was already about 8.00 p.m. and we were really hungry. I had no complaints about the rice, the braised eggplants, the dimsum or the noodles. In fact, the noodle dish was great. Not much meat nor vegetables but the flavors were superb. The taste of ginger was evident and that was something new to me. I have never tried cooking Chinese-style noodles with ginger. Nothing outstanding about the dimsum but they were okay.
The Peking Duck was served chopped with a clear brown sauce. Nothing spectacular. In fact, the meat around the bones was still a little tough. Had the duck been roasted a little longer, much of the fat under the skin (very obvious in the photo) would have melted away. But it wasn’t that bad. We were hungry, like I said.
What was disappointing was the lapu-lapu with sweet and sour sauce and the pork spare ribs. The lapu-lapu was a mistake, no doubt about that. It wasn’t even in the set menu–we opted to ditch the beef with broccoli dish for the lapu-lapu. The sweet and sour lapu-lapu was served whole. The fish was split open, dredged in (too much) flour and deep fried. The sauce must have been poured over it just before it was served. The problem was we couldn’t find any meat from the fish. It just seemed to us that there was nothing but crisp fried flour and fish bones.
The deep fried pork spare ribs was so over cooked–or, perhaps, refried–that there was no juice left in the meat. Hard as rock.
If you plan on eating at Duck Duck China Gourmet, take note of the following:
1) The set menu for 10 means 10 very hungry adults. We had leftovers galore. If you are a party of, say, five adults and five kids, the set menu for 5 would be a better choice. Or, you can always order a la carte.
2) Never order the lapu-lapu with sweet and sour sauce. It isn’t worth paying for. Shucks, now that I think of it, perhaps, I should have complained and refuse to have the item included in the bill. It was just terrible. What made matters worse was that the kids were so looking forward to it.
3) If you see “pork spare ribs” on the menu, ask if it is a deep fried dish. If it is, swap it with something else except the lapu-lapu with sweet and sour sauce.
There, you’ve been warned.
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