Duck King

Reasonable Jumeirah Dim Sum spot 5 Reviews

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Duck King is crammed between a Krispy Kreme and KFC, an unfortunate placement that makes it difficult to take the venue seriously. I feared I was in for greasy fast food with a vaguely Chinese theme, at least until I made it past the threshold and was suddenly transported to New York’s Chinatown. I drifted past a half-dozen live lobster tanks and an open kitchen with a view of whole ducks sinisterly dangling from hooks.

Once seated, two tome-like menus hinted that I was in for some exquisite, authentic Chinese fare. I almost regretted taking a sole date instead of a dim sum-loving posse. We started by ordering a couple of items from the dim sum menu. Vegetable crystal buns made for a gorgeous opener. The minced vegetable filling – though basic – was cooked perfectly and seasoned with garlic and ginger. As lovely as it was, though, it was no match for the vegetable-stuffed potato cake that followed. The starter was moulded into the shape of a pear, deep fried and topped with a clove. The cakes were so soft that they crumbled at the touch. The outer fried layer was glutinous and surprisingly sweet, the insides savoury and filling, while the clove gave each bell-shaped piece a spicy kick. These sublime teasers haunted me, so that even two days later all I could think about was returning to try more dim sum.

Naturally, we couldn’t leave Duck King without ordering, well, duck. It managed to make Peking duck – usually a standard dish – unique. The duck skins came packed in the pancakes, and the waitress gave us a six different options for how the interior should be prepared. I opted to have it stuffed inside golden buns.

While many restaurants serve Peking duck piecemeal, Duck King just brings out the pancakes rolled. These were thin and crispy, and the fact that they weren’t overstuffed meant each ingredient was able to shine through. Once we polished them off the waitress brought over the golden, duck-filled buns. Looking like dinner rolls that had been to the tanning salon, these breads had a soft, toasted texture, and gave way to an interior of tender, sweet, smoky barbecued duck. While it might have been preferable to order a duck curry rather than the duck buns, if only to give the meal a bit more variety, these made for a seductive finish to what was a surprisingly good meal.

The bill (for two
1x Small Masafi Dhs10
1x Jasmine tea Dhs16
1x Vegetarian crystal bun Dhs24
1x Potato Pastry Dhs24
1x Peking duck Dhs168
1x Spinach Dhs34
Service Dhs34.50
Total Dhs310.50

By Daisy Carrington
Time Out Dubai, 21 June 2009

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Time Out reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for meals. Of course, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or independence of user reviews.

Posted by: Borj on 25 Jul ' 09 at 14:13

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FoodAmbienceValue

• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

I was not planning to eat last night. My only plan was to accompany my friend for her dinner.

When i saw the menu and have seen the dishes being offerd by Duck King, i craved a lot!!!!

We have ordered duck, asparagus and seafood fried rice! Can't remember how many times did i mention the word "SARAP" (tagalog word for Delicious)! My friend even teased me to make a scoreboard and log how many times i am mentioning sarap (which i think i have said it 100 times?!)! Hahaha.

At the end of the day, we thought that the total rating for the resto is not good.. It's excellent!!!! :)

We will definitely go back there. Hopefully before the week ends!

Posted by: Canuck on 22 Jul ' 09 at 16:27

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

This is like being back in China, the decor, ambience and layout are very authentic. I lived and worked in China for 18 months, the dim sum style restaurants are a mirror of Duck King. Open area, lots of tables and activity... make it what you want it to be.
As for the food, the Chinese Chef's dont miss a thing as far as authentic presentation, and most important...TASTE! Fantastic. Chinese wait staff cater to your every need and request... respect gets respect and service ten fold.
My table sampled many different styles of the dim sum, rice rolls and stir fried duck.. all were very worth the prices stated on the menu. A must visit for the dim sum crowd, and individual menu item, gourmet eaters.

Posted by: Keith Lewis, on 01 Jul ' 09 at 07:40

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

Duck - One of my all time favorite foods - IT JUST GOT BETTER !!!! We went over to Duck King last night for dinner. Mixed emotions passed through me as we approached the Beach Road because as a serious food lover and with a special fondness for any food Chinese, i was wondering if it would turn out to be just another "best Asian cuisine" production house as we have popping up all over Dubai. Reached there quite late so the place was not to busy, being a weekday added to the sparse crowd, and were immediately greeted and sat down at a nice table for 2. Table, chairs, table cloth, crockery & cutlery, glassware etc all seemed to be in good nick with a well laid out effect. John who was serving us came over to our table and took our order. He was genuinely polite and i immediately realized, even if Duck King turned out mediocre fare, they already had half the battle won - POLITE STAFF.... Drinks and starters ordered we began to explore the main menu. People, i have seen loads of different menu's in my time and vast sampling of different restaurants, but Duck King was different. They had a wide selection from Sea food to my favorite 'Roast Duck' but the good thing was, It was spaced out well and laid out simple enough so as not to confuse you in the midst of your hunger pangs. Now came over John ( Still Smiling) with out drinks and starters - Shrimp Dim Sum for the Wife and Pear shaped potato veg pastries for me. I'm not much of a sea food person so i tucked into the 'pears'. Verdict - Very creative, perfectly cooked, tasty but could be a bit more on the spicy side on the inside. Main courses were being ordered and in the middle of this i got up to nose around - Target - Kitchen...Verdict - Clean and well organized to look at.
On came the main course - The wife as usual went the sea food way with a form of spicy prawns she claims were really good but had a hint of sweetness about them. Verdict on the Prawns - Well cooked with a very good blend of spices and flavorings. We shared an egg fried rice as the main course was of a seizable quantity and there were only 2 of us to fight this battle. Verdict on the fried Rice - Light, well cooked and excellent flavor. I think you can guess what i ordered for my self - The roast duck with fresh mango... Sounds strange but try it once - Combination of tender on the inside, crispy on the outside duck slices alternating with similar sized slices of mango well laid out on a plate with a drizzle of mango sauce on the top. - Verdict - One word people - EXCELLENT!!!! Desert came in the form of a Spicy Chinese Chocolate Cake. We were surprised on the first bit to fine this - sweet,,, 3 bites down the line and this warmth started growing in my throat. This proved to be a really good combination and was really well enjoys by the both of us. Thanks John for the recomendation. by the way it must have been about 11.50 pm by this time and John was still smiling and had the same polite demure as when we walked in.

People - In my books Duck King have the perfect combination which will always make them one of my favorite places to eat at - GOOD FOOD & HOSPITALITY FROM THE HEART.

Thank you guys ,, See you again.

Posted by: TheAngelicDevil on 30 Jun ' 09 at 10:01

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

Tried the restaurant last weekend after reading the 'official' review on timeout dubai. Thus, had quite a high expectation, especially coming from a cantonese origin. I cannot say it's very disappointing (it's probably one of the best at the medium price range) however, not everything lived up to standard I would call Authentic Cantonese food.
We ordered primarily from the Dim Sum Menu. Both the Dim Sum Menu and Al a Carte menus look impressive and very extensive.
All dim sum dishes we ordered were tend to be on the sweet side which is not common in chinese cuisine.
The real shocking dish is the seafood dumpling in a broth. I cannot believe how much MSG they have added into the broth. If it was not even proper chicken stock as they use that. And for the cost of 58 per dumpling....I must say it is very disappointing.
For the steamed rice noodle rolls, it would not pass any standards too. They were so sticky and soft we couldn't even break it apart with integrity! And then it comes to the golden buns with duck fillings. They looked very good and the outside was not crispy at all as it should be! That's the most important part they got it wrong.
Other dim sums we ordered were OK.
For the soya chicken rice, we chose the aromatic rice (chicken flavoured riced) with it. The rice was cooked really bad, not sure it's the type of grain or it's just not done right. My friend made this rice at my place a few weekends ago, it was by far better than what I had at Duck King. The soya chicken was OK though.
I am still tempted to go back to try the seafood dishes and the duck from the al a carte menu next time. Afterall, it's very difficult to find reasonable authentic chinese food without paying a big premium $ over.
Lastly, I do recommend everyone to try the traditional cantonese egg tarts were done superbly! And also I really enjoyed the mocktails as they weren't too sweet.

Posted by: Ekta on 24 Jun ' 09 at 07:10

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• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

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