When in Beijing....

...you've got to try the Peking Duck! I'm not really a "duck person" but I figured I couldn't go to Beijing (Peking) without trying their namesake food. Kendrick reccomended Quanjude, one of the 2 famous Peking Duck establishments. So, I braved the Beijing subway at rush hour and traveled 2 stops to a pedestrian shopping street...both packed with people. The entrance to Quanjude reminded me of the architecture from many of the buildings in the Forbidden City...which makes sense as I later found out that the restaurant was founded in 1864 during the Qing dynasty. There was an extensive menu of duck items, some not worth mentioning (ick!), as well as lots of seafood, chicken, beef and veggies. I loved my litte duck chopstick holder ;-)
After some mushroom soup and steamed spinach to start with the duck arrived. I should have snapped a picture of the guy carving it, but it felt too "touristy" to me, but thankfully, Quanjude had some photos online so you can get the idea. The carver wheeled over a mini carving station with my half duck and quickly carved it into slices. There was a special plate for the pieces of all fat as apparently these were the "most desirable." Then my server showed me how to wrap the duck into pancakes with spring onion and hoisen sause...she did it all with chopsticks...I may or may not have had to use my fingers to help assemple subsequent pancakes. The duck was pretty good...didn't love it, but definitely worth the experience! They use wood from peach or pear trees in the ovens to help make the sweet, not smokey taste.This mix of ancient and modern (found often througout China) cracked me up! But, truth be told, that cartoon duck was a marker for me that I was going into the correct building ;-)