I found the best Chinese in Greater Manchester and it ruined crispy duck for me
08.10.2022 - 14:15
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A decent crispy shredded duck is a great thing indeed. Pulled apart with forks, covered in gloopy hoi sin sauce, stuffed in a pancake, and then stuffed into a face. It’s reliable. The Peking Duck at Peace Garden, which in olden times was the Czech Bar on Booth Street West, is a different ball game. In fact, it’s barely even the same sport.
This bronzed, shining beast arrives on a trolley in proud ceremony, and is delicately carved by a skilled gentleman with a giant razor sharp cleaver in front of you, the delicate pieces of duck carefully and methodically placed on a wooden board. We watched deeply impressed while drinking beers from buddha-shaped bottles.
The pieces of duck are then transferred to a warming dish (in the shape of a duck) and placed proudly on the table, with a heap of soft pancakes, a sweet sauce and the customary spring onions and cucumber.
I’ve never had better. Ever. The skin is paper thin and crisp, the pieces of duck deeply seasoned - perhaps they’re cured or brined, but something's going on - and meltingly soft. The sauce is not some mass produced, over-sweet goo, but just sweet enough and complex with aniseed spices.
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The menu notes its place as ‘one of the world’s greatest dishes’, usually reserved for state banquets. Hard to argue with when it’s done like this. Though it has ruined crispy duck for me a bit. Nothing else will be able to hold a candle to it.