Thanks to Claire Blais for providing the post this month for RC.
GUEST BLOGGER ALERT! Kara chose to be a responsible human being and spent August RC night working with her group on a school project, so I volunteered to write the blog post for this month. I offer the unique perspective of being terrified of the main entrée: traditional Peking duck (which you have to pre-order).
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| Quack, quack |
ChinaKing in Chinatown is renowned for its Peking duck, which they present whole according to Chinese tradition, then return to the kitchen for preparation three ways: duck tacos, homemade udon noodles stir fried with duck, and duck/tofu soup.
Wanda ordered 2 whole ducks for the table, and in true RC fashion we also ordered several dishes to split. Not sure I can remember them all (I might have downed some liquid courage before getting to the restaurant in order to face said duck head on…literally) but I did take pictures of them all. Matching the pics with the menu, here’s what I’ve got:
- Peking raviolis
- Scallion pie
- Pan fried wontons
- Jellyfish
- Beef tendon
- Fried rice
- Beef, Pepper, Onion Chow Foon
- Bean sprouts with pork
- Fried pork chops
- Bok choy
Oh yes, this is *in addition to* the two whole ducks. My favorite of the above was the Peking raviolis, but everything was tasty. I think most people tried the beef tendon but agreed it was a little chewy.
Back to the duck. It’s presented whole, head on, which I’m told is a traditional symbol of good luck. Then it goes back to the kitchen and is prepared for the first dish, duck tacos.
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| Duck ready to be tacos |
You’re served thin scallion pancakes with scallion “brushes” to paint on the hoisin sauce, and then fill it with crispy duck skin.
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| Ray “painting” his tacos |
The meat is flavorful and the skin adds a crisp texture that is really good inside the “taco” of the pancake. I liked this dish and am glad I tried it! The next duck course is the stir fried udon noodles, which I read were hand made in house. This was really tasty. The final dish was the soup with duck and tofu. The broth was really tasty but I was really full and couldn’t bring myself to eat the meat…which I think was the neck.
Thank you Wanda for picking a restaurant that helped me step outside my comfort zone!
The damage
$23 each – might be an RC record! (bring cash, it’s also BYO wine)
The rundown
China King (no web site, but here are links to reviews in Boston magazine, Boston Globe, and Yelp)
60 Beach Street, Boston
Kara Cooks and Eats 