Dubbed as one of the top eight roast duck restaurants in Shenzhen, I was eager to check Jingwei Zhang Roast Duck Restaurant (京味張烤鴨店) off my list this weekend. Thankfully, they have a branch at Wongtee Plaza (皇庭廣場) where little nugget and I would be spending a ton of time at for our arcade games.
One of the things about Jingwei Zhang that immediately caught my eyes was the mix of modern and traditional decorations.
They have a no-reservation policy so we have to arrive a little after 3:30pm for our ticket. Once we got our table secured (with the ticket), we were asked to come back in about an hour where dinner officially starts.
A little early for dinner at 4:30pm? Not according to this kid....
Chinese bok choy with cracklings (油渣奶白菜) (¥32) – Not a bad way to start off the meal with some veggies, especially when we have the Peking duck coming up shortly.
Roast Duck (精品烤鴨) (¥128) – This was what we came here for, baby! Of course, we had to wait for the chef to do all the hard work first before our indulgence.
The usual condiments for Peking duck including cucumber, scallions, sugar, melon, hawthorn (山楂) and hoisin sauce.
I thought one of the things that set Jingwei Zhang apart from their competition was the details to their Chun Bing (春饼). They did a great job preserving the warmth of those pancakes and even went as far as to have a staff come separate them one by one so they didn't stick together.
Little nugget was equally impressed with the venue and the Peking duck in front of him. He kept saying to us that this looked upscale and top-notch.
I am a purist when it comes to Peking duck. No scallion, sugar....
And I like having some duck meat to go with the crispy skins.
Second round....
To me, this was a little better than what we had at Duck de King (金鴨季). There was a little more smokiness in the skin and we could really taste and smell the aroma of apple wood. The super tender chun bing also played a key role in delivering a very nice mouthfeel.
Deep-fried shrimp balls (貴妃荔枝蝦球) (¥98) – Talk about making an entrance...
These came in the shape of a lychee hanging beautifully on a tree with special effects from the frozen ice. That was impressive especially considering the price. We would never have this kind of presentation and "entertainment" for that price tag in Hong Kong.
I had these kind of lychee-shaped balls as a dessert before but not in a savory dish.
The accompanying chili sauce was mildly spicy. I could live with that!
This was OK. Not surprisingly, it was one of those dishes that looked much better than it tasted.
Stir-fried pig's kidney Traditional Beijing-style (老北京溜腰花) (¥68) – By now, I am kind of used to this dish cuz it was the third time that Jelloman ordered while visiting Shenzhen. I thought the pig's kidney, bamboo shoots, black fungus and cucumber worked very nicely together; and the spicy kick and numbing effects from the sauce was a reasonably good touch.
We didn't order desserts cuz we had all the time in the world to do so later tonight. It's time to get our feet wet with the arcade games next.
A lot of friends were asking why we were so hooked to Shenzhen these days. I can honestly say it's not the price cuz unlike what people are saying, dining-out in Shenzhen isn't really all that cheap. It might be about 20% less than what we are paying in Hong Kong but factoring in the transportation (rapid train tickets) and other stuff, it's hard to justify it solely on the price tag. For me, what impressed me most about dining in Shenzhen was the service. I have never come across a restaurant where I'm badly treated or having some staff with poor attitude. In fact, some of those restaurant staff were willing to go the extra mile just to get us back for the second time (Just look at the photo of the staff with little nugget. See the smile on his face). That was really the difference maker. Back in Hong Kong, we got poor attitude from restaurant staff all the time. These guys should never be in the hospitality industry. They are the ones forcing the locals to spend it elsewhere, with Shenzhen getting the biggest bite of the pie.
Food Rating: 6.4/10
Price: ¥¥¥
Address: Shop No.29, Level 1 Wongtee Plaza, 118 Fuhua Road, Futian, Guangzhou, China
深圳市福田区福华三路118号皇庭广场 L1-29铺
Closest Metro Station: Convention & Exhibition Centre (會展中心)
Tel: +86 (755) 83224833
Opening Hours: 10:00am - 10:00pm daily
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