The Best Peking Duck in Town!

Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church has to be hands down my favorite place for peking duck. And for the price, it's a great meal for 2! Whenever my husband and I try to find a casual place to go eat, we always apply the "duck rule". If we decide to go to a mediocre place and it will end up costing more than a duck, then to us, it's not worth it and we might as well have duck instead. So on our way home from work last night, we applied the rule and decided that we should get a duck!

So what exactly is peking duck? It originated in the city of Beijing, China during the imperial era and is now thought to be one of China's signature foods. It's a type of roast duck that is known especially for it's skin, which has to be kept thin, crispy and dark brown in color. And the presentation of the duck is also important, there seems to be an exact art from to the way it's prepared.

And for those who have never been to Peking Gourmet Inn, it does get pretty packed during peak dinner hours, so make reservations whenever you can. One of the things that you'll first notice inside the restaurant as you get seated are all the pictures of people from Capitol Hill. It's pretty neat to look at all the different people who have dined here.

We don't even bother looking at the menu anymore, we normally each order an appetizer and then a duck to share. There are a few other dishes that are super delicious -- peking style lamb chops (New Zealand lamb chops cooked in a concoction of spices) and Jae Yon shrimp (huge jumbo shrimp battered and fried). But last night, we were on a mission and just wanted duck.

The duck comes out whole and is carved perfectly table side. They use some super sharp knife and manage to slice pieces of the extremely crispy skin and cut away all the fat so all you're left with are crispy skin and delicate duck meat. The carver proceeds with this process until the entire duck is carved and you're left with about 2 plates of delicious meat and skin!








Along with the duck, there is a spread of hand made pancakes, hoisin sauce, strips of sliced green onions and sliced green chili peppers in soy sauce. You can also ask for sliced cucumbers, which I do recommend.

There is a little bit of a technique to eating this. But you pretty much just prepare it like a burrito -- place a pancake on your plate, spread some hoisin sauce, add in a few slices of the crispy skin and the meat, add veggies if you want some and if you want to kick it up a notch, add some chili peppers. Then roll it up and enjoy!