Where to find the best Peking duck in Hong Kong

Sha Tin 18 offers Peking duck as a signature dish and it’s one of the most ordered items at this restaurant for good reason. The duck is served as three dishes. First, the roasted duck is sliced tableside before it becomes a plate of thin and crisp duck skin, which is best dipped only in sugar. This is then followed by duck breast, and duck leg meat with skin, which is served with all the pancakes, vegetables and condiments for the classic bite of Peking duck. It’s best to pre-order the duck as it’s subject to availability and takes at least 70 minutes to roast.

Only the finest young ducks are used for the Peking duck at Peking Garden. It’s also served the traditional way, with each barbecued duck carved and separated as thin crispy skin and tender meat. This is accompanied by the sauce, vegetables and pancakes. You can also choose to have the duck done two ways. So, along with the duck pancakes, you can opt to have boiled duck bone soup with vegetables or sautéed minced duck with lettuce cups. 

The duck at Xin Rong Ji is carved in front of you as soon as it is ready to come out of the oven, ensuring that the duck is sizzling and succulent with skin that is exceptionally thin and crisp – to the point that it's a little translucent and simply melts in your mouth. It’s served the classic way with steamed pancakes, but also comes with hawthorn jelly as well as the usual suspects of sliced spring onion and cucumber. Make sure you pre-order the duck when you make your reservation.

Mott 32’s rendition uses very specific ducks. The young 48-day old ducks need to weigh about 2kg each and are bred specifically for this dish to ensure the very best quality of meat and texture is brought to the table. The ducks are then aged for 42 days. Before serving, the duck is roasted with applewood for 24 hours to create a distinct Peking duck with crispy skin and smoky meat. It’s then carved tableside and served with traditional condiments, steamed pancakes, cucumber, spring onion, raw cane sugar, and a secret duck sauce swirl. The Peking duck must be pre-ordered at least one day in advance as there will be limited availability on the day. If you’re reading this, you’re probably a meat eater but it’s interesting to know that Mott 32 also launched a plant-based version of their duck made from bean curd, shiitake mushrooms, carrots and wood ear fungus.

Two versions of roast Peking duck are available at Zither Garden including traditional or Vinasse roasted. Vinasse refers to the alcoholic byproduct of sugar cane juice and molasses, which lends a slight fragrance to the duck but is actually quite subtle in taste. At Zither, crispy duck skin is served, and best enjoyed, with the golden honey plum sauce and sugar. The meat slices, on the other hand, can be paired with combinations of crunchy cucumbers, melon, green onions, and a sweet bean sauce. 

The Peking duck at Yan Toh Heen, which must be ordered in advance, is carved by the table and served with a condiment assortment including green papaya, pomelo, red pepper, pineapple, cucumber and spring onion as well as hoisin sauce, osmanthus plum sauce, and black garlic sauce, for the light pancake wraps. After that, you can enjoy the duck as stir-fried minced meat in lettuce wraps and as duck rolled in a crispy bean curd sheet with carrot and mushroom, which is fried until crispy and served with sweet mustard sauce.

The flaming Peking duck at Hutong is air-dried for 36 hours and infused with Sichuan green chillies, star anise, ground black pepper and homemade chilli paste. The flaming duck is then roasted for forty minutes before it is set alight (in front of you, so watch your eyebrows!) with Chinese rose wine and rum, adding aromatics to the whole experience. The duck is served with steamed pancakes but paired with a more unique combo of shredded papaya and sweet cantaloupe, alongside the more classic cucumber and spring onion. Condiments wise, Hutong offers traditional duck sauce or honey mustard sauce.