General Notes
This restaurant specializes in Beijing specialties such as 北京烤鸭 and 猪肉并. They do a few things really well (especially their duck, 肉饼, and 鱼头泡饼). Most of their other dishes are mediocre, but those three dishes alone are worth coming for a visit. Of the places I've been to in the bay, I would say this definitely offers the best 北京烤鸭 experience. I've only been to the Milpitas location, but they opened a new location in Cupertino recently.
Make sure to make a reservation in advance if you're planning to order the duck.
Dishes Tasted
- ☆☆☆☆ mustard duck feet -- this is pretty gross, the duck feet are cooked fine in of itself, but the flavor feels really one-dimensional and uninteresting
- ★☆☆☆ 松鼠鱼 -- too much battery and it ends up weighing the dish down too much. Also a tad more sweet than I'd like
- ★☆☆☆ 麻酱圆白菜 -- too much peanut sauce, a little heavy and unbalanced
- ★★★★ 鱼头泡饼 -- This dish is a bit expensive for the actual content, but it's absolutely delicious. The 饼 has a perfect texture for this dish - very crisp and savory. The broth pairs excellently with it, and the fish head is nice and tender. For some reason, I really enjoy fish head, so this was a really nice dish for me.
- ★★★☆ 牛肉饼 -- A bit too much dough and not enough meat, but otherwise quite good. I actually like that the dough is a bit more crisp.
- ★★★★ 炒大豆秒 -- Delicious; well stir-fried. Lots of oil, relatively salty, somewhat garlicky. The vegetables are tender but crisp.
- ★☆☆☆ 牛肉片? -- Dry
- ★★☆☆ 火爆腰花
- ★★☆☆ 京酱肉丝 -- A bit oily and lacking in sauce
- ★★☆☆ 皮冻 -- Generally not the biggest fan of this
- ★★★☆ 姜汁菠菜 -- The intense 花椒 flavor is amazing, and it goes well with the peanuts.
- ★★☆☆ 干煸四季豆 -- A bit too much burnt leftover bits, but otherwise good.
- ★★★★ 北京烤鸭 -- Crispy, juicy, and intensely savory. The accompaniments are precise and well-made.