THE PICKIEST EATER IN THE WORLD: A BITE OF THE BIG APPLE: THE AMBASSADOREOS AT PEKING DUCK HOUSE

Though we had just feasted on a magnificent Breakfast Buffet a couple of hours earlier, we worked up quite a bit of an appetite (Well.. At least I did) during the first half of our New York City Tour (Coming up in the next post!). We had seen many landmark sites that we had only had seen in our favorite movies and TV shows. But even then we still had an entire City to explore, so it was best to make sure our belly was filled before moving on to the next leg of our tour.

Once again, Oreo Philippines, had our back and took us to Peking Duck House in China Town.

Truthfully, I was looking forward to more American Style meals. Its funny because from the the time I landed til that precise moment, I had gone to five restaurants in New York.. Three of them Chinese cuisine (Hop Kee, Bao Haus and Peking Duck House), and the other were two Breakfast food (New York Hilton Marketplace & IHOP). Funnily enough, Peking Duck House is located along Mott Street as well.. Right in front of Hop Kee.

But of course, since Peking Duck was on the menu, and its one of the greatest things on the planet, there was no reason to complain.

The dining area of Peking Garden has a simple elegance to it, with walls left bare, and the only touch of the orient you get are the paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling. The important factor to me was, as drab as the interiors looked, the place was absolutely spotless.

The service was relatively OK, but I did notice that our young male attendant wasn't as cheerful as one would expect a waiter of a restaurant to be. Though he wasn't rude or anything like that, I got the impression that we were hassling him whenever one of us would ask for water or extra table napkins.

THE FOOD

STARTERS

First up, were the Steamed Dumplings.

The wrapper was a bit thicker than what i'm used to, but the meat was tasty enough to catch my attention. A few dabs of the sweet soy sauce and it was a nice start to the meal.

Next on our Appetizers list was the the Vegetable Spring Rolls.

The spring rolls were cooked to a beautiful golden crisp, and were quite tasty. Unfortunately, it was pretty much your average "lumpia togue" wasn't anything that my yaya couldn't make at home.

ENTREES

I have come to the conclusion that Yang Chow Fried Rice is good in any country. Peking Duck House had a nice helping of bits of ham peppered around it, and Rina enjoyed the chunky bits of shrimp. A good companion to the upcoming meal.

You wouldn't think of me as someone that eats string beans.. and rightfully so. But Peking Duck House's Crispy String Beans with Minced Pork is one of the few that I do eat. The string beans itself were fried just right, with the exterior giving out a bit of a crunch, but the bean itself was delicately chewy. The minced pork Stir Fry was a mix of lightly sweet and a touch of saltiness, creating a nice balance between the two flavors.

Perhaps my only comment was, the beans totally overwhelmed the minced pork, which seemed to just cover the bottom of the plate. It would have been nice if it beans were coated in the minced pork mixture.

Something that left me extremely disappointed was the General Tso's Chicken. I really couldn't make out the flavor. The meat was bland, while the sauce was bitter, but overly sweet at the same time. To me it was one big mess. I would have preferred Recipe's General's Chicken over this.

It's a good thing that the Beef With Broccoli made up for it (I just realized I have no problems spelling "Kurobota", but I had to spell check "Broccoli". And yeah, I got it wrong the first try. I don't use the word often. hehe). The the slices of beef were extremely tender, and was coated in a thick sauce that enhanced the flavor of the meat.

Rina commented on the freshness of the Broccoli. I took her word for it. hehe.

THE MAIN EVENT

You'd think that all the dishes they brought out would be enough for our group, right? Well Oreo made sure that we get the authentic Peking Duck Experience from Peking Duck House.

And oh if you were wondering.. The Oreo didn't come with the Duck.. Ambassadoreo Jennifer was just fooling around.

I couldn't help but get excited at the thought of watching a master carver slice up the Peking duck but good.

I gotta tell ya.. The man has some serious skills. I've watched them do it in Peking Garden, here in the Philippines, and I gotta admit, I was proud of the impressive handwork my countryman showed. But this guy at Peking Duck House was the real deal.

He sliced into that duck so easily, you'd think that his knives were made of Adamantium.

Within minutes we each had a large Peking duck pocket, filled with juicy duck meat...

.. Sandwiched between two slabs of fatty, yet crispy duck skin.

The wrapper was soft, and chewy, and held the meat well. Smeared around its walls was a nice helping of hoisin sauce, that was a nice counter to the richness of the duck meat.

All in all, this was a kick ass piece of Peking Duck.

I was just a little disappointed that they didn't cook the bones in peppercorn like they would do in Peking Garden, but on the whole, It was delicious.

DESSERT

After a meal as heavy as that, you can imagine that we only wanted something light for dessert. Which is why the Fried Banana with Walnuts was perfect. The Bananas were dipped into a lightly sweet batter, then deep fried, making it look somewhat like a golden egg. The honey glazed walnuts were toasted, and.. to be honest, tasted good, but didn't really do anything for the flavor of the banana.

Of course I would have preferred it "ala mode", but oh well.. (Then again, I prefer almost anything "ala mode")

AN OREO MOMENT

As we were walking around the restaurant in our Oreo Shirts, one of the customers, a nice lady that happened to be dining at Peking Duck House with her husband and two children approached us and asked where we got our shirts. She explained that her son's favorite cookie was Oreo, and though he couldn't read yet, he recognized the logo on our shirts and jackets, and started pointing it out to his mom.

Living up to her title as the Official Philippine AmbassadOREO, Jennifer quickly whipped out a pack of Oreos from her bag to give to the little boy.

Unfortunately, as little boys do when they are approached by a beautiful woman, the boy was overcome with shyness and hid behind his mother. It was clear that he wanted the cookies, but was just too shy to get it. Good thing his older sister was there to get it for him! Afterwards, Jennifer even gave her a quick tagalog lesson, as she taught her how to say "Salamat!".

Yet another amazing Oreo moment bringing people from different countries together!

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