Peking Duck at Taoranting

You know that Nathan's hot-dog eating contest, the one where that tiny Japanese man can shove like 50 something hot dogs into his mouth in 12 minutes, without throwing up or exploding? I always wondered how he was able to do that, and apparently it turns out that they have to do intense training for it to stretch their stomachs out. After eating at Taoranting (陶然停), I have decided that I too will have to start a stomach stretching regimen in order to fully enjoy my experience there the next time I go.

Taoranting is known for their Peking duck, which is indeed heavenly. The skin is rendered very nicely, glistening with juices and perfectly crispy. The meat is tender, though I thought it could have been a tad bit juicier, but Luke pointed out that it was the breast meat, which doesn't hold that much fat to begin with - so I don't really have any complaints. For "liang3chr1 (兩吃)," which is 800NT, you get the duck prepared two ways: the wraps, and a soup. For 1100NT (san1chr1, 三吃), then a noodle dish (made with the duck) is included.


We opted for the 800NT deal, which was a pretty darn good deal. The soup that came with it was enough to serve at least four or five people, and try as we might - this is why I need to do those stomach stretching exercises - we still had more than half of it left over. Then, when we asked to get it wrapped, we discovered that they added more soup for us to take home! Three days later, I'm still drinking this soup.

We also ordered some sides of fried eggplant and scallion pancakes. The eggplant was good - each slice of eggplant was battered and fried, and there's a salt and pepper mixture on the side to dip each one into. As for the scallion pancakes, check it out:


This dish was only 30NT! Each pancake was nice and thick, with a wonderful chewy texture on the inside, but still crispy on the outside. And did I mention it's only 30NT? That's less than $1US! (Ok, it's like 98 cents, but you get the drift.)

Here's a picture of our fabulous spread, minus the soup, which hadn't come out yet:


The place was pretty packed when we went - around 7:30 on a Saturday night - so you probably want to make reservations. We didn't, so we just left our name, and they called us about a half an hour later. Oh, and if you want a duck - and you DO want a duck - you have to tell them in advance, either when you make the reservation or when you leave your name.

Well, enough writing about the Peking duck. Off to start stretching my stomach!

Taoranting (陶然停)
Fuxing North Road, No. 86, 2nd Floor*
(02) 2718-1975

*The entrance is a little tricky to find. It looks like you're going into a regular apartment building, but look for stairs that say "Ballentine's" on each of the steps, and the restaurant is on the second floor.