New twist for an old favorite

Peking roast duck giant Quanjude's oldest branch at Qianmen has just created some new duck dishes cooked in the Huaiyang style. It is a departure from the Cantonese and Shandong styles the 146-year-old restaurant is known for.

Lotus root with glutinous rice is a traditional Chinese cold starter. Quanjude Qianmen branch marinates prepared duck giblet, before mincing it and stuffing it in lotus root with glutinous rice and then cooking with rock sugar, honey and hawthorn fruit juice. The dish is sweet and salty, and gives a meaty flavor to the originally vegetarian dish.

Steamed gluten is another typical Shanghai cold dish. The restaurant boils steamed gluten with peanuts, black fungus and bamboo shoots, before stewing the mixture with diced brined duck liver. The smooth tasting duck liver imparts an even better taste sensation to the classic dish.

Duck is also used to prepare crab and pork meatballs, which reduces the grease of the Huaiyang dish.

Apart from these new dishes, the eatery also offers some duck-free Huaiyang specialties. These include oil-braised arrowhead bamboo shoots, assorted silver fish with dry bean curd slices, emerald fish soup, boiled mushroom with gourd and crab roe, as well as crab roe dumpling with three delicacies filling.