Forbidden Duck By The Demon Chef

All Hail This Duck Dynasty

 

Last week my self-proclaimed Peking Duck expert of a brother visited one of Singapore's latest Peking Duck restaurants located right at the heart of the central business district.  This was his review of his experience.

 

A rather obscure private elevator located within one of the swankiest developments in the central business district led to the Forbidden Duck, a much-touted new dining establishment on the island. This is the first venture into Singapore by Alvin Leung (aka The Demon Chef), the outspoken and flamboyant individual behind the 3-Michelin starred Bo Innovation in Hong Kong and the now defunct 1-Michelin starred establishment bearing the same name in London.

 

As the signboard suggested, duck was the name of the game at the establishment and Alvin’s signature creation was the Slow Roasted Duck. This was painstakingly slow-cooked in an oven for three full hours to lock in the natural flavor and juices of a premium duck. The preparation then culminated with the chef roasting the duck at a high temperature for an additional half an hour to obtain the much-desired crisp skin which glistened over the tender, pink meat. An element of creativity was infused into this traditional Chinese fare by serving this with a calamansi-infused hoisin sauce and calamansi-flavored steamed buns, together with an accompanying condiment platter containing  garlic purée, smoked sea salt, sugar, julienned leek and cucumber. The tender duck was tasty enough to stand out on its own without the well thought-out platter of accompaniments.  No gaminess in the duck was detected, unlike some peking duck served at other establishments.   Just like the concept of yin and yang, the hint of calamansi in both the freshly-made buns and sauce provided for a well-rounded balance to a normally heavy meat dish.

 

 

Dessert was another of Alvin’s traditional creation with a whimsical twist. The Giant Egg Tarts served at Forbidden Duck were a tad larger than the conventional ones. Hidden beneath the delectably rich and moist egg custard was a citrusy combination of pomelo bits and yuzu peel. A refreshing end to the hearty meal!

 

Forbidden Duck is located at Marina Bay Link Mall, and is very handy for a nice lunch with close colleagues or better, that post-performance appraisal lunch where you can make your boss pay for it.

 

Verdict?  -  BELLY YUMMY THAT DIET HAS TO WAIT

 

About The Writer:

This blog post was co-written by my brother Jerome and I. Although we are siblings who grew up 11 years apart, shaped by differing experiences to see the world from different perspectives, we do share a common obsession – FOOD.  We celebrate our passion for life with food.  However, our attitudes to food are quite different and the way we celebrate our love for food are also quite different.  Jerome lives to eat and hoovers everything edible that crosses his path.  As he shovels food into his mouth with that fork in his right hand, he takes photographs of what he eats, and posts pictures and notes up on Facebook with his left.  Often, his beautifully written prose about what he had eaten would be 7 paragraphs in length and would not have any punctuations in between because he had been too busy multi-tasking. 

I, on the other hand, eat to live. It is not just about my attempts to eat healthily. As I am a “cam-whore” and “social media hussy”, I spend about half an hour styling my food, taking photographs, writing notes and posting them across my social media platforms before eating them, right after the hubby has paid for the bill and is about to head out of the restaurant.  I enjoy reading all my posts about what I had eaten because I know that I had lived fully in spite of watching what I eat.  Welcome to the foodie world of the quirky Ong siblings.