Old Kingdom

Old Kingdom

197 Smith St, Fitzroy

(Ph) 9417 2438

I had been to Old Kingdom since ~5 years ago, P loves Peking duck and found this place after much research online, and since then, have been coming here a couple of times.

Pretty much everyone who comes here comes for their Peking duck. $55 for a duck, served 3 ways - Peking duck, stir fry duck meat with bean sprouts, and duck and tofu soup.

Came here with some college friends - 6 of us, 3 girls and 3 guys - we couldn't decide whether to order 2 or 3 ducks, but decided to be more lavish and order 3 ducks (partly 'cause another guy was going to come but decided not to eat). You have to order how many ducks you want prior so they can prepare the numbers for the night - though we've never tried to just rock up at the restaurant. They do 2 sittings here - 6pm or 8pm. We booked for 6pm but knew we had to be kicked out by 8pm lol

P and I came late, we sat down and told them they could serve the food. The manager? (or a guy who was behind the counter and took our bill etc) came out with a Peking duck after only 5 minutes - we were hungry so we were happy =D He cut the duck in front of us, seemed like such a pro but I guess you would be after doing it so many times every day =P He asked us if we knew how to eat Peking duck, we said yes so he didn't bother explaining to us how, though it's pretty self-explanatory =P

Tada! A beautiful plate of Peking duck skin with bits of meat stuck on it =) He cut us the duck leg and wings as well - lots of meat on the leg! =D

A plate of very thin pancakes - the thinner the better but not easily ripped =P

A pancake, a piece of cucumber (normally with a spring onion as well - but I'm not a fan so I didn't put one in), some Peking duck sauce (kinda like a mix between plum sauce and hoisin sauce) all wrapped in the thin pancake - deliciousness! We finished one plate of duck, then they brought out another plate, all cut up already (finished performing in front of us so not necessary anymore =P) and another one. I probably had about 10 pancakes all together? I actually lost count but I was quite full from the Peking duck already. Plus one duck leg with it's delicious meat =)

Next came the second course of duck - stir fry duck meat with bean sprouts. The waiter separated it into 6 equal bowls of stir fry - should have given more to the boys but P said he was too full to have any of mine anyway =P

Our vegetables for the night lol - lots of tasty duck meat =) The boys said it was a bit too salty to eat by itself without rice, but we were so full definitely could not fit any rice in! I of course don't mind, I never eat rice anyway so I didn't find it salty but was full of flavour =)

Seriously could not fit anymore in, but the third course, the duck soup came last.

Duck broth with tofu and vegetables - a tad too much pepper but I quite like that. Cleanse the palate after all the duck oiliness - ended the meal very nicely =)

After we finished one large bowl of soup, the manager came and said we can ask for more soup if we want, so we did =P Except the duck bones piled up so there was only 80% of the liquid from the first bowl =P We finished the second bowl and asked the same waiter for another serving =P By the end of the third serving, the bowl was 50% filled with duck bones lol =P

Food~
Peking duck - 10/10 - definitely thumbs up! That's what we come here for =)
Stir fry duck with bean sprouts - 7/10 - a tad too salty to eat by itself but I didn't mind it
Duck broth - 8/10 - very nice way to end the meal, cleanse the palate =P

Atmosphere~
2/5 - very typical Chinese restaurant feel, and very squishy between the tables - lucky we weren't upstairs or it's even more of a squish there! I guess it's a very authentic Chinese feel =P

Service~
3/5 - the waiters were very prompt with serving up the food and clearing our plates =P Probably 'cause they wanted to kick us out by 8pm =P

We were all clutching our stomachs afterwards - definitely worth it and definitely will be coming back!

C.
xo