This probably won’t surprise anyone but this is a hard thing to choose.
I am pretty sure I have had duck at well over 30 places in Brisbane alone, and this entire entry is about those places. Well…some of them.
Before I embark upon this entry though, I would like to mention to my vegan friends, that at some point in the very near future I will be going to some vegan restaurants and reveiwing the food from those.
Mostly because, I like eating vegan dishes too.
On with the Duck.
I am starting with my favourite and counting up from there. I’m stopping at five though, mainly because I can’t remember everywhere I have had duck.
Unless I am walking past the place, then I can go “I’ve had duck there, it was (insert description here)”
So…
NUMBER 1 – DETOUR
Ok, yes, this is my favourite restaurant in Brisbane. I have only ever gotten one meal I wasn’t thrilled with from here and it wasn’t duck, so it is not being mentioned here.
While I was here on Saturday I pondered what I look for in good duck. What makes every duck dish different. It took me a while but I figure it out.
Duck needs to be moist, not greasy. It needs to be firm, but not tough. The gamey flavour needs to be slightly subdued, just a little, I don’t think duck is good if there is no duck flavour to it. I am not a fan of places that hide the flavour of it either, as opposed to compliment it.
Detour’s dish, KFD, is my favourite. My absolute favourite. The duck is moist, not greasy. It is firm, not tough. It is done maryland style, the thigh and the drumstick crumbed and fried. The jalepeno corn bread and sour cream compliment it well and give the whole dish a kind of… you know I was going to say a southern USA feel, but having never been to the USA and only ever eating chicken maryland from a take away store, I am going to go with ummm…ahhh… a comfort food feel. This is not acomfort food restaurant, well not everyones comfort food anyway.
Every bite into the duck from here made me wish there was more. I’m glad there wasn’t, as I would be eating there a lot more if there was. Fried chicken is great, but to me fried duck is incredible. Especially theirs.
NUMBER 2 – ANGELA’S KITCHEN
Angela’s kitchen in Enoggera is my second favourite place for duck. This is mostly a quality thing, but quantity is there too. You can get a whole duck for a fairly decent price. Just roasted, nothing fancy, but roasted well. I have eaten a whole duck from here, with a side of chicken wings. Like Detour, it’s not greasy and it’s firm. It’s cut up when you get it. The only thing that may deter people is that the duck is not cut up they way some places joint chicken, but rather just hacked neatly and professionally into pieces.
The best thing about this is the flavour. Whatever these guys put on their roast duck when they cook it works really well. It’s also a little addictive, once I started I found it hard not to keep eating. I may not have actually tried though.
NUMBER 3 – VIETNAM HOUSE
Vietnam house is number three because it made me realise why duck a l’orange was such a big deal. This was just called duck in orange sauce, and it was pretty good. I think i had had it before, but it wasn’t this good. I had to wait a little while for the food to turn up, even though I was the only customer, but it was worth it. It tasted like, and looked like, that it was made with a lot of care. Whether you are one person or a party of people, they certainly put the effort in.
Now to the duck in orange sauce. This duck, unlike the first two, was a little greasy. This was overridden by the orange sauce. It was a beautiful combination. The orange sauce didn’t overide the duck flavour, it complimented it really well. Something about citrus and canard is amazing, to me anyway. Especially if the citrus sauce is just sharp enough to take the edge of the grease. I imagine this place could have any duck and made it good. Their sauce was excellent.
NUMBER 4 – THE TASTE GALLERY MYER CENTRE.
I got a peking duck crepe from here. I have yet to go back for a second one, but this was pretty good. There is a beautiful richness about these. I loved every bite. The thing was a huge crepe filled with peking style duck and various vegetables. I normally prefer plain roast duck to peking duck, but this was really good. The duck part was strong enough that it took all of the other flavours along for the ride. If you get a chance, try one of these.
NUMBER 5 – OBSESSION
This is here, instead of number one, because the particular dish I loved from this place does not exist anymore. It will forever be in my tastebuds though. A long time ago, this place did triple cooked duck. I think it went steam, roast and steam. It was incredible. Every mouthful felt like it melted in my mouth. It was so moist, and so succulent, that I think that I was drooling while I was eating it. It was the most amazing thing I had even eaten at that point in time. I can’t tell you if it came with anything, I just remember the duck. While they had it, this was one of my favourite places. Then the chef changed, and they had double cooked duck instead of triple cooked. The meal went down a notch. It tasted good, but not as good. It didn’t leave me wanting to eat a second, maybe third duck. Triple cooked duck made me want more, no matter how ill or full I felt. It took me a couple of days to get over it.
I have yet to find another dish like it.
When I do you will here about it.
THE OTHERS
There are many other good places that do duck, and in many different styles. As you may have guessed, roasted is my favourite. There is a place in the valley that has duck, that I haven’t tried yet. Maybe one day soon I will.
Eat well everyone.
Bren's Food Adventures 