Simon’s Peiking Duck Chinese Restaurant: he’s back

I had a pet duckling once.  His name was ‘Laurie’ (after Christian Bale’s character in Little Women, not Laurie Oakes) and he was gorgeous – all fluffy, pale yellow down and full of sweet cheep-iness.  He came home with me when he was only 1 day old and I became his mum – he waddled behind me around the house, slept on my feet while I cooked dinner and cheeped like the world was coming to an end when I wasn’t in the same room.  With that history, you’d think I might stay away from duck on the menu… Not a chance.  Laurie only stayed with me for 10 days – he was part of a year 11 biology experiment on animal behavior and was returned to the school lab.  We were allowed to keep our duckling, but I didn’t think that a duckling and an old German short-haired Pointer would make good permanent housemates.  Besides, all the ducklings from the lab went to a happy duck farm in country Victoria… or so we were told…

Anyway, I do love ducks.  Especially of the Peking kind.  About a month ago, I received an email from J, my source of those Simon-from-Old-Kingdom-will-be-opening-a-new-restaurant rumours.  J confirmed that Simon was, in fact, opening up his new restaurant and, after going to opening night and confirming that it was ‘just like Old Kingdom’, a group dinner at Simon’s Peiking Duck Chinese Restaurant was organised.

The man and his expert cleaver work

The restaurant was brighter, roomier and more comfortable than Old Kingdom.  The duck itself was very much an Old Kingdom duck – crispy (somewhat oily) skin with tender, juicy meat expertly carved by Simon.  The pancakes were thin, the sauce tangy and there were ample cucumber and spring onion.

For a few extra bucks, we upgraded the 2nd course to duck noodles.  The duck in the duck noodles was a little dry, but the handmade noodles were full of flavour and had a wonderful, slightly chewy texture.

The verdict?  It’s basically the Old Kingdom of Box Hill South.  They only opened about 3 weeks ago and already seemed to be doing great business (I’m guessing the recent write up in Epicure didn’t hurt!).  We arrived at 6 and by 6:30, the restaurant was about 80% full.  We left at 8 and there was a small crowd of people outside waiting to come in for the 2nd sitting.  So will it be Old Kingdom or Simon’s that I go to for my Peking duck fix?  Probably Simon’s – it’s closer to where I live, easier to find parking and I get to have noodles for my 2nd course.  I might even check out their full menu next time…

Wines for the night: 2005 Stonier Reserve pinot noir and 2008 Oakridge pinot noir.  The Stonier had a little bit of age and was beautiful on its own, but surprisingly didn’t really ‘transform’ when paired with the duck.  The Oakridge was a little young and opened up slightly during the night, but the sourness remained.

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