Indeed, the "super-lean" roast duck, which is shredded right in front of the customer, is as tasty as at the original restaurant. The crisp duck skin melts in your mouth, and the duck meat is tender. At 98 yuan per roast duck (118 yuan if you want the skin served separately), this meal is a splurge. Each condiment helping, which includes small saucers of cucumber, red turnip slices, sweet soy sauce, shallot slices, sugar, mashed garlic, pickles and preserved vegetables, costs 8 yuan per person

A waitress will explain three ways to eat your roast duck: dip the skin into the sugar, add garlic and cucumber slices, shallot slices and sweet soy sauce, and then wrap it in a pancake. The pickles and preserved vegetables are used to clean the palate from the different tastes.

Besides the roast duck, two other specialty dishes are braised shark's fin with saffron sauce, and Chef Dong's braised sea cucumber.

Other popular picks are pickled vegetables, sauteed bean sprout, deep-fried prawn balls with sesame mayonnaise, and braised winter bamboo shoots.

Da Dong's healthy concept is apparent in most of the dishes. Most dishes are cooked using low-fat methods, such as steaming and boiling and only slight frying. If the cooking process involves deep-frying, the materials will be put into hot water to wash away the oil before the food is further prepared. That's why some traditional oily dishes, such as stir-fried duck heart, do not taste as oily here.

It takes a while to go through Da Dong's illustrated 106-page menu, which is in Chinese, English and Japanese.

Average spending is 230 yuan per person. Parking space is sufficient at the underground park to the west of Nanxincang International Building.

Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant
Location 1: South of Nanxincang International Building, 22 Dongsishitiao, Dongcheng District
Tel: 010-51690328
Opening time: 11am-10pm

Location 2: Bldg 3, Tuanjiehu Beikou, southeast corner of Changhong Qiao on East Third Ring Road
Tel: 010-65822892