Peking Duck

My girlfriend had a birthday the other week! Happy birthday to her!!! To celebrate, I treated my girlfriend, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend to a double-date dinner at the Nan Yuan Restaurant at the Grand Mercure Fortune Bangkok. It's a hotel restaurant famed for having some of the best Peking duck in the city.

Peking duck 

Peking Duck is a specialty from Beijing (formerly called "Peking"), and is a dish of Chinese imperial cuisine. As per my research:

Ducks are specially bred to be used for this dish. The duck skin is seasoned and roasted by being hung in an oven. While the meat is always served separately, the skin of the duck is the main attraction of this dish. It is served with spring onion and hoisin sauce, and wrapped in a thin crepe-like pancake.

ready to be wrapped up and eaten 

I had to order the Peking duck a few days in advance. We just ordered one duck, as it was plenty for four of us. When we arrived, the staff asked what we would like to do with the meat. The girls ordered several duck dishes to accompany the main course.

minced duck meat 

One side dish was a dish of minced duck meat with lots of herbs and spices. Another was crispy fried duck meat with garlic, onion, and cilantro.

crispy duck with garlic 

They also ordered some Thai-style fish in a curry sauce to share. Thai meals, especially for special occasions, are generally shared family-style.

Thai food is often served family-style 

And of course, when in Thailand, you must have some sort of rice dish! We ordered a fried rice with egg, veggies, and Chinese-style sweet sausage (a personal favorite of mine). Small pieces of the duck were chopped into the fried rice too.

It was a great evening, a very special occasion, and one of the best meals I've had in a while!

fried rice!