My friend Hamilton and I have been eating out together since our university days. He moved away recently and whenever he comes back for a visit, we’ve always found ourselves eating out at Chinese restaurants. MR WONG is always a a good option, but since I was invited to check out HOLY DUCK! in Chippendale I asked if he wanted to come along!
It’s my second time at HOLY DUCK! actually – last year DS and I attended their opening event which was delicious. They also served us way too much food, which I’m not complaining about! However it made it difficult to go a second time with only the 2 of us to share the many dishes I wanted to order.
First up, though, we ordered some drinks. I’m not usually a drinks person (this blog is rarely, if ever, about drinks) but I was impressed that their Happy Hour menu included some non-alcoholic drinks.
The HD Royale Martini – orange infused vodka shaken with HD duck infused grand marnier, campari, aperol & fresh pressed lemon, served long ($14) looked like a really complex drink. Could we taste the duck infused grand marnier? Probably not. Still not a bad drink though! I really, really enjoyed my Kaffir Lime & Lychee Breeze – Fresh apple pressed kaffir lime, lychee & ginger ($10). It was a really refreshing drink to have with some of the heavier BBQ meat dishes. It’s definitely also something you’d enjoy in summer.
Our fried rice arrived first which I thought was curious. Normally fried rice ends a Chinese meal. No matter, we still really enjoyed the Roast Holy Duck! Fried Rice with mustard seeds ($19). I love the extra crunchy texture of the mustard seeds. We chose this fried rice because it had roast duck in it, and we had decided to order the crispy duck instead.
The Signature Crispy Duck served with steamed pancakes, hoisin sauce, cucumber & shallots (half for $39) is definitely a hero dish at HOLY DUCK! You can’t get crispy duck like this in every duck restaurant. And yes, it’s very different to Peking duck, even if you are still having it with pancakes, shallots, cucumber and hoisin sauce. I feel like the duck is essentially deep fried whole. Then the meat is shredded in front of you. It’s a wonderful combination of crispy meat and skin, with soft succulent duck meat underneath. You can get Peking duck in many places, so when you come to HOLY DUCK! I would recommend you get the signature crispy duck instead.
Hamilton was also keen on getting the Sichuan Style Hot & Numbing Chicken Wings ($20), which I was a bit cautious about. I can’t handle chilli at all, and everything about that dish screamed ‘EXTREMELY SPICY’ to me. Surprisingly, it was totally manageable for a non-chilli eater like me. It was definitely numbing, but in a really tasty way. Just don’t bite into one of the giant chillies. Hamilton thought it definitely wasn’t as spicy as other spicy chicken wings he’d had in the past.
Our meal was very meat-heavy, so it was important to Steamed Chinese Greens with oyster sauce ($17) to balance out the meal. A highly commended accolade goes out to the sauce in this dish. I really don’t think it was just oyster sauce, it was way tastier.
The dessert options aren’t huge but we decided to go for the Vanilla Panna Cotta – topped with crushed honeycomb, served with black sesame ice cream and seasonal fruit garnish ($12). I must say it’s obvious that dessert isn’t HOLY DUCK!’s strong suit. It might even be worth scrapping it from the menu… The panna cotta was quite flavourless (I’m used to see actual vanilla seeds in my panna cotta!). This didn’t really taint our experience of the whole meal though!
Overall I can’t really fault HOLY DUCK!. My only thing is that I normally eat Chinese food at less glamorous restaurants. I could get very similar stuff in a less ‘Western’ setting, and with a lower price tag too! This makes me think that HOLY DUCK! is targeted towards Westerners. Having said that, I did see quite a few Asians dining there, so maybe it’s just me!
HOLY DUCK!
10/2 KENSINGTON STREET
CHIPPENDALE, SYDNEY
www.holyduck.com.au/
NB: talk&spoon and Hamilton were invited to dine at HOLY DUCK! with special thanks to Cardinal Spin. All opinions, however, remain our own.
