Harbouring A Deep Duck Secret?

Hot on the heels of a highly imaginative Lunar New Year menu, Si Chuan Dou Hua gives diners a reason to return, this time to indulge in the pleasures that Peking duck and Sichuan chicken bring at TOP of UOB Plaza and PARKROYAL on Beach Road respectively.

Guests get to enjoy free-flowing main course of either Roasted Peking Duck or popular Sichuan Chicken favourites, weaved into a full-fledged set menu ($58++ per person, minimum of 2 guests) comprising 7 dishes, including an appetizer, soup, side dish, a rice or noodle course and a dessert.

The Top of UOB Plaza’s Deep Duck Secrets menu featuring unlimited helpings of Roasted Peking Duck is backed by the savoir faire of Roast Master Meng Xue You. Under his care, 2.5kg ducks are cleaned and scorched with boiling water to tighten the poultry’s skin, then given a splash of maltose before air drying for about 4 hours. Ducks are roasted for 55 minutes at 180 degrees celsius, gifting an amber crisp to the duck’s skin while preserving the meat’s tender bite.

We love that the team at Si Chuan Dou Hua has created such a great spread of starters to whet our appetite before the ‘main event’. We started with a combo of three delicacies – small savoury bites – as well as Boiled Duck Soup with Preserved Chilli, Preserved Vegetables and White Cabbage. We enjoy the sour quality that the preserved chilli imparts to the soup.

“This is a soup with Hunan flavours. In those wartorn days, my mentor followed the troops to northeast China, where would you then find pricey ingredients to cook? He would use the carcass of any animal he could find, ducks, chickens, parson’s nose of preserved duck, throw in some white cabbage, preserved chilli, and preserved vegetables,” says Consultant Chef Peter Tsang.

“Give it enough fire and you will have a soup so robust and flavourful. As a young cook, I used to see my mentor prepare this soup and cannot resist a ladle or two. Till now, the aroma and its very flavour warms me up.”

As a nod towards nose to tail dining, Chef Peter has given the duck carcass second duty in a bid to contribute flavour to the soup. Duck meat has also found its way into either the Stir-Fried Brown Rice with Minced Duck Meat or Stir-Fried Bee Hoon and Vermicelli with Shredded Duck Meat.

Be sure to make room for side dishes Deep-fried Prawns in Passion Fruit Sauce and Stir-Fried Asparagus, Fungus and Lotus Root. Both are well-executed and have maintained incredible crunch in the dishes.  

End on a sweet note with Si Chuan Dou Hua’s signature dessert Homemade Fine Bean Curd with Wolfberries.