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20th December 2016
12:10am GMT
We've said if before but the Lovin Dublin hashtag (#lovindublin) is an absolute gem for discovering new spots in the city. I first heard of Duck when browsing through the hashtag to see what kind of food porn the people of Dublin were snapping. I quickly went to their Facebook page and saw pictures of full roasted ducks in all their glistening, crispy glory and decided to go there ASAP. I had no idea what a Hong Kong BBQ was but thought that it sounded good and I wanted in.
Duck is a small little BBQ deli on Fade Street with casual seating for about 15 - 20 people, but a lot of their trade is take away. Upon entering they had posters explaining what a Hong Kong BBQ is, and well it's a bit more sophisticated than the burgers I throw on mine at home. Their meats are cooked in a traditional Bullet Oven. The meat is hung upright in the oven which results in lean, juicy meat with a crispy skin.... Yum. Apparently their chef Mr.Kwan has over 20 years experience cooking meats in bullet ovens, they're not messing around when they say they take their cooking seriously.
They have a good few meats on the menu and thankfully you can get a half and half of two different meats if you're curious like me. I got the little duck pancakes as a starter, and then decided to go for the roast duck (well, the place is called Duck) and pork belly. You can get your meat with some delicious looking fried rice but I was recovering from a cake review that morning so decided to go for the asian greens instead. The pancakes were delicious, really light and tasty- fresh vegetables, succulent duck and tasty sauce. I inhaled them. Then I went in for the kill on my main.
The duck was delicious, really tender and juicy and the skin was indeed nice and crispy. The pork was really good too and had a really nice crispy, crackling skin but was more fatty as you would expect from pork belly. They had all kinds of sauces too that you could lash on top so I went for the chilli one which was nice and hot. The couple behind me were having crispy spring rolls behind me which looked amazing, and they had rice with their meat and I felt a pang of food regret. Why on earth did I choose to have vegetables instead of rice? Don't get me wrong, the vegetables were really nice - they weren't overcooked into mush and had a lovely slightly salty soy sauce on them too - but the rice would have been perfect with the juicy meat and sauces.
I loved what I got but my only worry is that a lot of people now used to the American style BBQs from Bison and Pitt will go in expecting something similar from the meats but they are entirely different. The meats are really tender and delicious but not laced in the BBQ spices and marinades that American BBQ meats are. There was also a few little bits of bone in my meat pieces, again unlike American style BBQ meats like brisket and pulled pork where it's ready for you to just dig in to. I thought it was great and reasonable at €6.95 for a small box of meat and rice/noodles/veg or €8.95 for a large box. The three little duck pancakes were €3.95.
I saw on their Facebook page that they have started doing pork and shrimp wontons with noodles which I really want to try. I love all those kinds of gooey, squidgy dishes so I will be definitely trying that out. If you have tried them let me know in the comments below. The also do bubble teas which I'm not really bothered about but people seem to be crazy for them. I haven't tried their bubble tea either so not sure what they're like.
All in all, a great spot for a quick bite or a nice office take away lunch. The prices are reasonable and the food is great. You'll feel like you're a million miles away when you're sitting inside this cool, authentic little spot.