Roast Duck

When I started planning for Mr Wong, I thought about how hard it was going to be to do a proper Chinese roast duck. It’s a speciality that takes people a lifetime to master, and there was no way we’d have a Chinese restaurant without roast duck. Jow and I spent about three months at Ms G’s experimenting every which way with duck: hanging them in the cool room to dry out the skin, different brining recipes and lacquer combinations. We watched YouTube, read books, Jow even staged at some Chinese BBQ restaurants in Chinatown to try to learn from the masters. Here’s the thing though: they’re really secretive. There was always a stage they did themselves and didn’t allow him to see. In the end, we used a combination of our BBQ chef Jack’s knowledge and our own ideas and research until we were confident we had nailed it. We’ve basically sold out of duck every day since we opened, so we must have done something right.