After 10 days and 9 nights in Beijing and Tianjin, I finally managed to visit all the places I wanted to see and meet everyone I intended to meet…
I’ve finally finished organizing most of my photos, so it’s time to start blogging…
I’ll probably split this into many posts, themed by the places I visited. There’s no particular order, and I’ll post them gradually~~~

First, let’s talk about Beijing’s famous roast duck. Back in the Ming Dynasty, Peking Duck was still an imperial court dish,
but now, of course, you can find it everywhere. Today, DaDong has elevated roast duck restaurants to a whole new level with its creative cuisine.
The DaDong location we visited is right next to the Workers’ Stadium. It occupies a private courtyard with a standalone building~

We arrived around 12:30 PM. Since there was a wait for indoor seating, we sat outside. The ambiance was nice, except for the floating catkins~~~
The menu is incredibly thick, and every dish is photographed beautifully, accompanied by poetry. Just reading through it once takes quite a while.
The food came out relatively quickly, but the roast duck took forever… It took over an hour before it was served~~~~

The dishes at DaDong are all exquisitely presented and beautiful. As for the taste, it was just okay—nothing surprisingly exceptional.
The ‘Bird’s Nest Duck Treasure’ arrived on such a large stand; they really put a lot of thought into the presentation…

Dong-style Kung Pao Shrimp is also one of their signature dishes. These Kung Pao shrimp balls feature high-quality shrimp; both the texture and flavor were excellent.

‘Blooming Gezhi’: This dish adds fruit bits and salad dressing atop traditional Old Beijing fried ‘gezhi’ (a type of crispy snack). Sweet and savory without being greasy, it makes for a very nice dessert.

We ordered half a roast duck, which proved to be a very wise decision. A taste of roast duck is basically enough, as the skin is extremely rich and fatty.
Naturally, the roast duck comes with pancakes and soup, which goes without saying.
A unique feature here is that white sugar is included among the condiments; dipping the duck skin in sugar tastes delicious.

To finish, we were served Tanghulu (candied hawthorn sticks) and chilled strawberries as after-dinner desserts~~~

In summary, this restaurant focuses mainly on creative cuisine, blending Western-style plating with hints of traditional Beijing flavors.
The dishes are beautifully prepared, and it’s rare to see food arrive looking exactly like the menu photos—at that point, the taste becomes almost secondary.
However, given the price point, the ingredient quality is indeed good, and the taste isn’t bad either; it just lacks that wow factor…
The ambiance is upscale, and the service is quite good too. Although there’s a 5% service charge, it’s relatively low compared to other places~~~

Photos in this post taken with SONY NEX-5R + 16-50mm f3.5-5.6, post-processed in Lightroom.

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Beijing Duck, Beijing Tours, Chaoyang, Dadong