Great China Review

We ate what we agreed was the bay area's best Peking Duck at Great China. Admittedly, we said one can get better Peking Duck in China and some other American cities, but this was the bay area's best. After roasting, they separated the meat from the skin, removed the fat, and presented the meat on a plate surrounded by skin. I could smell the roasted skin when it was delivered. :) Removing the fat, we thought, was a great idea: the duck avoided the fattiness and the chewiness that poor renditions of the dish sometimes have. Using the very thin rice crepes, we made little pocket of flesh, crispy skin, plum sauce, and strips of mild green scallions (or something similarly crisp and green). I was amazed by the crepes: despite their extreme thinness, the wrappers were resilient enough to resist us pulling them apart and folding them into pockets.

We also tried the "double skin." It's a room temperature noodle salad made from "mung bean flat noodles, carrots, cucumbers, egg crepe, calamari, shrimp, sea cucumber, onions, mushroom, and pork." The waitress brought this on a large plate with all the ingredients in nice piles, then tossed it at the table with a "soy sauce vinaigrette and hot Chinese mustard." It was interesting to try, and we liked the wasabi kick from the Chinese mustard, but its general sliminess made it unappealing.

We tried the walnut prawns as well. These were not traditional: these deep-fried prawns were served in a citrusy (from orange slices), sweet, cream sauce. Definitely an unusual combination of flavors. Some bites definitely tasted like it should be a dessert. Most of us thought the prawns were fairly decent or good, though one person decidedly didn't like the flavors.

Our last dish was ong choy, a pea-sprouts-like vegetable, sauteed in/with many cloves of garlic. It was a perfectly standard, acceptable rendition of this dish.

The restaurant wasn't that clean. When the waitress delivered us empty plates, she noticed a piece of food stuck to one, tried to brush it off, realized she couldn't, and only then decided to bring a new plate. The glasses didn't look clean either; the beer drinkers decided to drink out of the bottles.

The decor was pretty typical for a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant was always full or nearly so, but there was never much of a line waiting to be seated.

It was often hard to get a waitress's attention.

The total was $23/person including tax and tip but not including drinks. We had a meal worth of leftovers.

Original Announcement

We'll take a rare foray into the east bay for Peking Duck at Great China in Berkeley.

Comments from Other Attendees

Due to culinary restrictions, on this trip we didn't get to order two other recommended dishes: tea-smoked duck, and crab served in buns. -mark

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