Blue Ginger closed down at Taj Palace in Delhi earlier in September, all too suddenly. Spicy Duck, a restaurant offering Chinese culinary ensembles from the port city of Guangdong, opened in its place. Since then, its chefs have been busy introducing guests to this new haven of delicious duck and dim sums.
The seating arrangement and décor reflect the quintessential upscale extravagance you would expect from a five-star hotel. The food is even better. Chefs Cheang Chee Leong and Chee Kuai Oon run the show. Leong is the authority on duck, and Oon is a dim sum specialist. More than the food, it’s their humility that touches your heart. They speak little English, but their sparkling eyes communicate their simplicity.
As we wait for what Leong calls his best item on the menu, the Peking Duck, we learn that he began working with the meat during his apprenticeship at the Regent Hotel in Kuala Lampur years ago. “Learning less and experimenting has helped me perfect all styles of preparing it,” he explains. His signature dish arrives just as we contemplate what it would be like. Purists will love. It is as authentic as you can imagine. We instantly begin
constructing our little roll with strips of duck wrapped into small pancakes. Generous amount of spring onions and cucumber are placed alongside the golden-brown slices. Pleased that it turned out to be as good as the chef has expressed, we congratulate him.
The credit is shared with the quality of duck that’s been imported from Thailand. “Ducks from Thailand have more fat. They are more expensive too,” he says.Even though Leong loves to feed his guests full-bodied flavours, he eats the plain-sailing preparations. All this fitness enthusiast eats are tomatoes, eggs, very little meat and rice.
Next we have the dim sums. After hearing no end about how great they are, we get Chicken Dim Sums, Spicy Duck Dumplings with Vegetables, Steamed Shrimp Dumplings and Scallop, and the Steamed Prawn and Chicken Sui Mai with Tobiko. All are delicious with uncomplicated nuances of each ingredient seeping out.
But Chef Oon has a complaint. “Indians don’t like to try different varieties. There are so many kinds of dim sums but all they want to try are chicken or vegetarian ones,” he says. A good place to start would be Spicy Duck where he can make you two of his favourites—Edamame Dimsum and Mushroom Milk in Truffle Oil. Besides that, you could also consider BBQ Pork Bun, Steamed Minced Lamp Dumpling with Young Ginger and Pan-Fried Chicken, also called Gou Tie in China. Oon loves all these and says he can easily have just dim sums in all his meals. To find his kind of food, he often visits Shang Palace in Shangri-La Hotel, China Kitchen in Hyatt and Yuatcha in Vasant Kunj’s Ambience Mall.
Spicy Duck, Taj Palace, Diplomatic Enclave, Chanakyapuri.
Meal for two: `4,000 approx.