Holy Duck!
An irreverent play on words complete with exclamation point, Holy Duck specialises in - if you can't guess already - Hong Kong deli-style duck. Unlike the more traditional deli houses, you won't see rows upon rows of roast duck hanging in the windows. Instead, the window spot is reserved for the bartender.
Situated next to Spice Alley, Holy Duck is in that bustling strip of high end meets casual eateries in Chippendale. Its venerable neighbours include Automata (one of the best degustation menus in Sydney), Olio (the Sydney home of award-winning chef Lino Sauro), Mekong (serving modern Indochine cuisine) and Koi Dessert Bar (high-end dessert almost too beautiful to eat).
Holy Duck's cocktail menu are all modern twists on classics, with a distinctly fruity bend. Perhaps due to COVID19, the bar was quite short-stocked, resulting in a few of our top choices being unavailable. In the end, we settled for an orange martini which was among that evening's special. It is refreshing and gently boozy, accompanying the fatty duck very well.
Normal cocktails are at a very reasonable $16 each, and have tempting numbers such as organic honey and pink grapfruit paloma, lychee and rose martini, and a mysteriously named holy drink. For the non-drinkers out there, mocktails are at $8 each, and just as interesting as their alcoholic counterparts with numbers like kaffir lime and lychee breeze, and coconut lavender lemonade.
The word that comes to mind when I think of Holy Duck's dim sims is respectable. The platter comes with prawn dumpling, prawn and chives dumplings, chicken siu mai (the yellow number in the middle) and vegetable dumplings. Though you could say that the dumplings are on the pricey end, there is no denying that Holy Duck uses good ingredient. The prawn meat is bouncy, and the flavours of all the dumplings are well balanced.
This dish must look familiar to anyone who has ever visited a surburban Chinese restaurant or a HK style Chinese restaurant. Black pepper sauce beef is an absolute classic, which Holy Duck does very well. The vegetables are very fresh - the snow peas gently sweet, and the beef is tender and well seasoned. Best of all, it is not so salty that rice is a must.
Ah, duck pancakes - adding a bit of DIY fun into your meal, and I trust one of those dishes that made many people fall in love with Chinese food. The duck is served untorn - and the waiter expertly pulls the meat apart for you before you start. He helpfully adds, "let us know if you want more sauce or pancakes". As it turns out, we got a perfect portion and did not require more, but the sentiment is well appreciated. I can see why this dish is considered Holy Duck's signature: the duck meat is well seasoned and soft: there is no stringy-ness or dryness at all, and with a thick sauce and a baton or two of cucumber, every mouthful is deeply satisfying.
The crispy duck depicted above is a completely different style to Beijing style roast duck, the fans of which might turn their noses up at this offering. In Beijing style roast duck, the skin is even more crispy and served as glossy, uniform sheets. Duck pancake should be more accurately referred to as duck skin pancake because the pancake is but one of two or three courses served using the same duck. The skin is for pancakes the meat reserved for san choi bao, and / or a so-rich-it's-milky-white soup. It is unusual to eat the entire duck, skin and meat, in pancake form. I mention this only as a point of interest, and to encourage everyone to hunt down all different styles of the one dish before making a judgment. The fact that Holy Duck serves it duck slightly differently to high-end Beijing style roast duck restaurants does not detract from the fact that it has created a delicious dish at a very attractive and approachable price point.
Score: 3.5/5 an enjoyable place for a casual meal.
Cost: approx $50pp with drink
Address: 10/2 Kensington St, Chippendale NSW
Website: https://www.holyduck.com.au/
Situated next to Spice Alley, Holy Duck is in that bustling strip of high end meets casual eateries in Chippendale. Its venerable neighbours include Automata (one of the best degustation menus in Sydney), Olio (the Sydney home of award-winning chef Lino Sauro), Mekong (serving modern Indochine cuisine) and Koi Dessert Bar (high-end dessert almost too beautiful to eat).
Holy Duck's cocktail menu are all modern twists on classics, with a distinctly fruity bend. Perhaps due to COVID19, the bar was quite short-stocked, resulting in a few of our top choices being unavailable. In the end, we settled for an orange martini which was among that evening's special. It is refreshing and gently boozy, accompanying the fatty duck very well.
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| Orange martini, $12 |
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| Steamed dim sim platter, $28 |
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| Wagyu Beef, $28 |
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| Signature Crispy Duck, $26 (for a quarter duck) |
The crispy duck depicted above is a completely different style to Beijing style roast duck, the fans of which might turn their noses up at this offering. In Beijing style roast duck, the skin is even more crispy and served as glossy, uniform sheets. Duck pancake should be more accurately referred to as duck skin pancake because the pancake is but one of two or three courses served using the same duck. The skin is for pancakes the meat reserved for san choi bao, and / or a so-rich-it's-milky-white soup. It is unusual to eat the entire duck, skin and meat, in pancake form. I mention this only as a point of interest, and to encourage everyone to hunt down all different styles of the one dish before making a judgment. The fact that Holy Duck serves it duck slightly differently to high-end Beijing style roast duck restaurants does not detract from the fact that it has created a delicious dish at a very attractive and approachable price point.
Score: 3.5/5 an enjoyable place for a casual meal.
Cost: approx $50pp with drink
Address: 10/2 Kensington St, Chippendale NSW
Website: https://www.holyduck.com.au/
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