London-style roasted duck platter with spring pancakes and vegetables.
These days, discerning diners are no longer content with eating just plain beef, fish or duck. In the Klang Valley, food snobs are paying good money for wagyu beef or Norwegian salmon.
The latest rage is Irish Silver Hill duck, touted as the wagyu of ducks. The Travelling Duck is one of the few restaurants in Klang Valley where you can sample the premium ducks, roasted London-style.
For the uninitiated, Silver Hill ducks are reputed to be more flavourful and succulent than ordinary local fowls as the hybrid ducks are carefully bred and raised with plenty of fresh air and clean water at Silver Hill farms in Ireland.
Roasted Irish Duck is fattier and more succulent.
We had this at the spanking new Travelling Duck restaurant at Pavilion Damansara in Kuala Lumpur, which boasted an elegant white on grey theme interior, punctuated by shades of red.
Of course, we had the Platter of Roasted Irish Duck (RM188/whole duck, RM118/half duck) that came with cucumber and capsicum batonette, spring onion florets, fresh romaine lettuce and thin spring pancakes which took centrestage.
We were told that the duck was marinated with a house concoction of soy and oyster sauce, bean paste, five spice powder and salt before being roasted to perfection (London-style).
Soft-boiled village chicken with garlic soya sauce.
The way to eat this is to spread the mildly sweet bean sauce on the pancake and then wrap a slice of tender, juicy duck together with a cucumber piece, capsicum, spring onion and lettuce, and pop the whole ensemble into the mouth at one go! It was a bit of a challenge to eat everything in one bite and that was part of the fun – this dish was absolutely scrumptious!
Different from the usual Peking Duck dish, at Travelling Duck, the wrapper is eaten with the duck meat and skin together instead of just paper crisp roasted skin.
The interior of the Travelling Duck at Pavilion Damansara, KL.
Slightly fattier but no less delicious was the Roasted Irish Duck (RM78/half duck, RM148/whole duck). Its crisp skin with a thin layer of fat and moist meat went superbly well with fluffy Basmathi Chicken Rice (RM3.50).
We were surprised that the restaurant offered more than just roast duck. Its varied menu includes palate-pleasing appetisers and Chinese family-style dishes to draw the crowd.
We started with an appetiser, the Pan-fried Handmade Chicken Meat Cake with Vietnamese Chilli Sauce (RM21) which looked exactly like fried fish cake with a similar springy texture. We were completely taken in by the cooked slab of finely blended chicken meat.
Pan-fried chicken meat cake, crispy stuffed beancurd skin and deep-fried squid as appetisers.
Another toothsome offering was Deep-fried Squid with Salt and Pepper (RM27.80). Lightly battered then dusted with salt, garlic powder and pepper, the squid tentacles were delightful to chew on.
If you’re partial to fried stuff with crispier texture, we recommend sampling the Deep-fried Crispy Stuffed Beancurd Skin with Typhoon Shelter Chicken Floss (RM22.80).
The day’s unexpected show-stealer was the Curry Giant Grouper Fish Head with Mixed Vegetable (RM148). Although certain chunks of the fish head were fiddly to deal with, the aromatic curry was irresistible and best enjoyed with plain rice.
Giant grouper fish-head curry
Should you have family or guests in tow who eschew duck, the notable alternative is Soft-Boiled Chicken with Garlic Soya Sauce (RM68/half, RM128/whole bird).
Flaunting smooth corn-yellow skin and lightly dressed with fried garlic oil and soy sauce, the poached kampung (village) chicken was succulent to the bite.
The accompanying ginger and spring onion dip lent it a tangy note that elevated the taste of the chicken.
So, instead of flying all the way to London, you can easily enjoy the taste of the wagyu of ducks at one of the modern and sleekly furnished Travelling Duck (pork-free) restaurants.
The menu at different outlets may offer different dishes (besides duck) so check with the restaurant in question.
Travelling DuckTropicana Garden Mall, Petaling Jaya; Pavilion Bukit Jalil, KL; Mid Valley Megamall, KL; IOI City Mall, Putrajaya; Pavilion Damansara, KL.
