Wild Duck

Wild Duck Restaurant Review

There was one requirement, at Wild Duck we needed to eat duck

It’s been a busy week and Bron and I had a reservation at Wild Duck on a Thursday night. The reservation process was dead easy with Dimmi (electronic reservation). What I like about Dimmi is the reservation gets locked in and confirmation/reminder e-mails are sent which gives me reassurance.

We had agreed beforehand like we did at Olive at Mawson, that since it’s Wild Duck we need to eat duck (at Olive at Mawson we agreed someone had to eat an olive dish).

Wild Duck describes itself as fine Asian cuisine. The menu however is not your typical Chinese restaurant. It’s more of an abstract of traditional dishes cooked beautifully with flavour as a priority.

We decided on mains before we settled on entrées. We chose the pork belly and lamb ribs for mains after thinking about the ocean trout and spatchcock. To begin dinner we agreed on duck in rice wrappers and king prawns.

Roast duck rice paper rolls. Chinese roast duck, cucumber, spring onion in Vietnamese style rice paper roll served with Hoi Sin sauce.
Roast duck rice paper rolls. Chinese roast duck, cucumber, spring onion in Vietnamese style rice paper roll served with Hoi Sin sauce.

These wraps were served on a cute duck plate

Wild duck

King prawns and green pawpaw. Pan fried King Prawns with Cajun spice, served with a Thai style Green Pawpaw and Granny Smith apple salad.
King prawns and green pawpaw. Pan fried King Prawns with Cajun spice, served with a Thai style Green Pawpaw and Granny Smith apple salad.

The duck rolls were pretty good. The sauce that came with it was superb. I found the pieces of duck meat were quite large and rather than being a negative, I loved having a nice big piece of tender duck meat with skin on it. The prawns were nicely cooked. They were coated in a lovely spicy mix which was complemented nicely with the refreshing shredded green pawpaw and green apple.


 

Pork belly in lotus leaf. Slowly cooked pork belly with 3 kinds of soy sauce, rock sugar and mixed spices, wrapped in Lotus leaves with sticky rice.
Pork belly in lotus leaf. Slowly cooked pork belly with 3 kinds of soy sauce, rock sugar and mixed spices, wrapped in Lotus leaves with sticky rice.
Manhan lamb ribs. Slow cooked Lamb Ribs in ‘One Hundred’ spices, finished on the grill, served with aged Chinese vinegar caramelised Banana chillies and soy caramelised Leeks.
Manhan lamb ribs. Slow cooked Lamb Ribs in ‘One Hundred’ spices, finished on the grill, served with aged Chinese vinegar caramelised Banana chillies and soy caramelised leeks.

Both these dishes were fantastic. The pork belly was tender and sweet and accompanied with some lovely sticky rice that had soaked up all the lovely pork juices. The lamb ribs had the most tender meat ever. A spoon would have separated the meat from the bones. The flavour was amazing. The fat had been rendered out and gave the meat a lovely unctuous texture. The nice thing about sharing the meal was that we could eat a small amount from each dish and go back for more. I started with the pork then had some lamb and then pork and finished with lamb. I commented that I wish I had finished on the pork because the sweetness would have been perfect for me. Bron loved the lamb and said she was happy to finish with the lamb because it was a dish she wasn’t expecting in that she’d eaten pork belly many times before but this was the first time she’d eaten lamb ribs. Both dishes were fabulous and I’d happily go back and eat them again.


 

Black sticky rice. Cinnamon infused black sticky rice with salted coconut custard on top. Vanilla meringue and Persian candy floss.
Black sticky rice. Cinnamon infused black sticky rice with salted coconut custard on top. Vanilla meringue and Persian candy floss. Thanks Bron for shooting this photograph.
Banana split with a twist. Bitter chocolate glaze, lotus seeds on rum and almond crumble, served with coconut ice cream.
Banana split with a twist. Bitter chocolate glaze, lotus seeds on rum and almond crumble, served with coconut ice cream.

Bron chose the sticky rice and I said I’d probably go with the five texture mousse and summer berries. As our requests were being taken I quickly changed my mind and asked for the banana split. Bron just stared at me (death stare). She had (been hoping) hoped to check out some of the mousse and berries. There was a bit of face palming lol

All in all it was a good night. The setting is very pleasant and not too noisy. The service was great, it was friendly and attentive but not too in your face. We both commented on the timing of the dishes. We were not left waiting long between courses and if I had one reservation it would be to leave a few more minutes between courses.

I’m happy to recommend Wild Duck to anyone living in or visiting Canberra. 

So now for a rating. 4.5 out of 5 colonies 🙂 Fantastic. I’ll be back.


 

Wild duck | Wild duck menu | Wild duck entrées | Wild duck mains | Wild duck desserts

 

Wild Duck on Urbanspoon

Address: Shop 77-78/71 Giles Street, Kingston ACT 2604

Telephone: 02 6232 7997

Hours: Sunday Closed; Monday 12-2.30 pm, 5.30–10.30 pm; Tuesday 12-2.30 pm, 5.30–10.30 pm; Wednesday 12-2.30 pm, 5.30–10.30 pm; Thursday 12-2.30 pm, 5.30–10.30 pm; Friday 12-2.30 pm, 5.30–10.30 pm; Saturday 5.30–10.30 pm

Reservations: http://dimmi.com.au


 
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