Holy moly Duck-amole! A whole restaurant almost entirely dedicated to duck.
I loved the name of this place and their whole concept from the moment I heard it which was when Genvin from Cardinal Spin invited me to dine at Chef's Gallery's newest spin off, Holy Duck. And we're so thankful that we did. We also will soon be reviewing Chef's Gallery with their latest menu so look forward to that!
Holy Duck! is located in the cool and convenient location of Chippendale's iconic Kensington Street. A new and continually budding foodie paradise. From the outside, it looks quite small and you could almost miss it if you're not looking out for the orange Holy Duck signage. At night, the neon signs featuring the duck with a halo (a holy duck, geddit?) and some Chinese characters behind the steel bar window are much more bright and prominent and I love how it gives off an oriental alleyway bar vibe.
A step inside this little restaurant reveals a much more spacious and trendy dining area. The look is quite industrial with the cross between the warm rustic and slightly tattered brick walls, wooden furniture and then the caged metal light bulbs. What stands out the most is the big and bright neon signage. You can't miss it and it's quite epic!
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We're seated at a nice table towards the back where we have a great view of everything going on in the restaurant. Our waitress Phuong was all smiles and extremely cute, helpful and friendly. I absolutely adored her and she definitely provided amazing customer service. All the other staff were also really great but it was her who stood out the most to us.
In the middle of admiring the table set up, we're handed our menu and she makes some suggestions on the menu which we really appreciate. The dishes majority feature duck, yet if you're in the mood for other meats that is available too. The food type is modern Chinese/Asian fusion truly showcasing an east meets west menu. Everything literally sounds so tasty and delicious... so I relied a lot on Patrick's decisiveness to choose what we ordered otherwise I might've ended up getting one of everything.
The restaurant is a little quiet when we entered around 6pm, but only a good couple of minutes later it quickly becomes packed and abuzz with the afterwork crowd. The vibe is really good so Pat and I start things off with a couple of beers. Unfortunately the special Holy Duck pale ale was out of stock but the Tiger beer and Asahi beers we order were very cool and refreshing, easily paired with all our dishes for the night.
Tiger Beer $9
Asahi Beer $8.50
We were starving when our first dish arrived and lets say it was an entree worth waiting for.
Steamed Duck and Pork Dumplings drizzled w/ Shanghainese sauce (6pc) $12
It goes without saying that these are extremely fresh and steaming hot. I'm the person who always burns the roof of their mouth biting into these things no matter how long they're sitting on my plate. The filling was so surprisingly delicious and meaty! The sauce was on point in the ratio of soy to vinegar/wine and complimented these dumplings perfectly. Patrick called this his favourite dish of the night and even though he literally likes everything, I'm 100% sure this means a lot hehe
Sichuan style Hot & Numbing Chicken Wings $20
YOU CAN'T TAKE THESE RICK AND MORTY FANS ANYWHERE. As soon as Pat saw the words "Sichuan" on the menu, he yelled that we were definitely ordering these hahaha. Anyway despite that we both still had our doubts as it was described as "hot & numbing" and I have terrible chilli tolerance. Phuong told us not to worry as these were only deceivingly hot and she ended up being really right. The chicken wings looked quite alarming with the large chillies adorning the plate and the bright red hue they were sporting, but it ended up being really tender, flavoursome and barely hot and numbing spicy. If I could handle it, so can you!
Steamed Chinese Greens w/ Oyster sauce $16
I looooove my vegetables and my favourite is Gai Lan (Chinese broccoli) served yumcha style - steamed and drizzled with a generous amount of oyster sauce! This is a must order accompaniment to any meal, especially when you're lacking greens. It is healthy and it is goooood!
San Choi Bao $20
For some reason according to my memory, this was not listed as "San Choi Bao" on the menu otherwise I probably would've not ordered it. It was listed as something like Duck Bao, and I had the fluffy steamed bao buns in mind so queue the confusion when this was set down on the table. Anyway no need to complain as it was just my own misunderstanding. These san choi bao were extremely generous on the meaty duck mince filling and there just wasn't enough lettuce leaves to accompany it. They were really yummy though, even being on the spicy side!
Signature Crispy Duck (Half) served with steamed pancakes, hoisin sauce, cucumbers and shallots $35
STAR OF THE SHOW, NO DOUBT. The signature crispy duck is probably Holy Duck's most popular dish truly befitting of the signature title. Because sure we've all heard of roast duck and Peking duck, but crispy duck? That's something new. The crispy fried duck comes to the table on a large chopping board and the waiter/waitress sure put on a show for you by shredding it right on your table in front of your eyes. As for the taste, the duck is slightly disappointing being on the dry side but the crispy coating and skin is delicious. All in all, it still tastes great rolled up into the steamed pancakes with some hoisin sauce, cucumber and shallot.
There is definitely not enough pancakes that come with this set so we ended up ordering a few more at the price of $1 each. I find the pancakes admittedly quite thick and even doughy but Patrick says he prefers them that way and by the end I don't think I mind them too much either. One thing is for sure, they are extremely fresh and hand made and I can't imagine this dish without them.
DESSERT TIME
Coconut Cheesecake Stack with Strawberries and Salted Caramel $14
Based off the name and description we did not expect the dessert to look like this. It truly is so aesthetic and a beautiful work of art. However I think we were both looking forward to an actual dense and cakey cheesecake haha! These are stacked layers of flakey pastry circles with piped whipped cream andcoconut cream cheese, raspberries all drizzled with salted caramel, a small handful of chocolate balls and a dash of strawberry puree. It is quite difficult to eat so we deconstruct it and I find cutting through the pastry is quite annoying. The dessert is delicious though and the strawberry puree adds such a beautiful and sweet freshness, but overall we're still kind of disappointed by the dessert.
Patrick and I left Holy Duck feeling so full and happy with the amazing dinner we just had. The whole experience was so satisfying because we feel we truly discovered a new place with great vibes, great service and great food.
A big thank you to Cardinal Spin and Holy Duck for inviting us here and giving us the opportunity to try it out! I 100% recommend this restaurant to all you guys and I really hope you give it a chance when you're looking for a nice lunch or dinner place next.
Holy Duck!
10/2 Kensington St,
Chippendale NSW 2008
Open 7 days a week
Lunch: 11AM - 3PM
Dinner: 5:30PM - 10PM
