Wild Duck Restaurant Kingston Wednesday 4 July 2012



Duck pancakes

lamb shank

schnapper

chicken and lemongrass

pork

prawn curry

duck



dessert



www.wild-duck.com.au


Wine:
Tambelaine 2002 Hunter Valley Sparkling Pinot Chardonnay
Wild duck Creek Estate Heathcote Springflat Shiraz 1993
Vass Felix ssb 2011 Margaret River Classic Dry White
R L Buller and Son Limited release 1991 Mondeuse Shiraz Rutherglen Beverford

Food:

Ron had found out about Wild Duck Restaurant I don't know how, but any mention of duck in the same sentence as Asian restaurants gets us all in immediately.  This is a recently opened restaurant, away from the old Kingston shops area and in what is becoming "new Kingston" on the shores of the lake.  It is still a bit remote and empty but is forecast to overtake the old area as "the" place to eat out, at some stage.
The owners have put a lot of thought into the menu and gave us some elaborate descriptions of how they prepared the food (marinate for 2 weeks, that kind of thing...).  They seem keen to provide Canberra with some new, fusion Asian type food, similar to some of the other new restaurants such as Malamay, Lantern Room etc.

We had:

• Scallops with XO conpoy chilli
• Roast duck rice paper rolls
• Lamb shank in Golden sands, "crispy fried lamb shanks off the bone in a dune of baked golden coconut garlic...etc"
• Wild Mushroom duck Breast Twice cooked tender duck breast with mixed wild mushrooms in a bed of steamed baby spinach
• Lemongrass chicken marinated overnight with lemongrass chilli and garlic and char grilled etc
• Daikon Pork belly. Slow cooked in 3 kinds of soy sauce, rock sugar and mixed spices
• Wild prawns with fresh papaya and okra in thai mild green curry
• Coral cut snapper, scored, floured with chilli lime and coriander

Comments:
Scallops, beautiful, touch of chilli jam on top, spears of aspargus, yum, yum from the boys. Chilli jam provided a sharp accent, but the one scallop looked a bit lonely on the plate
Duck pancakes, very much Peking duck style, still warm, neatly presented
Lamb Shank: Ron "it's all crunch oh my god", but the rest of us found it a bit dry, too much coconut, lovely flavour.  No  hope of telling it was lamb shank, but the powerful flavour of the lamb comes through though over powered by the coconut.
Prawns: very nice yummy, but not the best, a bit ordinary, the sauce a bit thin.
Pork with caramalised daikon?  The pork was falling apart, but overall the dish was not spectacular (should have been) we found it lacking in spices and needs more meat less fat.
Chicken.  Lovely, infused, well done.  It was a breast which combined flavour and moisture, very hard to do in a chicken breast.
The duck was "good', Karen loved it, not fatty, perfect, the spinach and mushroom suited the gamey flavour of the meat, it was a beautiful balance of flavours.
The fish had a deep ginger flavour, nice batter, well cooked, tasty, but "safe".
Desserts were plain but gorgeous, particularly the peanut icecream (again)

Overall, we wanted more veges (did we choose the wrong dishes?) and would have liked chopsticks. The service was excellent and staff were keen.  They had a great knowledge and interest in wine and food.  We couldn't quite work out if the dishes were meant to be shared or were made for individual servings.  I think they were trying for both which made it just a bit confusing for us who were sharing.

Definitely worth going to, some dishes were winners, others not so a lot depends on what you order.  Forgotten how much it costs but not one of your cheap eats.