This is the place to go for a great variety of cold appetizers you can choose from, and the appetizers run from $5.00 to $12.00 per order. With most being under $8, it was easy to order a huge variety of dishes to share. Aside from the tasty cold appetizers, Cindy’s Kitchen serves up some decent pan fried noodles and noodle soups as well.
Some of the better cold appetizers we noshed on included their Smoked Duck, Spiced Chicken, and Spicy Chicken Gizzards (which I somehow missed taking a photo of). The flavors were quite pronounced. The smokiness of the duck was enhanced throughout the dish. Every bite was a nice bite of smokiness and savoriness.
At $23 per person (which includes tax and 20% gratuity), it was considered inexpensive, and it may contain exotic herbs and spices from around world, in their dishes. Such a bargain, and we were stuffed to the gills afterward. Even with a party of 8, we barely made a dent in the number of dishes they have offer on their menu. So, we’re going to head back in late September, and hope to be able to sample more dishes from their dinner menu.
As always, click on the thumbnail to enlarged the picture.
For me, there are only a handful of places in the Greater Los Angeles Area that serves up really good Beijing Duck (aka Peking Duck), and Duck House is one of them. They have been a staple here for over 15 years, and the quality of their food hasn’t diminished since. In fact, they’re reaching out to foodies from around the city by participating in their very first DineLA Restaurant Week, which runs from July 13th through July 27th. In addition, you can now make reservations through Open Table.
After checking out their $25 lunch and $49 dinner menus for DineLA, I thought one can get a better deal buy ordering off their regular menu. So, for a party of 16 (8 per table), I ordered for each table the $268 set menu for 6 people, an extra half Beijing Duck, and 2 vegetable dishes for each table. The total for lunch unfortunately came out to be about $20 more per person, tax and gratuity included.
However, for the majority, the food was delicious, and everyone was able to get ample amount of duck. Shiny, crispy skinned duck, where some pieces had a nice layer of rendered fat on them, giving you more flavor with every bite. Duck meat is sliced nicely and evenly, making them easy to roll up into a wrap with the raw scallions, cucumbers and a drizzle of hoisin sauce. Each bite into the wrap was a mouthful of savory, ducky goodness.
The other dishes were solid, and the Baked Truffled Lobster was meaty and juicy, doused in a tasty garlicky and peppery sauce that just screams for a steamed white rice so you can use it to soak up those juices and savor the flavor.
Lunch ended with a plate of Passionfruit Konnyaku Jello, made in molds in the shape of Hello Kitty’s face. Konnyaku is made from the Amorphophallus konjac and is sometimes referred to as yam, yam cake or yam flour. It has a firmer texture than agar agar or regular gelatin. It’s not very flavorful, so you can easily taste the passionfruit flavor.
Calamari with a spicy and garlicky dipping sauceSmoked Flavored PorkBeijing Duck with all the fixings1 1/2 Orders of Beijing DuckShredded Scallions and Cucumbers and Hoisin Sauce that accompany the duckThe Perfect BiteDuck Soup with Napa Cabbage and TofuFilet Mignon Cubes with Black PepperBaby Bok Choy with Dried Scallops and Crab MeatBBQ Eel with Glutenous RiceSauteed A ChoySizzling Tofu with Basil in PotBaked Truffled Lobster in Black Pepper SaucePassionfruit Konnyaku Jelly
