Peking duck comes in style in shape of peony blossom

Quanjude restaurant's new menu includes "peony duck", or Peking roast duck that resembles a fully opened peony blossom. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Many visitors to China's capital make a point of visiting a Quanjude restaurant to enjoy its trademark Peking roast duck. Now the restaurant group offers more enticements, having updated its menu earlier this month to showcase its culinary heritage dating back to 1864.

The new menu consists of 50 fixed dishes for all restaurant branches and 40 select dishes in different branches, some labeled as part of an "all-duck banquet". Peking roast duck is still No 1, but it's supported by more than 400 duck dishes developed in the chain's repertoire over the past century and a half.

The new star is the recently renowned creation "peony duck", or Peking roast duck that resembles a fully opened peony blossom. The "petals" are breast meat that has been delicately sliced and layered to form the flower, while the green stalk and leaves are a clever mosaic of towel-gourd seedlings, which have been boiled and are also edible.