The best restaurant recommendations don’t come from travel guides. They come from taxi drivers. Our driver mentioned he takes his own family to 天津正陽春·臻选店 (Tianjin Roast Duck Restaurant) — and that was enough for us. We went.
A quick note before the food: if you come to a Peking duck restaurant and you’re not a large group, you might be tempted to order the half duck. Don’t. Order the full duck. You’ll want it.
The meal started with cold dishes — tofu with cilantro and a little hot oil (clean, fresh, simple), and a beautifully cooked spinach dish with garlic and a fragrant oil that gave it tremendous depth without overcooking the leaves. Then came 老爆三 (lao bao san) — the old stir-fried trio. Kidney, liver, and one other cut, all stir-fried together. I’ll be honest: kidney is not something I seek out, but in this preparation — fast cooked, well seasoned — it was far better than I expected.
Then the duck arrived. This restaurant slices it downstairs and brings it up to you, which is a different style from places like 全聚德 (Quanjude) where they carve at the table. The presentation is slightly less theatrical, but the flavor is fully there. Beautifully lacquered skin, rich duck meat, sliced and plated cleanly.
The assembly is the experience: thin pancake wrapper (thicker and slightly drier than what I’ve had elsewhere, but still good), hoisin-style sauce, spring onions, cucumber. Dip the duck in the sauce, add your onions and cucumber, roll it up, and eat. The crispy skin with the fresh cucumber crunch and that savory sauce is one of those flavor combinations that’s genuinely hard to improve on.
To finish, the meal included a duck bone broth soup — soft tofu, napa cabbage (白菜), and the remaining duck parts not sliced for the plate, all in a clear rich broth. In China, soup comes last. This one earned that position — it was a quiet, satisfying closer after a big meal.
If I’m comparing directly to Quanjude, the presentation and tableside carving give Quanjude a slight edge. But the flavor here is excellent and the taxi driver was right. If you’re in Tianjin and you want Peking duck, this place delivers.
