Peking Gourmet Inn
Tucked away in a strip mall between Seven Corners and Skyline, Peking Gourmet Inn is a 33 year old institution. If you want traditional, Northern Chinese cuisine—and not the hodgepodge that a typical strip mall Chinese restaurant offers, bear with the traffic of Route 7 and head over to the Culmore shopping center.
When you walk in, you’re immediately greeted by a very friendly host staff. If you’re lucky, you’ll be seated immediately. Chances are, you will have to wait, unless you’ve had the forethought to make a reservation (by phone—they’re not OpenTable friendly) or go on a weeknight or in the earlier dinner hours on a weekend. Walking through the very large and very busy dining room, you can’t help but notice the framed pictures on the wall; the photographs depict famous and regular (as in persistent diners, not un-famous) Peking Gourmet customers—look closely and you’ll catch a glimpse of the 41st President of the United States (and his father), Colin Powell, Duff Goldman (of Ace of Cakes fame) and other local and national celebrities and figures.
So, you get it. Famous people with a lot of money dine here. But so can you! So let’s get to the food.
What better place to start than with the spring rolls? Well, I’d say a lot of better places. Our table gave them mixed reviews. The outer shell was dry which, to some, was appealing. But others of us (that would be me) craved the greasier version. The vegetarian filling was very generous; the roll was stuffed to the gills with shredded cabbage and carrots and even, if I’m not mistaken, lettuce. While the roll itself was nothing to write home about, the three sauces (traditional spicy mustard, duck sauce, and a slightly creamy, sweet garlic sauce) made up for the roll’s dryness. To an extent. The worst part of this appetizer, to some, was that they don’t give you enough of the sauces, especially the sweet garlic sauce (which is also a good substitute for soy sauce to flavor your rice).
The restaurant’s piece de resistance –and what, arguably, could be considered “downright one of the tastiest bits of fowl one can eat,” according to a fellow diner, is their eponymous Peking Duck. The restaurant’s specialty comes to the table gleaming on a silver platter. You sit, mouth watering, as the carver carves it, tableside, before your eyes. You can’t wait to dig into the succulent meat. Who am I kidding? What you’re really waiting to do is grab a piece of the perfectly crispy skin. You may choose to wrap your juicy pieces of duck in one of the handmade Chinese pancakes and cover it with some of the delicious accompaniments. These Chinese condiments are delicious in their own right and, who’s to say that a pancake filled with the julienned cucumber, spring onions, and hoisin sauce isn’t a treat in itself? The hoisin is a recipe created by the owner after he realized that store bought ingredients were not adequate in providing the authentic, Northern Chinese tastes he was seeking. Those spring onions are grown—and have been for the last 33 years, in his own special garden. Juicy, crispy, delicious, amazing: these are all words that my dining companions uttered between bites. The duck is definitely an item that should never be overlooked, and by the looks of it, it seems that most people who dine here know that to be true. The dining room is abuzz with platters of duck whisking by and carvers carefully slicing the treat.
Another menu item worth trying is the Szechuan Beef Proper or, as we proclaimed it for obvious reasons, “candied beef.” Needless to say, it is a sweet and savory entrée that should not be missed. It’s a fine complement to the duck. Where the duck is tender and savory, with a fine mixture of spice and just the right amount of fattiness, the Szechuan beef is sweet and crisp and chewy (in a good way). This dish is perfect for sharing (and a great way to learn how to use chopsticks) and loved by adults and children alike.
(I guess I should mention that the restaurant is kid-friendly. Loud enough that child sounds can be overlooked, a chatty toddler will not bother his fellow diners. And, the wait staff is very friendly; our waiter, in particular, chatted with an 11-year old member of our dining party each time he came to the table.)
We stuck with the poultry and also sampled the lemon chicken and the orange chicken (also, I suppose, sticking to a citrus theme). The lemon chicken is said to be “diced chicken dipped in a unique batter, fried to a golden brown, and glazed with real lemon sauce.” It was more slices than diced pieces, which was not an issue. What was the issue was the alleged glaze. It was more like a thick, viscous, yellow sauce that just kind of glommed onto the bottom of the plate. The “unique batter” was quite thick and became slightly soggy when covered in the sauce—I say slightly because the coating was inconsistent. Parts of it were crisp crisp crisp and other parts were just soggy. The orange chicken was similar; its coating had a cloying citrus taste and was also inconsistent in its breading. The quality of the chicken, however, once you got through the breading, was great and not questionable as it sometimes is when ordering Chinese food.
Throughout the meal, we noticed wait staff walking around with trays topped with what appeared to be stemmed shot glasses filled with a soft green liquid. A similar tray arrived at our table at the end of the meal. Cucumber juice to cleanse our palates! Where the Szechuan Beef Proper was amazingly sweet and the Peking Duck was awesomely savory, this cucumber juice was…well…just kind of cucumbery. In other words, it didn’t really have any taste, though it did have a pretty amazing presentation. It would look great in a pitcher on a table on a back porch on a warm, summer day (and would probably be quite refreshing).
All in all, despite the few bad choices, Peking Gourmet Inn is a great place to indulge your craving for good Chinese food because, even the parts of the meal that weren’t as good as the others were still better than anything you’d get anywhere else. And who knows. Maybe you’ll find yourself in a photo opp, to boot.
6029 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, Va 22041
© 2011, Ronya Misleh. All rights reserved.
About Ronya Misleh
Ronya Misleh likes food. A lot. A foodie before foodie was even a word--growing up, she used to cry if dinner was something she didn’t like--Ronya has sampled the best (and worst) restaurants in all the cities in which she’s lived and plans vacations (and, really, her life) around eating. She hails from a food family—her mother is a great cook (despite the tear inducing meals) and she grew up in the trenches of family restaurants (first pizza, then delis)—so her appreciation for all things culinary does not come from far. Between that, her incessant consumption of Food Network shows, and the fact that she reads cookbooks as if they were novels, she knows what makes good food good and bad food bad.
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