During our time in Mexico I had been on the search for the very finest Peking Duck, strange I know, but I just had a desire to eat some and I knew that this was a growing city for international cuisine. The first thing to mention here is that the Asian cuisine options in the city are outstanding and you can find some delicious Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese options in many places in the heart of the city, some seriously nice food.
We eventually settled on Hunan in Reforma and as soon as I walked in I just had the feeling that this was going to really match my expectations. The decor was delightful, the mood was relaxing and the smells coming from the kitchen were enough to get those tastebuds really excited.
The Duck
I have to be honest part of the reason why we searched so much for the perfect duck is that I wanted the experience, I really love some theatre around food and having experience this in other countries I was looking forward to having the duck brought over to the table, carved and served in front of us, and I wasn’t sure if we were going to get it. Thankfully however, Hunan’s had us covered.
Service
The service was everything that I had hoped it would be, waiting staff right there when you needed them, achieving that thing which so many restaurants get wrong either by leaving you for too long or being over the top, the latter of which has certainly been my experience in Mexico City. The duck itself was presented by two well dressed young waiters who both served and carved the duck with absolute confidence, we were certainly safe in their hands.
Taste
Now I have to say that I was on my 3rd Sapphire martini by the time the duck came but I believe that this only made the meal more enjoyable and I absolutely devoured that delicious dish, one of the best Peking Duck’s that I have tasted outside of China. It is clear that this is their signature dish but another in our party had the ‘Return of the Phoenix’ dish which is crunchy spicy chicken and said that it was absolutely incredible.
I think that it is super important to try the local cuisine when you are somewhere new but the idea that you cannot eat international cuisine as a result seems absurd to me and I think that actually this was part of the reason why I so desired this dish in particular. I was overjoyed to have found a restaurant which specialized in this dish and I was even happier to discover that it was in fact delicious. Mexico City offers amazing food and there is very much life beyond tacos and pozole.
