It looks the same. The atmosphere is the same. The food might actually be better in some areas. And that is the way institutions are supposed to be. To be exactly as they have lived in our memories for years and years.
Luckily, the stories I have are from years ago. When, on those particular nights, the waitperson was charming and funny. The only lacking element tonight is the ability of the waitstaff to interact and add that X factor to the meal.
Ten years ago (give or take), I was told about the “duck hangover” in detail and still relive that story to this day. Another time I was told to pull up the table cloth all the way up to the neck to protect from duck fat shooting everywhere. If you were at a Heston restaurant you would call it “theatre”. It is almost as if back then Heston named his restaurant accordingly after experiences at Old Kingdom.
Tonight the duck is non-chalantly presented; politely enough, but without energy and enthusiasm. After grabbing a quick photo, our waitperson proceeds to begin cutting without any warning of duck fat splashing, and in close proximity to a vacant chair with one of our guests jacket hanging behind it. It seems there were no accidents, but the risks taken were exceptional!
The duck itself is prepared expertly as you would hope for at a restaurant that specialises in Peking Duck. It is delicious, with a thin pancake, some spring onion, cucumber and hoisin sauce only adding to the experience. Addictive is probably the best description I can think of.
The duck stirfry (mainly bean shoots though) contains the leftover duck not chopped for the first course, but has some rich juicy pieces of duck meat. The last course, the duck soup, is deep in flavour, far better than my memory of this particular course. It is the first time I can think of trying seconds for this final edition of duck gluttony.
As it stands, we had three ducks for five adults, which is probably over-indulgent. In fact, unlike other reviews, I decided to write this immediately following dinner given the forthcoming duck hangover, and serious duck regret I will probably feel tomorrow. Nothing exceptionally over-indulgent is without some form of come-down.
There are many special things about restaurants that stand the test of time. Think about the changes on Smith Street just in the past ten years. Old Kingdom has been watching all of the great improvements on this eclectic street while keeping its appeal.
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