I’m always on the lookout for innovative Chinese restaurants. So when I read about 2 Duck Goose in Brooklyn last year, I was determined to go there the next time I was in town.
I suggested the restaurant to my brother and friend, Jean, so we headed there–along with my niece–just hours after I landed at LaGuardia.
2 Duck Goose’s speciality is Cantonese food, which is one of the four beloved cuisines in Chinese cooking. And of course I’m partial to Cantonese food because it comes from Hong Kong.
We started out with some appetizers. When they came out, the owner, Kay Ch’ien, introduced herself to us. I so enjoyed talking to her about Hong Kong, the restaurant, my book, and even a little Chicago. What a treat!
This duck egg roll was amazing. The duck was juicy and flavorful, and the wrapper crispy and paper thin. The purple picked cabbage was delicious, too.
We also ordered the spicy green papaya salad, which was a huge hit. I think I had three servings of it. By the time I took out my phone to snap a photo, half of the salad was gone. It was that good!
I was even slower to get to the Chinese green vegetable and smoky tofu dumplings. Another huge hit!
From what I’ve read about Cantonese food (and experienced first-hand), it centers around three types of dishes: dim sum (dumplings and little dishes like Chinese tapas), roasted meats, and stir-fry. We were all too happy to sample each of these.
Even though I don’t eat pork, I ordered both types of roasted meat on the menu. This is the quarter duck, which was plenty for four people (along with all the other dishes we ordered). Sometimes there’s not a ton of meat in a duck order, but this one had so much meat that we took almost half of it home.
Here’s the char siu, or roasted pork.
And a plate of sauce and pickles to go with the char siu.
Now for the stir-fried dishes. This spring vegetable fried rice was so fresh and delicious, I could have eaten the whole thing myself.
And the Singapore noodles were out of this world, too. The spicy curry gave it a nice zing. Both the fried rice and Singapore noodles were vegetarian.
My only regret about our experience at 2 Duck Goose was that we were so rushed to get to my book event that we didn’t have time for dessert. I also wish I could have tried their weekend brunch, which features dim sum, Hong Kong French toast (a favorite when I lived there), salads, sandwiches, and many of the same dishes on the dinner menu.
Our servers were very helpful with suggestions of how many dishes we should order and making sure we had enough time to enjoy our dinner yet get in and out in an hour. We all raved about the food on our way out and even well into the evening and the next day.
2 Duck Goose is located at 400 4th Avenue in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn. For reservations, call 347-987-4808 or click online to the reservation page here.
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