That Famous Canning Garden Roast Duck in Ipoh
June 7, 2010 | 11,111 viewsI have heard and read much about this roast duck stall in Canning Garden of Ipoh, so much so that I got a little confused over this stall, and the (almost) similar restaurant serving (almost) the same fares named Hong Kong Oil Chicken & Roast Duck Restaurant in Tasek of Ipoh.
Yeah, and this stall in Canning Garden is parked within a restaurant named Hong Kong as well. Uncanny resemblance?
Hong Kong Restaurant @ Canning Garden, Ipoh – The same mosaic-tiled floor, mirrors and paintings on the walls, and a relaxing airy ambience with all windows and doors opened to the maximum.
And so, reading Alexandra’s article AGAIN two Saturdays ago got me all worked up for a visit to this stall soon. Plus I received an encouraging e-mail from a reader named Steve sometime back in May, pushing me on to give this particular crispy roast duck (“chui pei ngap”) a try.
Crispy Skin Roast Duck – Half a portion for RM19/USD5.80, the glistening and crackly skin stayed crispy throughout the meal, and the juicy, tender meat was devoid of any gamey taste.
And from the looks of it, the roast duck at Hong Kong Restaurant in Canning Garden sure deserves a chance to be amongst the stars in the top tiers of “Famous Roast Ducks in Ipoh” ……….
Madam Heng in her elements here, perched atop a wooden stool (pardon the cropped composition, I snapped this in a haste), and chopping up the ducks ….. all while decked in her most comfortable clothings
Yes, I read with much amusement at how Alexandra described Madam Heng to be such a punchy, feisty lady albeit already in her late 80’s (Updated June 9th 2010 – In my haste in reading Alexandra’s post, I misintepreted her words. Clearly Madam Heng was NOT the one aged 88 years old she wrote about. My apologies … poor eyesight ma! :)) She was her usual cheery, affable self and ever-so-apologetic when our orders were ignored initially, and then our Honey Chicken ended up with disappointing frowns.
No, nothing concerning the quality of the food, but rather …. the last piece of Honey Chicken was snapped up by a customer already looming at the chopping board counter in front of the shop. Hence we changed our order to Dry Curry Chicken, another one of her personal recommendations.
Dry Curry Chicken – A mild, fragrant curry cooked with pieces of tender chicken
The roast duck was delicious; the fowl all drenched in their signature bean sauce (taucu). And yet, the skin remained intact and crispy, while the meat underneath was firm, tender and tasty , all at once. The roast duck was also devoid of the usual gamey taste, and thankfully without the common rubbery texture as well.
A whole duck for RM38/USD11.50, half a duck for half the price, and a quarter of a duck for RM10/USD3 each. Shown in the picture above was a half portion, enough to be shared among 2-3 pax.
A plate of roast chicken rice that paled in comparison to the obviously attention-seeker, limelight-hogging of a roast duck. 🙂
Here, you’re left with not many choices. Unlike the other Hong Kong Restaurant in Tasek, you don’t get deep-fried pork, braised meats, oil chicken (albeit you do get roast chicken here), nor a medley of dishes to go along with your rice. Only a limited selections of vegetables and meats, to accompany your choice of white or oil rice.
Notice the wooden plank/stool placed strategically below the chopping board? And the Zen-like motto on the yellow-coloured header? “I AM FINE, YOU ARE FINE, WE ARE FINE”
The restaurant at the corner lot next to the field may look empty and discouraging come lunch hours, but the place does serve a mix clientele … and they’re sure to return time and again.
The roast duck here comes close to being one of the best in Ipoh … if not THE best, to some. But of course, I still reserve the crown to one that really, really blows my socks off.
So, where’s YOUR favourite roast duck stall in Ipoh?
ROAST DUCK @ HONG KONG RESTAURANT
60, Jalan Lee Kwee Foh,
Canning Garden,
31400 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Telephone : 605-547 7813.
Business hours : 10am – 7.30pm daily.
Closed on every third Thursday and Friday of the month. (Information from Malaysian Insider’s post)
Here’s a GOOGLE MAP to this roast duck stall.
Directions : This restaurant is situated directly behind of the famous Canning Garden Chee Cheong Fun, and at the other end of Happy Fried Dough stall.
I’m first? Yay!
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Ooh! Drooling at that roast duck! The skin looks really crispy! Yummy!
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Too bad you didn’t get to try the honey chickens – but was the dry curry chicken good?
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 8th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
The dry curry chicken was okay, surprising enough for a Chinese food stall to be dishing up a decent version.
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I purposely avoided your blog because I know I will regret it when I see all the gorgeous Ipoh food I’m missing. And I WAS RIGHT!!! The one thing I miss the most (after nasi lemak) is siew ngap! Now I really gotta make a trip to Ipoh!! Ahhh.. for a nice cold glass of umbra juice with assam boi.. 😀
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 8th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Haha …. let’s see …. maybe I should write something on nasi lemak after this, just to tease you over the edge?
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kat Reply:
June 9th, 2010 at 12:13 am
You is EVIL!!!
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 9th, 2010 at 11:48 am
As always …. >_<
Ahhh… that plate of glorious duck is calling out my name! Oh dear.
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I miss roast duck! Used to have it quite frequently back in Penang. You mean to say the lady perched on the stool is in her 80s????????? Unbelievable! Next time, can you ask her to share her secret of youth? 🙂
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 8th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Yeah, from what I read.
Share her secret of youth? Hahaha .. happiness and contentment I guess?
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Yes, i eat from this stall whenever i want duck.. can say it is my favorite duck shop, been eating there since 20 yrs now… canning garden is my territory..hahahahaa… my sunday breakfast is the ccf behind this shop.. the man with the cigarette is my favorite ccf fella…
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 8th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Haha …. the grumpy Chinese man selling the CCF?
Yeah …. a classic that one.
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stoppit!! u r making me hungry!!!
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are you sure?? i work in canning garden for 3 years, stay in canning garden for 16 years, i never enter that restaurant.. cz nothing good will come out of it..
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 8th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
Hi lessajinomoto.
Nothing good to come out of it?
Okay, let’s share my second part of the story … I have stayed in Ipoh Garden for a good 16 years as well (ironically). And I have only eaten the roast duck here twice before.
Sad to say, back then, they were unimpressive. Maybe those were their ‘off-days’ … when the ducks were not crispy, and nothing too memorable.
But this time around, even I myself was pleasantly surprised, for the duck was as good as a roast duck can be. Albeit slightly pricier than the average ones; this one at RM38 per duck.
To be honest, I was bent on proclaiming Jelapang’s or Falim’s versions as the better ones, but I’m not keen on doing so after this one.
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ilovefood Reply:
June 19th, 2011 at 9:11 pm
I cant help but to comment after reading ur statement. U havent been into the shop but u know nothing good is serve there?? how did u do that??haha
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I like crispy duck skin but I don’t like the meat drench with sauces~~
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 8th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
Me too, mimi. Usually.
But this one ain’t that soggy nor wet, nor overwhelming. The sauce complemented the duck pretty well.
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I prefer the dry curry chicken. :p
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Pity you miss the last roast chicken,they do have very crispy skin and the meat is moist and tender.This Hong Kong Roast Duck shop has been around for a long time.I am from Sydney,Australia and I first had lunch there back in 1996.Every time I visited Ipoh,my first meal must be at this roast duck shop.I have eaten roast duck in Australia,Hong Kong,China,Tahiti,
and Singapore and this little shop’s roast duck is one of the best I have ever eaten.Most of my Australian friends who visited Ipoh loves to eat there too.Perhaps I should invite her relatives to migrate to Sydney and open up a shop called “IPOH FAMOUS FOOD CENTRE”Thank you for you very nice post.
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 8th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Hi steve, nice to hear from you.
There is a much, MUCH longer history that dates back to the days of my grandpa’s …. in relation to this exact premise. 🙂
But I’ll leave that story untold, to refrain from boring everyone here.
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It is delightful to see the serving of honey chicken and curry chicken besides the crispy roast duck.
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Aiks, Madam Heng is NOT in her late 80s. What I actually wrote in the Star article was:
“For a long time, I thought no senior citizen could ever top a friend’s spunky mum. At 88, she could dance up a storm and was purportedly such a road demon, she chalked up a grand tally of RM10K in speeding tickets.
Then, along came Madam Heng, the doyenne of Restoran Hong Kong (60, Jalan Lee Kwee Foh, Canning Garden, 31400 Ipoh Tel +605 5477813) …”
Hehe. Well, good publicity is still good publicity. Thanks, James! 🙂
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 9th, 2010 at 11:20 am
Oh dear… hahaha, my mistake in mis-interpreting that!
Whoopsie … 🙂
Anyway, she IS a charmer, as you’d say. And I can see myself going back again for the roast duck, and maybe a bite or two of the chicken char siu (Honey Chicken).
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This is now at the top of my Ipoh makan list. Hopefully, I’ll have time to pop by in August. 😉
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wow that duck looks so fantastic!
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[…] Canning Garden Roast Duck @ Hong Kong Restaurant, Ipoh … […]
[…] Canning Garden Roast Duck @ Hong Kong Restaurant (NEW!!) […]
[…] Madam Heng was a persistent lady, oh yeah. Can’t deny that. It has been a year since the initial contact made between herself and her brother-in-law with myself, an acknowledgment and gratitude nods for the post published in June last year. (Read “That Famous Canning Garden Roast Duck”). […]
I love eating and travelling, all over the world I will look for roast duck whenever it is available, other than one place along the road from Kuenmin, Yunan, China where the ducks are roasted in the Tandoo heated by pine needle rope, This Canning Garden Hong Kong Restaurant Roast Duck is rated by me as top 2 in the world, delicious !
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 14th, 2011 at 3:29 pm
Great to hear that peter. I am sure she will be equally delighted.
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Hi J2Kfm,
I’vw recently went to this restaurant but notice the food ( duck ) sucks big time la. Roast duck was not what I remembered few years ago. Didnt see the lady in the photo around as well.. Anyone tried lately?? To me it sucks esp after travelling all the way from KL with expectations. The workers told me the management just change and that aunty has retired. Is it true????
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J2Kfm Reply:
September 3rd, 2011 at 9:56 pm
Hi ilovefood. Oh thanks for the notice. I did pass by and saw that they have changed their signboard, and the name to Hon Kong instead. I have not been there since the last visit where I did this review.
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The place is closed and changed owner…no more good Hong Kong duck, but can get great smoked duck at Tuck Kee Restaurant near to Big Tree Foot!
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The place is CLOSED!!!!!
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Excellent article! We are linking to this great
post on our website. Keep up the great writing.
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The shop has been close and new name shop VEGAS
for roasted duck pls do booking b4 come to shop
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