A few weeks ago, J and I had a celebratory dinner at Wild Duck in Kingston. I had never eaten at Wild Duck before so this was a good opportunity to try it out. It was a Friday night and we walked in without a reservation. The restaurant offers modern Asian cuisine in a fine dining setting. We both (separately) decided on the same thing – the Wild Banquet for two at $89 per person. Great minds think alike.
We started off with seared scallops with XO conpoy chilli and bonito flakes. These were fabulous and perfectly cooked – so soft and juicy. That chilli had some kick in it which J liked. I ended up inhaling it the wrong way and had a bit of a spicy coughing fit. The scallops came served with some yoghurt and ponzu jelly.
The Peking duck pancakes came next and we both noticed the very crispy (almost fried?)) skin but I was happy with the large portion of duck meat – a lot bigger than other places would usually provide. The pancakes were noticeably fresh and soft. I really wished there had been more than one serving per person!
We got to try the Balmain bug dumpling and Wagyu beef dumpling, each came with its own sauce. The Balmain bug dumpling was fat and stuffed full. On its own, without any sauce, I found the seafood to be quite bland without any seasoning or spices. The ginger and vinegar dipping sauce was a wonderful accompaniment and provided some much needed flavour and impact. The Wagyu beef dumpling on the other hand had been combined with chives and seasoning. The vinegar dipping sauce had been mixed with chilli sauce. Definitely our favourite of the two.
The first of the mains was the Singapore chilli prawns. There were four prawns sitting on some crispy pan-fried squares of noodles. That sauce was mildly spicy and more of a refined sweet chilli sauce, but it was delicious and I loved coating it on the noodles, my prawns and my rice.
The mixed seasonal vegetables came with baby bok choy, broccoli, wood ear mushrooms, carrots, baby corn and lotus chips. We both noticed that quite a lot of oil had been used, but it was still delicious.
The char siu lamb shank was massive and more than enough for two people. To be honest, we were both worried that we wouldn’t have a filling dinner considering the small portion sizes of our previous dishes. The lamb shank disproved this theory. It was extremely tender and fell off the bone easily.
I asked for a side of fried mantau ($4) to go with the mains. This was served in a very cute mini bamboo steamer. I loved using the mantau to mop up both the chilli prawn sauce and the lamb shank jus. Sooo good.
The shared dessert tasting plate consisted of chocolate mousse topped with white chocolate and popping candy, raspberry sorbet and coconut sticky rice. For a tasting plate, this was a much larger serve than we expected! That chocolate mousse was heavenly – a velvety smooth milk chocolate which is my favourite. The raspberry sorbet was full of natural raspberry goodness, and the warm sticky rice was simple yet comforting. A great way to end the night.
Service was excellent and the meals were spaced out within an acceptable amount of time. It wasn’t too noisy inside the restaurant, though it was only at half capacity, so it was an elegant and peaceful place to have a conversation. We were both completely stuffed at the end with the only complaint being we over ate.
Wild Duck
71 Giles Street, Kingston
Opening hours:
Monday – Friday: 12.30-2.30; 5.30-10.30pm
Saturday: 5.30-10.30pm
Foodgasm 8/10
Value for money 8/10
Service 8.5/10
FPJ score 24.5/30
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