Having encountered numerous social media posts extolling the virtues of Gouqi and its famed Chinese duck, I succumbed to the hype and booked a table for two on a Wednesday evening. In a strategic move to avoid the impending Chinese New Year rush, whilst also marking our 9-year anniversary, I anticipated a memorable dining experience and we set our expectations high for the 5-course duck tasting – an offering requiring a 24-hour advance notice.

Upon arrival, we were warmly greeted in an oddly empty restaurant with only two or three other tables filled – a very rare sight for a Wednesday night in Trafalgar Square. They seemed to have more waiters than actual guests. We were seated in softly lit booths at the rear of the restaurant, but we were the only ones there, so it felt intimate but also quite bizarre.

The waiters were all fantastic and I can’t fault them at all. However, the food was a bit of a mixed bag. The crispy duck salad offered a promising start, showcasing a great balance of different textures and flavours, highlighted by crispy lotus roots.

Then came the disappointing lacklustre grey soup featuring the odd piece of corn, some tiny bits of duck meat and ‘peach gum’ which left much to be desired – I had a few spoonful’s and politely declined the rest as it was so under seasoned and giving me empty calories.

Then came the duck skin – I thought it was rather odd to bring out the skin after we already had crispy duck in the salad (surely it should have been reversed). While tasty, the lack of crunch and the accompaniment of sugar left me questioning the purpose of this dish when a quarter of duck with more skin followed shortly after…

Finally after being cock-teased (pardon the poultry pun), the star of the show arrived – the famous duck. The duck itself was undeniably delicious, with tender meat and beautifully caramelised skin, but the dish as a whole suffered from a shortage of pancakes and condiments (forcing an unbalanced stuffing of duck with minimal cucumber and green onion) and failed to compensate for our disjointed culinary journey.

An unexpected serving of mundane egg fried rice followed. It was served entirely on its own (what the duck!) and was lacking in any distinct flavour. We both exchanged raised eyebrows – knowing that anything we said would be overheard by the staff behind the curtain of our booth. I took two bites and politely agreed to take it to go (and to be fair I managed to improve it the next day in a hot wok with the addition of some chicken thighs, prawns, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, coriander and fresh chillies).

The dessert – a mango parfait with a passionfruit sorbet did prove to be very refreshing, and the addition of petit fours for our anniversary celebration was a thoughtful touch.

We ended up paying £300 total (including 15% service which was well deserved, although the pin machine sneakily tried to force us to add additional service) and we left feeling like we had been thoroughly ripped off. Just to think how many meals that would have gotten us at Wong Kei. Yes, the waiters there look like they want to murder you and they haven’t renovated in 40 years, but at least the portions are huge and the food actually has flavour (although that could be from all the rats they have in their basement? Who knows, who cares.)

The staff did slip us a QR code to review them on Tripadvisor and I did feel pressured to leave them a positive review after the amazing service we had (which might explain why it’s still so highgly rated), but I just couldn’t sink myself to that level of disingenuity. If you want great duck salad – go for it, but I wouldn’t come back for much else.

5 course duck tasting menu £75 per person

Wine Pairing £50 per person

My rating: 6.5/10

⚜️ Rowan ⚜️

ever.so.british