Ben Yeo’s New Stall Sells Yummy ‘Fast Food-Style’ Peking Duck Wraps For $16.80

Why Peking duck wraps?

The idea to offer wraps came from Cao Yong’s love for Peking duck. While he enjoys the dish, he admits it’s not the most affordable or something you can have on your own.

“A Peking duck will set you back around $80 at a restaurant and how can one or two people finish a duck? With the wraps, customers can enjoy restaurant-quality Peking duck whenever they want, without having to order an entire duck,” Cao Yong, whom you might remember from Mediacorp Ch8’s variety shows like Food Struck! and King Of Culinary, tells 8days.sg.

This is also a good way to bring the upmarket dish to the masses, adds Ben. 

Birds cooked the traditional way

The ducks are roasted on-site and for a start, Cao Yong, who picked up the dish when he was a commis chef at the defunct Boon Lay Raja Restaurant in Jurong East, will be personally roasting and carving the birds at the stall. He developed the recipes for everything from the wrappers to the house-made sauce himself.

Peking duck, but fast-food style

Traditional Peking duck is typically served in three courses. First, the crispy skin is carved tableside and eaten dipped in sugar or sauce. Then a thin layer of the meat and skin, accompanied by hoisin sauce, sliced cucumbers and scallions, are wrapped in thin crepes and eaten as a wrap. The remaining meat is then cut up and served with noodles or vegetables.

Available in four flavoured wraps

To give the dish a modern twist, the duck is rolled in a thin tortilla-like wrapper in four flavours: beetroot (pictured above), spinach, charcoal, and original. Handmade in-house using all-purpose flour, the wrappers are infused with natural colours from their respective ingredients to give them flavour.

Peking Duck Wrap Taste Test, $16.80 for 8 pcs

For $16.80, you get four Peking duck wraps, one in each colour, each sliced into two wedges. The petite rolls come with a thick layer of meat attached to the skin. While the duck meat is juicy, tender and flavourful, the skin is not as crispy as we’d hoped. That said, we enjoy the nice mix of punchy flavours from the scallions and sweet-savoury hit from the hoisin sauce, and crunch from the cucumber and corn crisps, an unusual but tasty addition.

What stood out for us are the wrappers, which are delightfully chewy, supple and resilient enough to withhold the sauce and juices from the duck. Those with sensitive taste buds might be able to detect a very slight hint of earthiness from the beetroot wrapper, but the flavour for the rest are almost non-existent.

Sure, waiting in line and having speedily wrapped Peking duck is just not quite the same as having it carved tableside at a restaurant, but at $16.80 we’re not complaining. The yummy wrap makes for a satisfying snack, and also hearty enough to be a main. Just make sure you eat it real quick. Seeing how the duck skin has already lost much of its crispiness when served, it will grow soggier if you leave it to mingle with the hoisin sauce.
 

Tan Xiang Peking Duck Wrap is at 510 Chai Chee Lane, S469027. Open daily 11.30am – 9.30pm. 

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