Hua Lu Peking Duck — Restaurant in Melbourne

Very nice atmosphere suitable for both business or family dining. Plenty of spaces but this is probably also one of the downfall as there isn’t enough staff to serve all the tables. The yumcha food are quite nice. Particularly like the taro with black truffle. The signature peking duck is a big let down though especially when everyone is rating it so high. The skin is too dry and the meat is tough. They use the normal duck with not much fat.. very disappointing. A normal duck from Pacific House would be 10 times better in fact! Service wise, We sat in the VIP1 room, it’s very hot, and no one came in to serve at all. We were literally shown the room and asked to order via QR code and then literally no one attended to even ask if everything is fine or if there is anything they can help with. We need to go out find a waiter to ask for additional chopsticks, we had to go out to ask if they have chinese tea, no one came in to refill the tea afterwards. For a place that charges such high prices, would have expected a better service.. Anyway, would not recommend.. there are better places for peking duck but the dimsums are fine if you are fine with higher prices and lack of service.

Edit: in response to your reply. Appreciate the upgrade gesture and you mentioned the staff usually regularly check on VIP room, the issue we have is, there was NO one checking in whatsoever today. Hence I think sitting outside the VIP would probably have been better in fact. We have to constantly go out and request things. Chopsticks was one time, we have to go out to ask for tea, and then subsequent refill of the tea, and so on. So no, you didn’t regularly check on the room. By the way, when we arrived, we were literally just told that we can occupy the VIP1 room and were told to order via QR code. NO one actually came in with us at all, let alone explaining or communicating things like there are additional chopsticks etc etc in the room. Also, I know Peking duck and roast duck style are different, I have been to Beijing and had peking duck there a few times, this is definitely very different. I do recognise the quality of the ducks are different. Over there they use a forced fed duck and the fat content is very high. Comparing yourself to Pacific house is probably unfair since the style is different but the Peking duck at Old Kingdom is certainly much better. We also used to go to Dahu Peking duck but they are now closed and their duck isn’t very dry and tough.. perhaps we are just unlucky to get the dry duck today, who knows.. in any case, it’s just an honest opinion. Perhaps there are still room for you to improve. If you think your duck is already perfected though, then that’s fine by me.. just not my cup of tea unfortunately.. nor the 7 people who went with me. So I wasn’t the only one complaining about the dry duck. It was...

August 2025: I am a Level 7 contributor on Google and have reviewed many restaurants in Melbourne and Asia. I decided to check out this restaurant to determine if it really deserves a 4+ Google rating. Prior to my visit, I have read the previous reviews and were mindful of comments on the service standards and the taste of the Peking duck.

👋Importantly points to note: Limit of 90 minutes for each table. Weekend surcharge of 10%, even on Saturdays.

🦆 The Peking ducks are roasted in an oven near the entrance. The skin was crispy and the meat was tender. The ducks were not carved at the table and you have to do the wraps yourself. Taste wise, it's ordinary. I have better Peking ducks in Cantonese restaurants in Singapore. There were slices of a jelly, spring onion and cucumber to stuff into the wrap. I wished that the restaurant would have provided a small spoon for us to dish out the hoi sin sauce, and a tong to pick up the "crepes". Th duck carcass was cooked in a nice, peppery broth which quickly turned cold when many dishes were brought out.

🐷 We had the sweet and sour pork on ice and it was personally my favourite. It wasn't too fatty and were crispy.

🐷🐷 More pork... in the form of Dong Po Rou or braised pork belly. Nice caramelised taste but very fatty cuts. The chestnuts were delicious.

🥬 We ordered the Choi Sum stir fry. It has a nice wok hei, or slightly caramelised, "burnt" flavour. Because so many dishes were brought out each time, it quickly turned cold.

🍚 Ordinary fried rice without truffles. It has a nice wok hei and the taste was acceptable.

👎 The table was too small for 7 of us. We ordered so many dishes which were brought out at one go because of the restriction on the dining duration. For each duck that was ordered, you get 2 plates of meat, 2 plates of condiments and 1 huge bowl of soup. The restaurant was busy and it was difficult to get the waiters' attention. The atmosphere was also noisy, with a busy, rushed pace.

💬💬 Suggestion: come in a smaller group and stagger the orders.

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We ordered : 🦆 Whole Peking duck $88 ✨ - 2 ways: pancake style (8x2 pieces of pancake and whole duck served across 2 plates with a candle compartment to keep it warm) and a large bowl of duck rack soup 🦆 Steamed duck bun $16.8 - 4 pieces, good size but could be juicier 🫘 Black bean tofu in casserole $28.8 ✨ 🍚 Steamed rice $3.8

The duck is a must order ofc and is done in a style where the fat is reduced and skin is crunchy and barely hanging onto the meat. Some pieces are skin only for those who appreciate a decadent bite of thin Peking duck skin to meat ratio of 9:1. The pancake condiments carry a more sweet flavour profile with haw jelly and sugar to include in the wrap along with the standard cucumber, spring onion and hoisin sauce. Love the big bowl of soup, was fragrant with duck bones, vege and tofu - great to sip on between duck pancake bites. Wish all soup servings were this big!

Special mention: black bean tofu - ordered because it looked good different and sounded unique - was unassumingly so tasty, the sauce was thick and savoury (bits of dried scallop and spring onion) giving the tofu a good coating perfect to go with rice. The colour might put some people off but it tastes like a more fragrant tofu so tofu lovers should def close your eyes and give this a try!

This place was super busy when we went so book ahead (even the duck!). The decor is very modern and interesting and the privacy screens are a nice touch or book into a private room for a big group. Overall we had a very lovely meal here and would come back to try the other interesting dishes. Glad to have found another good Peking duck restaurant to add to our options.

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