Xiang Duck Hsinchu Beida Branch — Restaurant in Hsinchu

Never have I been to a restaurant where they forced you to order half a roast duck. I walked in around 8pm during non-peak time and not close to closing time, so there was really no need to rush us to order quickly. Even before I was seated, I was told that they will order half a duck for me and my husband. I told the staff that we had already eaten some snacks and streetfood beforehand. We were quite full already, but just wanted to try this restaurant since it has good reviews. We just wanted to to try some small dishes. They said everyone orders their signature roast duck. So I'm like okay but we don't want half a duck, is there a smaller portion available? Then they said half is fine for 2 people.

At this point I insist that they bring me the menu. Part of the enjoyment of eating out in a restaurant is looking through the menu and deciding what you feel like eating. So they do bring the menu after I requested it. They immediately push the set meal for 2 for us which includes half a roast duck and some other dishes. I guess this is good value and a popular choice which is why they automatically push it. I mention again that we were already quite full and really can't eat that much. So then she said how about this dish, and pointed to a plate of sliced duck that comes with pancakes. They said this is the smallest size we offer. There was no price next to the dish she pointed at, but I didn't really care because it didn't look too big and so I just agreed.

I then said I need a few minutes to look through the menu to decide if we want anything else. However, she did not leave, she just stood there pointing at everything and saying this was good, you should try this, are you sure you don't want to try out vegetable dish etc.. She was in a hurry to take our order and pushing for us to order more. She wouldn't leave us. Is this meant to be good service? In the end, she made me feel uncomfortable so I just felt pressured into choosing another duck dish.

So the food arrives. They bring half a duck. Turns out the plate of sliced duck she showed me was still part of half the duck, and the rest of the duck they can cook it in a different way. This was not explained to me. I did not understand this at all. Had I known this, I would not have ordered it and I would also definitely not have ordered the extra duck dish.

Overall, it was way too much food. We forced ourselves to eat because we hate wasting food. There was sooo much greasy duck that it was difficult to enjoy. This also meant there was 100% no room for dessert which I usually look forward to. The food itself was only average. Yes, the duck skin is nice but we had so much of it, it felt sickly. The duck meat itself didn't have much flavor. The sauces and dips available were probably more of the highlight. The extra dish we ordered arrived cold, so we only ate 2/6 pieces and it didn't have much flavour.

The meal came to 1200 including service charge which isn't expensive, at least compared to Singapore anyway. The main issue I had with this restaurant was how desperate they were to sell me the duck, and extra dishes... I probably could have spent 600 on smaller and more unique dishes and actually enjoyed eating it. Why does the customer not get to choose? I wanted to complain to the manager how inappropriate this was, but since my Chinese is not so fluent, I just left feeling bullied into ordering what they wanted me to order. Never have I experienced this in Taiwan or any country. Completely ridiculous situation to be put in.

Please do not ask for my contact details to rectify the situation, there is no point in sending me some generic response saying you will compensate me. No need to...

享鴨 1131222 聚餐吃的看起來我們聚餐是點6280的經典鴨迷歡聚宴加點兩份飲料，本來對於合菜都沒什麼期待的我，雖除了湯之外沒什麼驚艷處，但覺得整體都不錯，沒有難吃的項目，就是湯水類蠻多的，好入口適合老人家，先說我是愛的，但對於喜歡乾的人可能會有點困擾。服務好又快讓我覺得受寵若驚，之後才知道這是王品旗下的@@，不過10人座是兩個方桌併在一起，雖然有些品項直接分一半兩邊各自拿取，但像鴨湯、粥、蒸蛋要舀的覺得不是那麼方便，又不像蝦子可以傳著夾取，片鴨畢竟為了擺盤也只有一盤放中間也蠻不方便的，而且蔥絲不似醬料個放兩邊也是不便拿取，期待有更好的作法～

🌟金沙豆腐煲290-對於愛鹹蛋的我來說，這個很喜歡，很開胃，整個調味很適中，滿分-10～10分我給7分 🌟脆糖燉奶100-中規中矩吧，口感很嫩，配烤脆糖增加口感，味道適中，滿分-10～10分我給1分 🌟招牌片皮鴨（一隻1880半隻980）-一開始有純鴨皮沾白砂糖，但我個人覺得不沾比較喜歡，服務生說可以邊吃邊聽他介紹，但都沒人動筷XD，我是覺得真的要趁熱吃，因為越冷會越容易膩，鴨皮烤的酥脆但我覺得單吃有點不夠味，片鴨大多人覺得沾取百香果醬很不錯，但對愛原味的我有點邪魔歪道，是去膩了，但沒鴨感了，因為我還是喜歡傳統烤鴨那種醃過附有肉汁但緊實的那種充滿鴨味烤鴨，這種類型比較嫩的跟過酥的鴨皮倒有種分離感，就我相信對大眾是好吃的，但不是我的菜，我應該會選其他菜色吃吧～滿分-10～10分我給2分 🌟荷葉餅6片60-每個餅皮有隔分層很不錯，但皮很黏那個紙，剝起來不易，對餅皮沒什麼感想，蠻薄的吧，我是覺得不適合沾百香果醬 🌟酸菜芝麻流沙湯圓（大200小100）-有提醒會爆漿，看到酸菜困惑了一下，但配花生粉與炸芝麻湯圓意外是搭的，本身不愛芝麻湯圓，就覺得不錯吧，有新意，滿分-10～10分我給1分 🌟陳釀梅子雞球290-我本來以為我會不喜歡，但梅子的鹹味搭配的很恰當？意外的順口，也把炸的膩感順勢去除了，蠻厲害的，滿分-10～10分我給7.5分 🌟瑤柱醬爆蘿蔔糕250-就我本來就喜歡蘿蔔糕小塊煎炸讓每口都有酥脆的口感，但那個干貝醬（？）對我來說的必要性就還好，我喜歡海鮮味本身在蘿蔔糕裡面，但這好像在外面，配辛嗆的蔥還不錯啦，但就一般般，滿分-10～10分我給2分 🌟甘樹子水蓮230-雖說同桌都覺得不錯，但我總覺得隱約有個菜味沒被斷掉，調味明明是不錯的，不知道為何，滿分-10～10分我給1分 🌟鹽焗紙包蝦390-清爽，我本身就愛蝦，只要調味適當跟新鮮就滿分，滿分-10～10分我給10分 🌟干貝絲翡翠蒸蛋270-炸海苔很鹹，但這是第一道菜倒是有暖暖開胃的感覺，我個人很喜歡，滿分-10～10分我給9分 🌟豪華版秘製山椒酸菜魚390+150-魚是嫩的，辣度是微辣再少一點那種提升香氣用的，中規中矩吧，我相信蠻多人喜歡的但我不愛欸，滿分-10～10分我給0分 🌟功夫鴨絲粥（應該是加價150）-熬的米粒開花十分綿密，上方的油條口感脆的剛好，不會硬的刮口腔，也不會軟的讓人不明所以，粥裡的高湯讓粥沒什麼澱粉味我個人覺得好入口，就是沒什麼鴨感，滿分-10～10分我給4分 🌟慢火白菜鴨架湯（應該是加價150）-滿滿的胡椒香，原來鴨高湯跟胡椒可以這麼搭，我沒吃裡面的鴨肉，純喝湯很暖胃很喜歡，我可以為了這個湯前面的菜少吃一點，滿分-10～10分我給10分，但友人覺得只有胡椒味味道有點薄 🌟烏梅汁220-很去膩，但後韻有點甜，大概4分甜吧，蠻適合吃完油膩的食物配，滿分-10～10分我給4分 🌟烏龍茶200-我本身愛濃茶茶味重的，但這種清香型的意外的耐喝，雖然淡，但茶味夠，喝完口裡充滿清香，很不錯，我剛好喜歡無糖，滿分-10～10分我給6分 下次如果有機會想試：西瓜魚湯450焦糖慢烤松阪豬390...

This was really yummy! The restaurant had good service and was clearly clean and efficient.

Lots of food ordered, didn't take photos of it all but the duck in scallion and duck wings (pictured) were delicious! The beef and veg dish and the roast duck were also really good.

Would recommend for a nicer casual dinner. Lots of options, but if your kids aren't familiar with Taiwanese flavors, might be hard to find something for them but they had noodles and fried...