At Culinary Backstreets Shanghai, we’ve already raved about the delicious regional varieties of roast duck – from local Huaiyang birds to the imperial Peking to shāo wèi (烧味), or Cantonese-style. While they each have their own unique breed of deliciousness, we are particular fans of A San’s fusion version.
A single storefront in the former French Concession, A San does a booming trade in takeout Cantonese-style roast duck (烤鸭, kǎoyā). Glistening ducks, bronzed from a turn in the oven, hang in rows behind a window like a fragrant siren call to hungry passersby. Come before peak meal times and you’ll find a line of diners – hungry to take home a handful of plastic containers stuffed with the bird – stretching out of the closet-sized space onto the sidewalk.
Two workers armed with cleavers and tree trunk cutting boards behind a glass partition slice the ducks to order, separating the delicate skin and gamey meat chopped on the bone into different to-go boxes. They can butcher their way through half a duck in a minute to keep up with the queues, while the cashier rings you up and asks you what you’d like to add on to your order.
What makes this pre-roasted duck special – well, besides the juicy meat and succulent skin – are the side dishes. The light soy sauce comes standard with your order, but for a nominal fee, you can also add on thin wheat pancakes, soybean paste and sliced white scallions: all the accouterments necessary for a Peking duck feast, only with a Cantonese bird. The best part? Half a duck – which will easily stuff two hungry diners – will run you less than RMB 40 (US$7).
To ensure all of the grab-and-go diners have a handle on how to serve the best duck possible in the comfort of their own home, the restaurant has posted a reheating instruction manual on the front door. It’s all in Chinese, but the sign explains, “If you return home and your duck is cold, put it in the microwave for about five minutes – give or take – uncovered. Alternatively, you can use a blowdryer to reheat the duck.” The frozen pancakes need only a quick one-minute zap in the microwave – no hair-dryer necessary.
In addition to the whole ducks, A San also sells the bird’s offal, with more popular items like liver (鸭肝, yāgān), webbed feet (鸭脚, yājiǎo) and gizzards (鸭珍, yāzhēn) marinated in soy sauce selling out almost as quickly as the main event. And you can’t leave without an order of barbecue pork (叉烧, chāshāo). Thick ribbons of roasted pork have a special place next to the ducks in the window. Sliced to order, the pork is ringed with red skin. Moist meat hides underneath the varnish of honey, five spice and soy sauce.
If you pick up your carnivorous feast on the way home, it’s not a bad idea to stop by one of Shanghai’s wet markets and grab a couple veggies for the side dish. We always get at least a cucumber to julienne and tuck into the pancake. It’s the only typical Peking duck side that isn’t included in A San’s set.
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Published on February 27, 2014
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