Dayali Beijing Roast Duck located at 160 York Blvd, Richmond Hill

My friend told me about Dayali Beijing Roast Duck in Richmond Hill and how her family would dine in for an incredible price with lots of tasty food (they would spend $200 for 17 people) and be incredibly full and satisfied with the food.  I had to try it out for myself too!

Storefront

View of the restaurant from my seat

Dayali Beijing Roast Duck (大鸭梨) is located at 160 York Blvd in Richmond Hill amongst other western giant chains like The Keg, Moxies, Scaddabush, etc.  I have always noticed Dayali here but never had the mind to come here to try their food until my friend’s recommendation.

We decided on a very early dinner at 4 p.m. to beat the dinner rush on a weekend (Saturday).  It turned out to be a great idea.  Upon walking in, I was really surprised to see four tables already in the dining room as well as two full tables in their two private rooms already feasting away.  People sure eat dinner early (it’s a great thing and I always love early dinners but it’s just not always feasible).

Menu – click to zoom in

We looked at the menu upon sitting down and I was lost in the myriad of choices.  It was a double-sided order sheet with lots of beautiful colour photos of the dishes, but I just did not know what to pick.  (For $20, you can join as a member and enjoy the reduced member prices.)

Second page of menu

We asked the server for the dinner combo menus (as I thought that’s what my friend picked when she dined out with her family) and the server gave us the combo sets for four to up to ten people.  The four to five people set for $168 was a great deal as it included Peking Duck and as it was the namesake of the restaurant, I definitely wanted to try it out (despite not being someone who is a huge fan of the dish but likes to eat it occasionally).  The Peking Duck dish alone is like $60 so the combo set was definitely worth it.  It included other signature and well-known Chinese dishes like the sweet and sour crispy fish too.  Thus, we ordered the four to five person menu.  I think the server doubted us and didn’t think we would order that menu as we were just three adults and two kids.  He seemed disappointed that we decided upon the combo set when we placed the order.  I think the restaurant has a bigger profit margin when customers order the dishes individually.

Menus for four to ten people

The dishes arrived very quickly to the table.  We had only left the table to change a child’s diaper and when we returned, two dishes already appeared on the table.  Wow, I couldn’t believe it.  And then in the next five minutes, the rest of the seven dishes arrived to the table.  I felt like I was in China with the extreme efficiency of the dishes and how the servers were catering to us (the male server was standing near our table constantly to see if we needed anything.  It was only when more customers arrived that he started veering off).  It felt like first-class service.  All of the dishes were very substantial and large portions too.

The nine dishes in the four to five combo for $168 were: Signature Crispy Roast Duck (Peking Duck), Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish, Shrimp, Salad, Dongpo Pig Knuckle, Stir-Fried Beef with Scallions, Spicy Pot Chicken, Coarse Grain Rice Cake, and Golden Duck Pear.

Dongpo Pig Knuckle

This Dongpo Pig Knuckle was fatty, hot and fresh, and full of tender meat.  I only tried a little bit of this as I knew it would fill me up.  It was perfectly cooked and very delicious!  I enjoyed it very much as leftovers too at home.

Mixed green salad with peanuts

This unnamed mixed green salad was a life-saver during the meal.  It had a balsamic vinegar dressing to it which was the perfect balance to the otherwise heavy and occasionally spicy meal.  This was a gigantic portion of fresh mixed greens and was really good.

Ma la spicy shrimp and chives

These large shrimps in an ma la numbing spice sauce were very fresh and “bouncy”.  I ate at least four of these that evening.  The dish also had peanuts in it too.  The shrimps were large, had such a good bite to them, and the ma la spice was just enough but not a “lingering” kind of hot.

Stir-Fried Beef with Scallions

This was one of the best dishes all night and we completely devoured this that night.  The stir-fried beef was savoury, tender, and absolutely delicious.  The big chunks of scallions and chives were a good crunchy mix to it too with all the sauce soaked up.  I was eating this dish mouthful by mouthful.  The only complaint was that there was a lot of oil in the dish.

Spicy Pot Chicken

The chicken meat was a little more coarse than I would have liked for this kind of spicy chicken.  This also had spicy oil to it but it wasn’t a lingering spice.

Golden Duck Pear

Mmm, this was a highlight of the meal too.  This was a special warm sweet-tasting duck soup with Asian pear.  It’s meant to be nourishing and the Asian pear balances out the “toxicity” of the duck.  It was neat to pour the soup out from the special teapot.  It was warm and sweet; almost like a dessert.

Signature Crispy Roast Duck

Ah, the star of the show.  Look how nicely sliced the roast duck is and how many slices there are on the plate!  The toddler enjoyed the cute “duck” plate.

Signature Crispy Roast Duck with blinis, green onions, sauce, etc.

The blinis (pancakes for the roast duck) were kept warm in a steamer with a candle.  It was fancy how each pancake wrap was separated with a thin piece of paper so that each one could be easily taken out — very thoughtful.  I liked how the blinis were here very thin and of a transparent “stretchy” quality.  It wasn’t like the thick starchy ones that you get at other restaurants (which tend to fill you up faster).

There was a really good assortment of condiments too (cucumbers, scallions, raisins [that’s a first], seafood sauce, spicy sauce, and sugar [also another first]).  There was also a separate plate of crispy fatty skin that was put on top of the steamer.  These slices of duck skin just melted in my mouth.  It was soo good.

My Peking duck wrap

Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish

This “Squirrel-shaped Mandarin Fish” was beautifully prepared and cooked.  Look how perfect it is.  It was full of boneless fish meat.  However, I thought that the sweet and sour sauce was a bit too thick.

Coarse Grain Rice Cake

The Coarse Grain Rice Cake was steamed with a sweet date in the middle of it.  This was served piping hot to the table and one of the first dishes to arrive.  Since there were so many dishes on the table so, I didn’t want to fill my stomach up first with steamed cake so I left it near the end to eat which wasn’t the best because the cake was cooled off by then and not as soft and fluffy as it could have been when freshly steamed.  The date was really sweet and the rice cake was dense and definitely a bit coarse.

Look at the huge portions

I thoroughly enjoyed this visit and how tasty every dish was.  We devoured that stir-fried beef and left nothing on the table!  The salad was perfect to balance out the meal, and the golden duck pear soup was so unique and nourishing.  We packed up four boxes’ worth of food to go home with.  The total price was $189.84 after taxes (before tips).

And upon talking with my friend who recommended me Dayali Beijing Roast Duck in the first place, I then found out that she and her family didn’t order the combo meals; they ordered a la carte from the order sheet!  She provided me a list of her favourite dishes to try for a future visit.  I definitely can’t wait to come back to try their other dishes.  The dishes at this restaurant are definitely up my alley and you can’t beat the price either.

(By the time we left around 6 p.m., there were a lot of people waiting for a table and every table in the restaurant was full.  I was really grateful we arrived for an early dinner to beat the crowds!)