There's no such thing as a free lunch...Or is there?

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It's official. The next president of Indonesia is former army general Prabowo Subianto. Quite how the next five years will pan out is anyone's guess but hopefully the foreign pundits who always bring up his dodgy human rights record will be proven wrong. Nonetheless, on policy making, Prabowo's popularist move to literally offer the poor 'a free lunch' every day of the week does not augur well for the future. Such a policy - if it ever came to fruition - would cost a phenomenal amount of money and likely lead to huge inefficiencies (food waste) and poor incentives (make people lazy). Another concern is Prabowo's strong nationalist bent. Thus, in the possible event that he finds himself with his back against the proverbial wall in the face of stern economic challenges, there is a big chance that he will simply scapegoat foreigners. But he will have to be careful. Construction of the new capital city, Nusantara, for example, is highly dependent on foreign in
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The Duck King, Grand Indonesia

Q: Did you hear about the duck with a drug problem?
A: He was a quackhead

 Peking duck has long been a favorite of mine, and while I tend to wolf it down at extravagant marriage receptions held in Jakarta, I don’t often get to eat it in restaurants. This is basically because I seldom visit Chinese restaurants, instead preferring the cheaper Chinese “street food” – stuff like kwetiau goreng etc – in places like Mangga Besar (I won’t mention that area’s other attractions!).


The Duck King

 Peking duck has a rich history. It originates from Beijing - surprise surprise (but is never referred to as Beijing duck!) and has been prepared since the imperial era. So what’s good for the royals is good for the gander: and a table at the Duck King in Jakarta’s monstrous Grand Indonesia shopping mall - it seems to be about as large as Switzerland - was booked for seven o clock on a Saturday night.

 As Jakarta restaurants go, this one falls into the mid-upper category. It’s classy, bright, spacious and modern. It was also packed – a very good sign.

 I’ll cut to the chase and say the quality of the food here is very good. This is not just another flash Jakarta restaurant without substance – they do actually deliver on the quality of the food they serve here.

Besides the Beijing Peking duck (which was excellent), the menu also features a very impressive selection of vegetable side dishes – like kangkung (spinach), buncis (green beans), bayam (amaranthus), etc – cooked in various ways. It’s obvious that quality, fresh ingredients are used as the taste is much better than you would find in a cheaper restaurant.

Prices at the Duck King range from the mid to upper end. If you choose carefully, the damage for a meal for two could be in the region of Rp500k. Select some of the more esoteric dishes, however, and your credit card will be given a sterner stress test.

 All in all, this is a great restaurant with really good food – although romantic couples might want to stay away (please do: nothing worse than having an amorous couple all over each other at a nearby table while you’re trying to enjoy your meal!).

The Duck King

The Duck King


The Duck King
Grand Indonesia
Lt. III Unit GD 1 - 17
Jl. MH. Thamrin No. 1, Jakarta Selatan

 Telp (021) 2358 0835/ 45

 https://www.theduckking.com/

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