Spring Deer Restaurant

Duck was ok. It’s on the fatty side. $ 380 for one whole duck. I found the wrapper too thick.

We came here for the dinner after we landed in HK. It’s quite easy to get there if you take public transit and walk out for TST MTR station.
My girlfriend made the reservation a week in advance and pre-​ordered the signature roasted Peking duck for us.
I found this is not the finest of surroundings but the ambience is as original as it gets with low ceilings, stained wallpaper, tablecloths and napkins used once too many times etc.
The service was ok and just a bit slow and pushy on weekend.
We only ordered for peking duck in 2 ways. Of coz, the traditional way to slice the skin and served with Chinese pancakes. The chef would slice duck in front of our table but we found the duck was too fatty and the skin wasn’t crispy at all. The meats were tender and juicy but not surprise us at all.
Pan fried dumpling — the wrap (skin) was so thick and it was deep fried instead.
Stir fried bak choy — it came in very small portion and poor quality of bak choy!
Stir fried scramble egg white with crab meat — the crab meat wasn’t fresh and make the egg white quite watery.
Overall, all the dishes were mediocre and a bit below my expectations!

Well I’ve had a lot of Peking duck in my life and this is definitely not in the 5 star range. Yes the ducks have a lot of meat on the bone but they were really fatty. Quick note is that the Carver does leave quite a bit of meat on the bone and you can request to take away the carcass to eat the rest of the meat at home.
The pastries were made at the restaurant but they weren’t as nice as the ones you get processed at the factory, add they were really rough.
Food is generally greasy but pretty tasty. Judging from the amount of people trying to get in for dinner it is important to book in advance. I booked on the day with no problems for a table at 830 and they said to arrive at 815 to ensure I snap up a table. This is very sound as I saw lots of reservation cards at their counter and I think it’s pretty much first choice first served even if you have made a booking.
If you order the Buns, go for the silver shredded ones rather than mantou as they are sweeter and also people usually order the eel dish to dip the Buns into.
Note: they charge for appetizers and tea per head. I thinks it’s $ 10hk each.

4.5 stars bumped up for a most legit, local find in Tsim Sha Tsui per my cousin’s recommendation.
While all the dishes were well executed, the highlights were definitely the peking duck and shark’s fin soup. The former was cut in a way that included generous pieces of breast with the subcutaneous fat and crispy skin and we all agreed that the handmade wraps were excellent and much preferred over the classic steamed buns. That shark’s fin… the most ginormous I’d ever seen and immersed in a broth that had nothing but essence of shark. Such a nice change of pace from the corn starch thickened versions I’d eaten time and time again when I was younger.
The place is pretty no frills and there isn’t a whole lot of walking space between tables. But the food, where it mattered most, totally delivered!

Their roast duck is the best. It is the great pairing with their homemade sauce and package. Service is not bad as other ppl said about it.

I read all the reviews and decided I needed to check this place out.
I had no reservation and the restaurant was really busy. They found us a nice table. The wait staff was ready to take care of us.
We ordered the duck (this is why you go here!), a spicy shrimp dish and a stir fried vegetable dish.
The shrimp came out first. I would swear that they had been ready in the kitchen before we ordered them. As for spicy, there is a certain degree of spicy for each individual. They could have been spicier for my liking.
The vegetable dish was tasty. My colleague felt they were not fresh. Apparently my tongue cannot discern that.
The duck came out and it was a big one. The duckchef did not present it to us but started slicing away. When the plates were put on the table I was ready. As other reviewers have said, the pancakes are made in the restaurant and are a little thick. This was not a problem. I do have to say the duck was not the best one I have ever had. One reviewer said that their ducks tend to be on the fatty side. yes it was. My feeling is that since it was later in the night and they go through so many ducks it needed more cooking. The skin, which is a favorite of mine, was not real crispy and tasty (see fat duck not cooked enough). I can only assume this as the other reviewers have spoken highly of this restaurant.
Will I give it a second try? Maybe!

Simply amazing.

If you come here, you must order their duck. If not, take your money somewhere else. The duck was one of the best I’ve ever had. Skin was crispy, duck had the right amount of fat and served with homemade pancakes which was delicious. The chefs carve the duck in front of you and is served with pancakes, cucumbers and onion. They took the leftover duck bones for duck soup!
We also ordered other plates such as kung pao shrimp, shredded beef and another dish which were all mediocre. Not very impressive because I’ve had better in the States. Hence, must order the duck if you come because other dishes may be disappointing.
The dessert was apple fritters which was unique as they’re served with a dish of ice water. The serve put the apple fritters into the ice water so the sugar coating solidifies and it becomes crunchy. What a treat!

If you are craving a good duck pancake then this is a great place to go. Although not the best duck I have had in Hong Kong, it is pretty good for decent price.
The restaurant itself is pretty accommodating as we had originally booked for 10 but turned up with 13 and they were able to squeeze us around their table.
The duck here comes to your table to get carved, for some reason they dont carved all of it off and the carcas (which to be honest I would totally pick clean) sadly gets taken back to the kitchen never to be seen again. The duck itself is a good amount of greasy although I found it a little fattier than it should be. The pancakes are homemade but a bit thick and stodgy. Still the satisfied my hunger for the duck pancake!
We ordered quite a few side dishes including Kung Pow shrimp (which isn’t as spicey as you would think, even I could eat it), egg white and crab meat (one of my favs), sweet and sour pork, mabo tofu, shredded chicken with bean sheets in sesame sauce, ‘pretty fish” (which is a whole fish drizzled in sweet and sour sauce, and it’s delicious), with an assortment of veges. Some dishes are of course better than others but with 13 people everybody has different tastes and no one went away complaining.
For dessert they do deep fried banana fritters which they cover in syrup and dump them in ice cold water in front of you to make the syrup crunchy. They were pretty good.
Even though the servers are dressed up in suits the atmosphere is still pretty rowdy. They didn’t seem to mind our particularly rowdy table!
I will definitely come here again.

Peking duck — only sold in 1 size: large whole duck! Be prepared. They came right up to the table to carve, but of the entire thing, they carved out maybe two dozen pretty think pieces and then took the duck completely away. I was surprised by that but we should’ve thought to have them cook it maybe 2 or 3 ways (which we did at the Hyatt Sha Tin and that was amazing!).
We also got aTofu dish which was amazing and a couple of vegetable dishes which were good. You can tell they throw fat into the sauce just to give things flavor — i’m a huge fan of that. Service was very friendly and efficient. Make sure you have reservations.

Craving a little duck pancake? Head to Spring Deer… Now, I can’t say this is the best duck I’ve ever had, but it is certainly one of the top contenders for a tasty dinner in TST. The duck itself is greasy (as it should be) but a bit fatty (a shame). The pancakes are homemade, but they were a bit thicker than I would have liked.
As for the «sides» we had a group of 13 duck lovers, and squished round a table we had a raucous time munching our way through Kung Pao Prawns, Egg White and Crab Meat, «Pretty Fish» — basically a boneless fish drowning in sweet and sour sauce (my least favourite), sweet and sour pork, bean curd with mince pork (really tasty) and shredded chicken with bean sheets in sesame sauce plus your standard round of veggies. As you can see we had quite a few dishes, some super tasty and some less so — hey, you can’t be good at everything!
If you’re at Spring Deer, you’re probably here for the duck, which for the price is the best in town.
If you’re still hungry after filling up on mains, may I suggest the banana fritters. They come with a side dish of ice water. This is great between course entertainment with the game «can you pick up an ice cube with chopsticks?». Up the ante and do a local vs. expat competition… But back to the bananas. You’ll see your server dip the delicious sweet treats into the ice water to solidify the gooey sugar coating. Great fun for all.

Ok so we heard this is where you can get the best Peking Duck in Hong Kong. Excellent service, chef comes out and slices the Peking Duck right in front of you, we started with egg rolls which were awesome. Wasn’t crazy about the Duck though, place was very clean and waiter was friendly and in no rush to kick us out when we lingered for another half hour after paying the bill.

Great place for peking duck in tsim sha tsui area, been there for a long time and is the go to spot for it on the kowloon side. They serve beijing food here and they have many other great authentic dishes here. Very crowded and low cielings make it loud so brush up on your cantonese you might need it.

Not so sure the ratings should be as high as they are. The duck was greasy, very, and I’ve had my fair share of duck.
People are nice but the restaurant is a 3 star at best. It would get a 2.5 if not for the friendliness.

Spring Deer is the destination for Peking duck in Hong Kong (at least according to the locals).
Ever since I had some fine Peking duck at a couple of restaurants claiming to be the original in Beijing, I’ve looked long and hard for a repeat. Most Peking duck I’ve had are adequate. It’s not all that hard to roast a duck.
Spring Deer has a huge sign on the corner of the street, but the actual entrance is rather obscure — mid-​block on the ground floor, up a tight staircase. This restaurant must be on some tourist guide book as half the patrons seemed to be wide-​eyed Americans like me. I happened to have the good fortune of getting locals to guide me.
The dining room itself is spacious, probably accommodating 16 – 20 rounds of 6 – 8 people each. Like many buildings of 1970s vintage, the ceiling was palpably low, no more than 7 foot high in many places. This accentuated the awkwardness of the foreigner presence.
We ordered one duck and some veggies and a fried noodle. It wasn’t much food for four, but having stuffed myself every couple of hours trying to sample everything that Hong Kong had to offer, I wasn’t all that hungry.
While the sides are predictably forgettable, the main event is the duck. A master carver brought two ducks table side on a cart. With smooth, deft slices of his knife, he quickly carved down our duck into a plate of bite size slices of gleaming duck skin and flesh. The remaining carcass was almost wholly stripped of any meat. His incredible efficiency made for a rather mesmerizing show. Doubtless, that level of expertise comes from carving up tens of thousands of ducks, as I watched him repeat the process over 20 times during dinner.
Our tuxedoed waiter presented the duck along with ensuring that service is delivered to old school standards.
The duck was accompanied by hoisin sauce, onion and cucumber sticks, and some cold flat dough wrap. After putting together one wrap out of habit, I realized how ridiculous it was to overwhelm the wonderful smokiness of the duck with mediocre pairings. It’s as sacrilegious as the whole concept of putting wasabi on delicate raw fish or mixing soda into top shelf liquor. I decided to have the duck straight up and never looked back. The accompaniments made for savory veggie wraps.
For dessert, our waiter brought out what looked like glazed donut holes and a bowl of ice water. I got schooled when he dunked them into the ice water to quench them for a crispy sugar crust. They were deep fried apple slices.
The five of us tabbed out at $ 114 ($ 880HK) with service charge, a pretty good value and worth a trip.

**PEKING DUCK PEKING DUCK PEKING DUCK**
Most logical place to go if you’re craving Peking Duck in Hong Kong.
ABOUT SPRING DEER
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Tsim Sha Tsui’s go-​to restaurant for Northern Chinese food.
Located upstairs on Mody Road just above a plethora of small shops dotting the street.
AMBIANCE
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Modest and authentic.
Loud and busy.
Large and bright fluorescent lights.
FOOD
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CORN AND CRAB SOUP
We didn’t order the famous shark fin soup, so opted for this one instead.
They brought out a big-​ass bowl for 2 people. Make sure it’s a SMALL bowl.
Soup was OK, not the greatest. A bit on the bland side.
RATING: ³⁄₅
MUSHROOMS (SIDE DISH)
Nicely prepared and tasty. Nice assortment of mushrooms.
RATING: ⁴⁄₅
PEKING DUCK
Easily one of the best Peking Ducks I have ever had.
Meat was sweet and moist.
Thin, crisp layer of skin covers a rich, soft, buttery layer of fat.
Duck is carved in front of you and served with unlimited supplies of leeks and cucumber and steamed pancakes.
RATING: ⁵⁄₅
OVERALL
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Packed full every night so reserve well in advance.
Reasonably priced and the service is above average.
Dinner for 2 was around $ 70 USD.
RECOMMEND for those craving Peking Duck or braised lamb in Hong Kong.