Serving duck for 150 years and counting

The Quanjude Restaurant opened in 1864 and is 150 yrs young.  Quanjude means:  "quan" means perfection without a flaw; "ju" means gathering without departing and "de" means virtues to be supreme.  All together: perfection, union and benevolence.

Baejun and his wife took us to the seven story restaurant across the city gate by the Forbidden City in downtown Beijing.  The restaurant can serve over 2,000 at once!  There are several special things about the Peking duck here.  

First, each duck has its original ID number, from the time it was hatched to serving time. With it, one can find out everything about the duck (where it lived, what it ate, etc). All the ducks are roasted in open ovens using non-smoking hardwoods like date, peach and pear originally served to the Qing dynasty.  

The day we visited, Lupe and I felt like we were part of the imperial family!