Diner’s Diary | Pressed duck is as much a performance as a culinary experience, and at Gaddi’s you can take part as well as partaking
Watch as your server cuts up a roast duck, help them press the carcass if you like, then savour the results - served in three parts - as Peninsula Hong Kong restaurant revives a French classic

If you’re the kind of diner who likes to get hands-on at the restaurant table and enjoys a food experience that’s as much visual as visceral, you’d doubtless get a kick from ordering pressed duck at Gaddi’s.
The classic French dish, available at the restaurant in The Peninsula Hong Kong until the end of March, was created in the 19th century by Parisian restaurant La Tour d’Argent. Gaddi’s chef Xavier Boyer has updated the dish by serving it in three courses, not the usual two.
The first thing diners who order pressed duck see is a silver press that’s brought out so they can watch the dish’s preparation tableside.
A whole duck, lightly roasted, is next to appear - and not just any duck, but one of the Challans breed from western France, chosen for its fattiness at this time of year. Working tableside, your server first cuts off the legs, then carefully removes the skin and fat from the carcass and cuts out the duck breast fillets. These meats are set aside.