Recommended dishes:
* Vegetarian dumplings (10pc) - Thin pastry with finely chopped vegetables. Steamed fresh when ordered.
* Vegetarian buns (2pc) - Bread is fluffy and thin with lots of chopped vegetables and mushroom. The fragrance of sesame oil together with steamed mushroom is irresistible.
* White radish pastry - Very well seasoned fillings of white radish on the inside and fluffy pastry on the outside. It's fried just right and doesn't taste oily at all.
* Crispy red bean cake (豆沙窩餅) - Although a common dessert in Beijing/Shanghai cuisine restaurants, this is one of the best I've had.
The dish is difficult to master because:
1. some places make it too oily
2. some pastries are too thick and heavy
3. some red bean fillings are too sweet you need to drink heaps of tea to recover
But 北京樓 didn't make any of these mistakes! Pastry was fried golden yellow colour and the pastry is light and crispy. I'm impressed and this is highly recommended!
But..............要注意...............
* Beijing duck - after reading previous reviews, thought this was gonna be so great but the sliced duck is a bit dry and not juicy. The steamed pastry wraps are also a bit dry (probably because it's served on a plate not a steamer). They cut the duck together with the meat, instead of just the skin, which will make drier.
* Dishes are not big in portions so big groups will need to take note and order more (or double servings for some)
* Not the typical yumcha menu so those for 蝦餃 and 燒賣 will be disappointed (but the dumplings and other 小菜 are quite good)