Beijing QuanJuDe Wangfujing Restaurant, Beijing…..Peking roast duck restaurant gets a roasting. Duck off!

This is the first time I’ve dined at QuanJuDe, but there will not be a second!  Don’t get me wrong the duck was good, but honestly, I’ve had roast duck thats up to par, if not better.  Duck skin was crispy and greasy. For half a duck, I had very few pieces of skin.

We’ve all fallen for them; food places the guidebooks say you absolutely must try when visiting a certain city. So we join all the other tourists who’ve read the same guides and wait on long lines for what turns out to be overrated, mediocre, and often overpriced food. Apparently founded during the Qing Dynasty, QuanJuDe is a the longest-running Peking roast duck restaurant brand in China. I went to the outlet at Wangfujing and it is a big place, and yes they serve so many ducks it could resemble a food factory rather than a restaurant. This tourist trap charges more for the duck than any other Peking duck restaurant in Beijing, and then they charge you separately for each plate of sauce & onion, cucumber, basket of wraps for the duck, etc! This makes it the worst value of Peking ducks in Beijing

I strongly recommend you get your peking duck experience somewhere else since most places do as good or better of a job. The way I can sum this up is…keep walking…don’t look back…find another place. This is the true truth as I say it as it is…

Asia Herb Association Herbal Massage and Spa, Bangkok…..That was as close to heaven as I’ve been

Wow is all I can say.

I’m a self-proclaimed massage addict and have been getting regular massages for the last 20+ years and have had been worked on by dozens of therapists all over the world. The two traditional Thai masseurs at Asia Herb Association in Thonglor, were as professional and skilled as I’ve experienced. Number 621 (Khun Dow) was strong and energetic… the massage was something like a combination deep-tissue and manipulation session. She used elbows, fists and feet and bent, pulled, kneaded, stretched and flexed me into a pretzel, to work out deep knots in my muscles in particular, my lower back. I just loved it when she walked on my back.  It bordered on exquisitely painful at times, but the sense of looseness and relaxation when the session is done was truly amazing. On my second visit, masseur number 47 had incredible brute strength, and her technique was very direct. She did a lot of detailed work on the problem areas in my back, and the relief was dramatic. Made me feel like a million bucks.

Love the fact that they are open from 9am to 2am and the staff are really nice. The interiors are done up in an opulent Thai decor which made the ambience very calming, and at just THB400 for an hour, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better massage value in Bangkok. BARGAIN  of the century!

Huge stack of “damn that feels amazing!” That was as close to heaven as I’ve been.  This is the true truth as I say it as it is…