Mock Ducks of Hazard: Paris remix

When I stumble across mock duck for the first time at Green Garden in Paris Chinatown, I power-order it. New fake meat. The service at the place is atrocious. The dish? De-lish. Wow. The former carnivore with whom I’m dining is alarmed that perhaps we’ve mis-read the menu and it is, in fact, duck. Having never eaten duck, I just love it– the tender, layered “meat” contrasted with the crispy skin, thinly sliced to give you more meat than skin in any one bite. The owners of Green Garden make this duck themselves from mostly soy. I wonder aloud, “Is a comparative study of mock duck possible?” I want excitement! Details! Dueling duck!

I am therefore ecstatic when I stumble across mock duck at Tien Hiang, a fav on the border of the 10ème and 11ème. This place is always packed– always. They will only hold your reservation for five minutes and don’t guarantee a table on time, at ALL. The dining is for the most part canteen-style, meaning that you are sharing a bench and table with other parties. The clientele is seriously diverse– from young hipsters to families with young children, teenagers and the elderly, strict Anglophones to Vietnamese-speaking-only. The space is like one big, colorful family, passing sauces back and forth and recommending menu items. The service is basic but prompt. The line is out the door.

The duck, which comes in several forms (lacqué, stir-fried, in a “marmite” clay pot), is excellent in texture and flavor. The varied presentation is better than Green Garden. Carnivore friends say that the “skin” is on the mark, but the meat texture is off, not succulent enough, and that the flavor is not quite right. I order multiple dishes with duck and devour them.

How psyched am I when I learn that a former chef of Tien Hiang went out on his own to open Vegebowl in the 9ème. The atmosphere is much more refined, with separate tables, a huge buddha, and softly changing colored lights. The menu, I’m shocked to discover, is virtually identical to Tien Hiang– right down to the order of numbered items! The dishes, as far as I have seen, are equally identical– but because of a slower, more intimate pace, you can more easily ask for adjustments to dishes.

What we’re saying here is that if we could import the quality of the product itself, from Green Garden, into either Tien Hiang’s crazy family-style atmosphere or Vegebowl’s intimate, manageable space, with all the variations on preparation offered by the latter two, we’d be gold. Happy mock-duck hunting!