I went to DaDong recently for a welcome dinner and I was thoroughly impressed with the restaurant even coming from New York City. The decor is elegant--white table cloths and marble floors evoke a classic upscale restaurant feel and it manages to retain a Chinese air as well--and I found the presentation of the food to be equally pleasing. I would particularly recommend the smoked salmon appetizer, which came in the shape of a flower and was surrounded by some fried dough kind of like a Japanese dish.

I don't consider myself a duck connoisseur, but I wasn't particularly impressed by the duck. It was flavorful and the skin was crispy, but it didn't seem that different from the other top duck restaurants in Beijing (like quanjude). Also, the presentation of the duck, while cool, didn't actually seem to taste that good (particularly the demonstration when skin is put into straight sugar, which was pretty gross I thought). Overall, it's a beautiful dinner but not worth the pretty hefty price tag.