Weekly Review: Four Seasons (the Cantonese joint, not the hotel)

An immersive culinary and cultural education featuring delicious duck and delicacies fit for homesick ex-pats.

Quick hit: Go for the duck. Experience a wide array of great Cantonese cooking and open your mind to the world beyond London.

Details: Booking advised. Bayswater and other locations. ££.
Restaurant website. More on Instagram.
Find it on Google Maps. 84 Queensway, W2 3RR.

The full picture: A conversation with my friend Sam touched off a debate among far-flung colleagues: Where in the world can you find the best Cantonese-style roast duck?

The answer ought to be obvious, right? Surely somewhere in or at least near the region that invented it. Or in a nearby global city, like Singapore, that’s taken regional delicacies to the next level.

The answer that came back from the best informed sources — all of them hailing from various corners of Asia — was surprising: The best Cantonese roast duck comes from right here in London.

I’m sorry. What?

Sam offered to arrange a lunch at the Four Seasons — the original in Queensway, Bayswater — with colleagues who, I hoped, would educate me. They did, and it was wonderful.

On the question of duck, they were unanimous. There’s something about the duck here that gives it a slight edge over the original. There were several convincing theories: The producer, a welfare-conscious Irish farm. The subspecies, one native to these isles. The climate, cooler and wetter. The food, more generous without being too fattening.

And they offered further evidence: Stories of colleagues returning to Asia after a visit to London who routinely swing by Four Seasons on the way to Heathrow, pick up a vac-packed duck, and carry it back home to be reheated for dinner on arrival.

These views are controversial, and the story has the potential to be sufficiently embarrassing, that I am deliberately being coy about Sam’s identity and employer.

But let’s cut to the chase: The duck was fabulous. Without question the best preparation of duck that I’ve ever had from any culinary tradition. (Sorry, France.) It was perfectly roasted so that the skin is crispy but the flesh is perfectly tender and still juicy. The sauce was superb — rich and a little sweet — to be cut with spicy chilli paste to one’s own taste.

One note: Cantonese style is not the same as Peking duck. As you can see, it’s served in generously sized-pieces with sauce, while Peking duck is sliced thinly (sometimes table side) and served with pancakes, scallions, and an even richer sauce.

Cantonese Roast Duck at Four Seasons, the best around.

Together with the duck, we also enjoyed a bevvy of accompaniments including ⁠Japanese tofu with enoki mushrooms and minced pork, stir fried kai lan, braised mixed vegetable (Lo Hon style), and stir fried French beans with minced pork — which was my favourite of the veggies.

As a Professional Lunch, it could not have been more fun. We made a group of five, which was the perfect size for sharing — both the food in front of us and restaurant advice for virtually every city in the world, including some favourite London spots. (I made a list.) Sam’s colleagues hailed from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and their views on food were wonderfully diverse. Their views on other topics were fascinating, too. And the conversation reminded me why I value these sorts of meals so highly: I always learn something unexpected and benefit from perspectives that I don’t often encounter in my London bubble. About Singaporean politics, the cultural heritage of Indonesia, eating in Japan, or making the most of a trip to Antarctica.

My favourite moment of the lunch came right at the end. After our plates were cleared, a tray of orange slices landed, unbidden, on our table. “What does it mean when they bring you oranges?” Sam wondered aloud. A colleague offered a vital cultural insight: “It means they want you to f*ck off.”

And so we did. Full of duck, by some accounts the world’s best. And, for me at least, full of excitement for continued discovery — both professional and culinary.

One final note: Nick Lander worked all of this out years ago, when he was the restaurant critic for the FT. His review focused on Four Seasons’ Gerard Street location in Chinatown, which our group advised probably wasn’t quite as good as the Queensway original, hence our trip to Bayswater.

I hope you enjoyed this review. I’ve added the Four Seasons in Bayswater to my London Guide, which offers suggestions for every kind of professional meal, arranged by occasion. Please subscribe if you haven’t already and share this post with friends and colleagues.