🥟 Lao Beijing (老北京) @ Square 2: A Quiet Gem for Peking Duck & Classic Chinese Comforts! 🇨🇳✨ ​Located at the back of Square 2 (Novena) tucked behind other shops, Lao Beijing (老北京) can be easy to miss—but stumbling upon it turned out to be a great weekend lunch discovery! ​We dropped by without a reservation around 1:30 PM (towards the end of the lunch rush) and managed to get a table easily. Here is an honest breakdown of our experience: ​⭐ Food Breakdown & Highlights: ​Signature Peking Duck: 4.5/5 — The star of the meal! The way they carve and serve the duck slices feels slightly different from standard Cantonese roast houses—super fragrant, juicy, and paired beautifully with delicate wraps. Definitely a crowd-pleaser! ​Second Course (Salt & Pepper Duck Frame / 椒盐): 3.5/5 — Constructive feedback: They coated the remaining duck frame in a doughy flour batter before deep-frying with salt and pepper. While still tasty, it would be so much better without the thick batter so the spicy, savory seasoning can directly coat the crispy skin, meat, and bones! ​Traditional Dumplings / Gyoza: 4/5 — The dumpling skins were slightly on the thicker side, but cooked well with a juicy, flavorful meat filling inside. Very nostalgic, home-style taste. ​Vibe & Afternoon Operating Hours: ​Hidden Spot: Because it’s located towards the back of the mall layout, it's a bit quieter and less chaotic than the main atrium eateries. ​Lunch Break Note: Keep in mind that the kitchen/staff take their official afternoon break after 2:00ish PM. The staff kindly left us to finish up our meal peacefully without rushing us, which we appreciated! ​The Verdict: ​A cozy, reliable spot in Novena for family gatherings or craving authentic Peking duck without huge crowd stress. Solid quality and worth dropping by! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Came here from many recommendations online for a nice Chinese dinner date. First impression was not too well, we stood at the entrance for 3-4 minutes before anyone greeted us and sat us down. Throughout the service the food was fast but it was alittle “too fast” and it can be seen from the quality that it’s not the best. The duck was lukewarm when it came and became cold very quickly. The portion you see in the picture is their “Half Peking Duck”. The taste was decent and the pairings were quite well done. The braised beef noodle was one of the better dishes with good flavour, tender braised beef and tendon. The star of the night was the delicious pork ribs that was warm, flavourful and unique. With that said, the Xiao Long Bao here is one of the worst that I’ve tried across many Chinese restaurants (DTF, Crystal Jade, etc). With regards to the service, there was a total of 3 waiters and one manager who’s all rather busy walking around. Throughout the whole dinner which lasted around an hour plus, there was Zero refill for our tea, and we waited maybe 20 minutes before I could flag anyone down to have our desserts fired. Apart from serving the food there was zero service to speak of with zero smiles and zero warmth. In summary, as a subsidiary of TungLok the experience was disappointing but food decent. Worth a try for the wide selection of dishes but at the cost of your experience.

The flaming pineapple here is so good. Awesome presentation, meat is so juicy and tender. Must order here. And we also ordered the ultimate roast duck indulgence set ($88++) for 4 persons. The roast duck + the claypot rice, mapo tofu, vegetable and some sides. Perfect for 4 pax. The roast duck is also a must order 👍.

Celebrated my mum’s birthday at Lao Beijing, a subsidiary of TungLok Group. The restaurant has a nice traditional Chinese ambience, decorated with red lanterns, and there were plenty of tables available when we visited, making it a comfortable place for family gatherings. We ordered quite a few of their recommended dishes: the signature Mermaid Fish, half a Peking duck (prepared two ways with salt and pepper for an additional $10), asparagus with XO sauce, mixed vegetables, 6 pieces of Xiao Long Bao, and stir-fried shredded pork with capsicum. Honestly, all the dishes tasted very good. The Mermaid Fish was thoughtfully deboned for us, which made it very convenient to eat. The collagen soup base was flavourful without being overly salty, and it came with tofu and vegetables. It’s quite a comforting dish and also child-friendly. However, the price is on the steep side at $98. We also ordered half a Peking duck, and the portion looked quite small. That said, the duck itself was very tasty — the skin had a nice balance of fat and oil, and the sauce paired well with it. In hindsight, we probably should have ordered the whole duck instead. The salt and pepper duck (second preparation) was fried very well, very crispy and delicious. Overall, we didn’t regret ordering most of the recommended dishes as everything tasted good. The only downside was that the portion sizes felt rather small for the price. In total, for 7 adults and 2 children, the bill came up to about $267

Food was Delicious here! Everything we Ordered was just so Good! Service was Fast and Efficient. The presentation of the Popiah was so Unique, the Duck was Divine. Highly Recommended!