The Lure of Peking Gourmet

Frederick is a city in west-central Maryland. There, more and more people have become enamored with a small Chinese establishment—Peking Gourmet. The restaurant which offers dine-in, take-out, and delivery serves a wide range of Chinese dishes. The chefs pull off a delicate balancing act by paying attention to both Chinese and Westerners when they are preparing food.

Peking Gourmet is a unique blend of many flavors, disciplines and sights. Able to accommodate eighty guests in a 3,000 square foot dining area, the restaurant, like the mall it is located near, is quite large. Evergreen Square Shopping Center, where thousands of people gather every day, attracts a lot of people to the area and many of them head to Peking Gourmet when they are in the mood for Chinese food.

The Décor

Owner, Peter Yen took over the restaurant from its previous owner just over ten years ago. He’s kept most of the original decor, but has made a few changes—choosing to emphasize colors with some modern elements, thus adding a fashionable and lively ambience to this classical restaurant.

At Peking Gourmet, the arresting décor is emboldened by warm colors and contrasting elements around the interior. In the dining room, the rose red of the walls fuses beautifully with light yellow and red accents, providing a sweet and homey look. Some Chinese style decorative paintings and fans hang on the walls injecting a slight Oriental touch. The use of lighting on the walls and the ceilings gives the diners the illusion that they are dining in an ancient Chinese palace.

The dining room features a strong and moving Chinese theme. There is a dancing lion costume hanging on the wall which is often mistaken for a dragon by a lot of the younger customers. This decoration has always drawn their attention and interest, making their dining experience just a bit more exotic. It isn’t just there to attract attention, it was the lion dance costume made for and used at the restaurant’s grand opening ceremony.

The Food

The restaurant provides American-style Chinese cuisine, with a menu showcasing dishes from different regions in China. Anyone going there for the first time should try some of their specialties—Szechuan Chicken, Peking Duck, as well as General Tso’s Chicken. The owner also makes a spectacular Mai Tai and Long Island Ice tea. Peking Gourmet places a special emphasis on ensuring that the meat they use is as healthy as possible. All the excess chicken and beef fat is trimmed off to ensure a healthy but tasty meal that won’t clog up arteries. The most successful innovation is surely the sauce, which is updated from time to time. Drawing from customer feedback and cookbooks, the sauce is a startling tasty mixture of flavors that make good dishes great.

Among the top dishes, General Tso’s Chicken, a concoction of lightly battered chicken and steamed broccoli is the best seller. This common dish may be similar to that offered in other restaurants in how it is cooked but is a bit different in flavor. Through years of innovation, it has become one of the more unique offerings at Peking Gourmet. In addition, the Peking Duck is also a crowd pleaser. Compared to other restaurants, it is neither too sweet nor salty and really caters to customer preferences.

Senior citizens are especially cautious about their health; when they come to order, they often opt for tofu, vegetable-inspired dishes, or dishes with little or no oil and salt. The owner will often steam or boil dishes in order to provide them with extra healthy yet also tasty Chinese dishes. The result has received rave reviews from customers. One online reviewer writes, “This is a really good Chinese restaurant. Everything I have tried has been fresh and very tasty. At lunch, even if you order one of the lunch combo specials, they bring the main dish out on a plate with rice in a separate bowl, presenting it nicely and making it easy to share it with your dining companions.”

The Service

The restaurant is kept clean and orderly, especially the kitchen. Yan believes that a restaurant must be spotless in order to ensure that customers will be able to enjoy a truly healthy and enjoyable dining experience. Peking Gourmet pays special attention to sanitation. To keep the restaurant sanitary, the first thing the staff does every day is clean the dining area and the kitchen. The tables are wiped, and the restrooms are mopped and kept orderly and well stocked throughout the day. Thus, even the staff of OHS comes to order food. Food preparation speed is also another one of the restaurant’s strengths. Food can normally be delivered within 30 minutes of ordering.

Adhering to the motto “putting customers first,” the staff at Peking Gourmet can always been seen smiling as they serve customers and engage them in conversation. But besides just making sure to provide excellent service, the staff has also developed a close relationship with the owner throughout the years. It’s a fun environment behind the scenes at Peking Gourmet, everyone is friends and that harmony works to also help further brighten up each diner’s experience. As a result, the chief chef has been with him for over 10 years; the kitchen helper six years; and one of the waiters three years.

The Owner’s Pursuit
Peter Yen’s father was a famous chef who worked for the Chinese embassy in Japan. Peter, who now has over 30 years of restaurant experience, came to the US in the 1980s. He quickly found work at various Chinese restaurants starting out as a busboy, and then moved on to become a waiter, and eventually a manager. Since his arrival in the United States, he has thrown himself into a variety of kitchens and culinary disciplines, mastering each domain in record time. Peking Gourmet’s scrumptious food is a product of years of soaking up extensive culinary knowledge at many different restaurants. He’s amalgamated his culinary knowledge in the form of Peking Gourmet’s unforgettable menu and foodies around town have noticed this.

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Name: Peking Gourmet

Location: 5732 Buckeystown Pike, Frederick, MD 21704

Phone: 301-846-0001