Meet Duck Zhang, AKAR’s Avant Garde Bak Zhang to Spice Up Your Dragon Boat Festival Feast in Jakarta

Dragon Boat Festival, also called Duānwǔ Festival, is one of the four grandest traditional festivals in China. The other three are Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival and Qingming Festival. 

Taking place on the fifth day of the fifth Chinese lunar month (aka Double Fifth month) annually, the Dragon Boat Festival offers a fascinating insight into Chinese food culture. In addition to dragon boating, families and communities also gather to make and eat Bak Zhang (also known as zòngzi or sticky rice dumplings) and drink realgar wine (Xiónghuáng Jiǔ). The story behind these iconic leafy-green sticky rice dumplings shouldn’t be forgotten, given that it involves death, a rice eating river dragon, and the haunting spirit of an ancient poet, Qu Yuan.

Bak Zhang has been since spread and popularized via Chinese minorities settlers throughout Asia, taking different names including pya htote in Burma; nom zhang in Cambodia; ba zhang in Laos and Thailand; bak zhang in Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia; and ma zhang in the Philippines. Since people in different regions make the fillings from what is locally available, there are many bak zhang recipes. Preparation methods also vary by location.

History aside, the humble rice dumpling has proven to stand the test of time–but not without incarnations.

Duck Zhang: AKAR’s Rendition of Bak Zhang

In honor of this tradition, AKAR restaurant is presenting their own version of luxurious sticky rice dumplings, which will impress and dazzle your family and friends. If you love the umami flavor and greasy texture of bak zhang, you’ll love Chef Mac Gyver’s Duck Zhang. This special dish isn’t AKAR’s signature for no reason. It hits all the right spots, and may just be the most delicious and unique bak zhang you’ve ever sunk your teeth into. 

Duck Zhang feeds six to eight hungry adults and takes 48 hours to prep and cook—but will probably disappear in a flash at your dining table. For IDR 800.000 ++, you get a 1.8 kg of whole 48 hour dry-aged deboned duck, stuffed with five premium ingredients: glutinous rice, smoked Chinese sausage, pork belly, salted egg yolk, and shiitake mushroom, before it’s cooked ‘till the meat is tender and creates a melt in your mouth texture. Absolutely DELICIOUS!

Origins of Duck Zhang

Duck Zhang was founded in 2014, back when Chef Mac was still living in the U.S. There, he had eaten turkey at every single Thanksgiving, so he wanted to try something different that year, since everything else on the table (the stuffing and side dishes) was going to be different anyway. Instead of fussing over a turkey every year, why not pick up a masterfully prepared duck?

“Go quackers not crackers for the next Thanksgiving,” He promised himself—so began the story when Chef Mac ditched traditional roast turkey for a delicious Peking-style roast duck. 

His rendition was later inspired by bak zhang eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival with his family. A great part of him believes that we’re all destined to be drawn back to the food of our childhood, that we all have a flavor or a dish or a bite that was very memorable to us growing up.  

But would it entirely upend a revered culinary tradition to add a little innovative variation to the feast?  

“The Americans refer to our zòngzi as Chinese Tamales—I prefer to call them Mexican zòngzi. Imagine having a cook-off between Tamales and our zòngzi stuffed with pork belly, chestnuts, smoked Chinese sausage, and shiitake mushroom—it felt like a featherweight against heavyweight in a boxing match. Fundamentally, it’s different, but we tend to have a tendency to simplify and categorize food into parallels and in our own memories,” he explained the motivation behind the journey. 

“I made my first Duck Zhang 7 years ago—I blew up a duck before in the process of creating the very crispy skin, but this time I wanted to make sure I did things right. Years later, I studied up again on Peking duck cookery. The key to getting crisp skin on Peking duck is apparently to blow air in,” Chef Mac added.

“I have a feeling there are a few other things involved but blowing up the duck was my first step,” He said triumphantly.

Chef Mac Gyver thinks that the dish is a great way to honor the traditions of old, and remind the next generation of where our food came from. He highlighted, “The creation of Duck Zhang was a full holistic journey to for me; setting the standards, building and honing my skills to execute this dish, understanding the anatomy of duck, learning the necessary knife skills without puncturing the skin, finding ways to keep the duck crispy, and painting the duck with the flavors of my heritage.“

In the excitement of this celebration, AKAR is giving away a complimentary bottle of wine for every order of Duck Zhang. Be sure to order this all-in-one luxurious set meal to enjoy your Dragon Boat Festival in Jakarta.

Duck Zhang + complimentary wine pairing can be pre-ordered from June 12th – 30th, 2021 for Dine-In or Delivery.

The Deets