There are only a small number of customers who venture away from the most commonly ordered Asian dishes at Kung Fu Plaza in Las Vegas, and most of those patrons are visiting from Asia.

One such request that most Americans would consider off the beaten path is Kung Fu Plaza roast duck. While most citizens are already familiar with Peking duck, a famous dish that originated in Beijing during the Imperial era, there is another recipe served daily that has humbler and more ancient origins.

“The Kung Fu Plaza roast duck recipe comes from a small valley in China, where the people still speak Teochew (Chaozhou hua in Mandarin),” said Alan Wong, general manger of Kung Fu Plaza. “Even some of their language retains archaic pronunciations that have been lost to modern dialects. The cuisine, Chiuchow or Teochew as it is called, relies much less on heavy seasoning and more on the quality of the ingredients, which is why we only purchase Maple Leaf Farms premium duck.”

According to Wong, when Teochew people later migrated from southern Fujian in China, they settled from areas that were geographically isolated and remote. Many of the Teochew ancestry can be traced back to the Taihang Mountain range of north central China, he said.

“It’s significant because just like not all Asian people are the same, neither are all Chinese people,” said Wong. “The culture is as rich and diverse as the United States and the cuisine is as varied as you might expect traveling from Boston to Biloxi and Santa Fe to San Francisco.”

Attempting to appeal to the authentic preference of Asian visitors in Las Vegas, Kung Fu Plaza maintains a menu that includes almost 800 dishes, predominantly from China and Thailand. The menu selection, Wong says, represents one of the most expansive Chinese and Thai menus in the region.