Beijing  - The famed Beijing duck is a hot gold medal contender for the most-consumed food item in the Olympic village.

The China daily reported on Monday that the Chinese speciality is regularly sold out by 8 pm in the athletes' village, with the chefs there roasting around 300 ducks per day.

Olympic caterers Amarak have made sure that the duck is prepared in the traditional style by hiring chefs from the popular 136-year- old Quanjude Beijing duck chain.

"We adapted our kitchen to make sure everything is prepared as it would be in a traditional duck restaurant," the paper quoted Amarak boss Matthew Moss as saying.

But the ducks are not only flying off the athletes' plates, the dish is as popular among the world's media gathered for the Beijing Games.

The press centre restaurant offers Beijing duck, but reporters have also been to local Beijing duck chains, enjoyed the speciality lakeside in the bustling Ho Hai entertainment district and even paid up to 90 dollars per head for it in the Hyatt hotel, which is said to offer one of the best ducks in town.

The duck is roasted in a special way and slices are then wrapped into a thin pancake along with a sweet plum sauce and thinly cut spring onion and cucumber.

In the true Chinese tradition this is only the starter, with more duck following as a main course with vegetables. In the meantime, the bones are used to cook up a soup which traditionally is served at the end of the meal. (dpa)