Restaurant Review #1 - Duck Soup

Oooh, look, a shiny new feature, 3 weeks in! Aren't you a lucky bunch? Those who know me would be able to tell you that I am rather keen on food. In fact, if I weren't into eating out and buying clothes, I'd probably have a tidy little nest egg instead of being so constantly almost-impoverished. Anyway, London is a FABULOUS place for restaurants, so I thought I would make the most of being one of those awful people who takes pictures of their food and actually put those pictures to good use. Welcome to Dressing Up In London's first Restaurant Review!

A few weeks' ago, my charming Pa and I pootled over to Soho to a little place called Duck Soup, which I've been wanting to visit for a while for two reasons:

1. I saw it in the Observer Food Magazine in an interview with Stanley Tucci - who I love.
2. It is named after THIS FILM which is one of my favourite films of all time and if you don't know who the Marx Brothers - get on it. Seriously. What have you been doing with your life till now? 

Vegetable Fritters 

Like many places in Soho, Duck Soup treads a fine line between excellent and a little bit toooo hipster. It is saved by the obvious genuine love and understanding of food shared by the people who work here. It does what I've always thought all restaurants should do: cooks with the seasons, uses really good quality ingredients, and doesn't faff about with them too much. It also changes its menu VERY frequently - almost every day - with the chefs basically cooking whatever they feel like on the day.

Pork

Lamb

The restaurant itself is cosy and convivial - perhaps a bit crowded if you're claustrophobic. There's a high bar which you can sit at to try some of their unusual wines and excellent bar snacks or small tables and benches around the edges for everyone else. The interior is simple and unpretentious, and feels sort of like a small-town tavern you might stumble across while walking through the Spanish countryside, with a mildly-suspicious innkeeper whose wife tends to goats in the yard outside... Or nothing like that. I'll let y'all make your own minds up. 

Salt-baked Potatoes, mmm....

Braised Fennel

What We Ate (And Drank)

Starter: Summer vegetable fritters, Tahini yoghurt & curry leaves - £6

– Recommended by server, good choice, crispy but not too much batter, so they were still nice and fresh-tasting.

Mains: Slow-roast pork belly, rosemary, sage & lemon - £13

– Nice and lemony but a wee bit on the dry side and the fat on the inside had gone a bit chewy. Good crispy fat on the outside though.

Charred lamb leg, tropea onions & labneh - £14

– Tender and juicy and omnomnomnom.

Sides: Salt-baked potatoes & aioli - £6 

– Most delicious thing I’ve had in a while. Would quite like some now actually…

Braised fennel - £5 

– Bit bitter but nice when eaten with the meat.

Dessert: Burlat cherries & almond tart, clotted cream - £6

– Simple and tasty, not too heavy.

Wine : Volcanique, 2014 (Cotes du Forez, Rhone-Alpes) 125ml - £5.15/500ml – £19.60/750ml - £28.00 

Cherry and Almond Tart

ALL IN ALL

Food = ***/**** = It would get more if it weren't for the dry pork.

Atmosphere = *****

The atmosphere was great, really lively but also laid-back. No fussy décor or obnoxious music. Bon.

Service = *****

Top marks for service, all the people who waited on us were super-friendly and very knowledgeable about all the food and wines, made good recommendations.  Not oppressively present but there seemed always to be someone at hand when we needed something.  

Price = ££-£££

Some really good, out-of-the-ordinary wines which were a bit more expensive than your usual plonk, but I’d say the food was fairly standardly priced for London, if not a bit on the cheaper side. Either way, excellent value.

Closest Tube Stations = Leicester Square, Tottenham Court Road, Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden

ducksoupsoho.co.uk