Duck & Rice

Name: Duck & Rice
Address: 90 Berwick Street, London, Soho, W1F 0QB, UK
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 3327 7888
Rating: 8

Chinese Restaurant in Soho

8 / 10 from 1 review

Address
90 Berwick Street
Soho
London
W1F 0QB

Map

History

Telephone
020 3327 7888

Cuisine
Chinese

Region
Soho

Nearest Station
Piccadilly Circus
0.26 miles

Opening Summary
Mon - Thurs: 12:00 - 23:30
Fri - Sat: 12:00 - 00:00
Sun: 12:00 - 22:30

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Restaurant Facilities

Live Music Played

The look and feel of The Duck and Rice is informed by the intention to revive the watering holes of yesteryear for today. The interior draws on both Asian and British aesthetic traditions, abstracted geometrical patterns play around the spaces dividing drinkers in to cosy booths warmed by wood burning fire places. Creating an atmosphere that is both redolent of the densely decorated Victorian pubs loved by Londoners and bears witness to a more carefully composed Asian tradition of plain and implied spaces.

Much gladly invested time has been spent in selecting the range of premium lagers, ales, ciders and a stout all from traditional brewers. Anchoring this offering is the unpasteurised Pilsner Urquell, that is delivered from the Czech Republic every week and stored on site in four glowing copper tanks that greet you, when entering from Berwick Street. Incomparably fresh and full-flavoured and with the character to take on spicy food, Tank Beer is the perfect accompaniment to bar snacks such as salt & pepper broad beans and fried scampi with chilli wasabi mayo. Other premium quality lagers and ales include Scottish Schiehallion from Harviestoun, Bath Ales' Gem and St Austell's Tribute from Cornwall.

The first floor is dedicated to a casual dining room with over 70 covers offering re-interpreted classics from the 'Hong Kong Garden chop suey house' - including the mystical No. 23 and dishes such as Kung Po chicken, crispy shredded beef and the quintessential sweet & sour pork. 'Hero Dishes' such as the lobster Cantonese and five spice crispy chicken add ceremony to the menu along with the roasted Cantonese 'House Duck'. Then there are the 'Ten Heavenly Kings of Dim Sum', which really come into their own as part of a weekend brunch.

Open from lunch through to dinner weekdays, with an extended dim sum brunch service on the weekends, Duck & Rice hopes to deliver a worthy sanctuary for the thirsty, the refuge seeker, the escapee, the pub goer and the hungry - with all the humour, warmth and irony that embody the character of the British Pub.

Duck & Rice Picture Gallery

All In London Review

We miss the Endurance but Alan Yau's Duck and Rice is a chic replacement for Berwick Street

Those who mourn the loss of the Endurance, that great bastion of central London Soho drinking will not be pleased with its replacement. No amount of stylish black and white images daubed across the builders’ boards that hid the refurbishment going on for months (years?) behind them could appease the sense that this is just another example of Soho’s heart being stripped out. And then Duck and Rice was unveiled and things were exactly as they seemed - a living, breathing landmark has been replaced by a chic, surface-led venue that is all about keeping up with the trends. But, could it convert us?

If we can remove our unofficial Save Soho cap for a minute, we can accept that Duck and Rice is an extremely attractive building. The gleaming surfaces sparkle form every angle whether it’s the tiles, copper beer tanks or glowy lights having their moment. And we can also vouch for the food but since Asian cuisine don Alan Yau is behind the place that was probably never in any doubt.

On our visit we avoided the formalities of the upstairs dining room and plumped for the ground floor, which is far more in keeping with the ‘Chinese gastro pub’ theme. Were we won over by the flashy, easygoing spirit of the place as we sat at tall tables between Oriental wooden dividers and sipped our fresh Pilsner Urquell that flows fresh from the huge copper drum that dominates the room? Can we give a sheepish, ‘perhaps’? Accompanying the beers were some of Yau’s famous dim sum dishes – billed here as beer snacks. We ate the cha siu buns and siu mai and were unsurprisingly seduced by the flavours. There is a full menu of modern takes on Cantonese classics for those who want the full dining experience, along with desserts, cocktails and of course, craft beers, you know, to keep the place honest.

So, we can’t really diss Duck and Rice because the sparkle took over and we enjoyed our time in the pristine venue. But that doesn’t mean we don’t still miss the Endurance, its jukebox and its soul.

Reviewed by T.A.O anonymously
Published on Sep 15, 2015