Monsieur Le Duck

NOTE: Monsieur le Duck is sadly now closed. May we humbly suggest Bowling Bird, serving fantastic meat and seafood dishes nearby.

Usually, when we hear about a place serving duck from South-West France, we canard-ly wait to check it out.

And Monsieur Le Duck is no exception.

One of London’s few duck-focused restaurants, it’s won itself a permanent site off the back of a barnstorming pop up loaded with critical acclaim. It comes to you from a trio of friends who all travel frequently to Gascony, and the space they’ve found is a far cry from the quaint rustic-ness you might expect; it’s light, airy, and a touch industrial feeling, with a double-height dining room at the back.

That quaint rustic-ness is brought right back by the menu, on which you’ll find “no pea shoots, no nasturtiums, no smears of emulsion”, but just classic, old-school duck, frites, and booze. Regarding the former; the quackers come in four main forms: confit duck, finished in the pan with garlic & thyme; Magret duck breast (meaning it’s from the rich, flavourful Moulard breed) either chargrilled or roasted; and a good ol’ duck burger. That’s offered alongside moules marinière and a veggie tart for anyone on a duck detox.

You can side it all with bread & duck fat butter; duck rillettes and croquettes; deep fried cauliflower; seasonal greens with lardons; or some frites. This kind of indulgence, in case you had not noticed, is quite literally not for the faint of heart. And if you’re dining with a similarly robust companion, you can both spring for the “Grand Jeu”, netting you all four styles of duck, or an off-menu duck wellington.

If you fancy quacking open something to drink, they’ve got red, white, rosé, and sparkling, all from south-west France, and more or less designed to go with food like this – much like their apéritif cocktails, digestif armagnacs and their house pale ale, aged in red wine barrels.

In short, you won’t want to duck this one.

NOTE: Monsieur le Duck is sadly now closed. May we humbly suggest Bowling Bird, serving fantastic meat and seafood dishes nearby.

Monsieur Le Duck | 27 Clerkenwell Road, EC1M 5RN

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