If you know London then you know the City of London, the financial district, is dead, dead quiet after trading hours are over and surely on the weekends. Lovely winding streets. No people. The perfect place for a Sunday bike ride.
Ah, not quite that way anymore. In the very tall Heron tower, the tallest skyscraper in the City of London and third tallest in all of London, there is now a high rise restaurant of renown. And, this restaurant — Duck & Waffle — operates 24/7. An endlessly busy 24/7.
Executive Chef Daniel Doherty has created a menu of elegance and sophistication for the nonstop days/nights of his restaurant in the clouds. The view from any table will take your breath away. So will the food. The experience of dining at Duck & Waffle is one of those memorable events that you will forever smile about.
Oh, you can’t jet to London? You are dying to try the food? Then thank heaven that the Duck & Waffle cookbook is here. The recipes are from some other world, it seems. You will encounter some very British ingredients and combinations — like Beer Chutney. But the ideas are intriguing page after page. The photographs by Anders Schonneman are as grand as the London views from the skyscraper restaurant — look at the bottom of this post for one of those photo showing Rabbit Rillettes with, what else Beer Chutney.
Here’s a tour of the major book chapters and some of the enticing recipes you will find there.
In a 24/7 establishment you just have to begin with Breakfast and Brunch:
Smoked Haddock with Hash Browns and English Mustard Cream
Salt Beef Hash with Poached Egg and Hollandaise
Grilled Cheese with Ox Cheek and Pickled Fennel
Small Plates is a chapter for afternoon noshes:
Roasted Artichokes with Caerphilly Crumble [it’s Welsh white cheese]
Slow-Roasted Heirloom Carrots with Lardo, Peas, and Mint
Cornish Pollock Fishballs with Lobster Cream and Parmesan
Halibut Tartare with Blueberries and Pickled Mushrooms
Rabbit Rillettes with Beer Chutney [photo below!]
For the Table offers bigger, bolder dishes that again will have you just a bit puzzled and surely intrigued:
Salt-Baked Sea Bream with Market Vegetables and Seaweed Butter Sauce
Duck and Waffle with Mustard Maple Cream [it’s not chicken and waffles!]
Whole Baked Sea Bass with Zucchini, Baby Potatoes and Peas
Honey-Glazed Ham Hock with Carrots and Salt-Baked Turnips
Desserts are striking in imagination, presentation, and surely taste:
Steamed Orange Puddings with Grand Marnier Custard
Roasted Peaches with Thyme, Honey, and Saffron Sponge Cake
Chocolate Bread Pudding with Bacon Custard
Snacks and Cocktails give you ideas for that special nourishment you may need sometime in 24/7 life:
Arancini: deep fried balls of rice, cheese and herb
Polenta Chips with Truffled Pecorino Dip
Celery and Wasabi Bellini
Bacon and Salted Caramel Manhattan
The cocktail ideas come from Richard Woods, the Head of Spirit & Cocktail Development. Some of his idea remind you of the Cuisine by Chemistry that arose a decade ago in Spain. His Roast Cosmo begins with you combining vodka and Triple Sec in a plastic bag with roasted bone marrow. There’s cooling, freezing, and straining before you enjoy something I can’t begin to imagine. Take a look at Page 210 and, if you make this, please let me know!
I’ve shown Duck & Waffle to my wife Suzen who has bit of culinary experience: 30 years running her cooking school, test kitchen for The Joy of Cooking. She sat back, began to thumb through, and then just said, “I’m not sure where to begin.”
I’m not sure where our first meal from this wonderful book will being either. But I sure know how it will end: Chocolate Bread Pudding with Bacon Custard. Can you imagine? Bacon Custard?
Duck & Waffle is an eye-opening book. Not conventional. No ordinary. And surely not to be missed.
