Lovely lunch at Duck and Rice, London and Gordon Ramsay spotting
I have a loooong bucket list of places to eat in London and ever since Alan Yau decided to open a Chinese gastro pub in Soho. I wasn’t sure what it would be like, but I was sure it would be a treat. The Duck and Rice came up as a suggestion for lunch and I couldn’t wait. Alan Yau is the founder of Wagamama and Hakkasan and one of my favourite restaurants, Yauatcha, part of the Hakkasan Group.
I did have a peak at the menu beforehand, it is all part of the fun isn’t it? There were so many dishes that sounded just delicious I couldn’t make my mind up.
The bar and restaurant is even nicer than it looks on the website. The restaurant upstairs is chilled out and as a bonus the big window was open and we could enjoy the fresh air.
There was some debate about what to drink and I decided to start with a pale ale.
After a while everyone settled in and done their initial catch up and I was handed the menu and asked to order for everyone. Oh the inner foodie came out and as everyone was hungry I ordered quite a lot of food, all for sharing so no one would miss out. We had a chicken aficionado with us so I started with five spice fried chicken and fried chicken wings with green peppercorns.
I liked the five spice chicken but the chicken wings were simply amazing. If I could eat some every day I would be very happy. The flavour and the texture was somehow a marriage made in heaven.
We got some wasabi prawns, slightly sweet, not really hot at all but nice, fried with a creamy wasabi dressing and toasted almonds.
Just before we got our next dish there was a bit of a commotion and as if it was nothing Chef Gordon Ramsay walked in and sat down at the next table! I couldn’t resist taking a picture as I got a little bit excited.
Chef Gordon Ramsay
Jasmine tea smoked ribs came next, they fell off the bone and just melted in the mouth!
We got Vietnamese spring rolls and Har Gau, prawn dumlings.
Har Gau 
The sweet and sour pork was delicious
I figured you can’t do to a restaurant called The Duck and Rice and not order duck and got two kinds, crispy duck and Cantonese duck.
The Cantonese duck had the most amazing skin, lacquered and cooked to perfection. It had so much flavour.
The second duck was crispy duck, crispy perfection, as expected and the most amazing part I have to admit was the pancakes, hand made and so much more tasty than any pancakes I have ever tasted.
Crispy duck 
It was a great lunch and I know I will be back, I am sure despite out effort there are a few more things left to discover.
Wow.. you actually saw Gordon Ramsay! 😀 I think I would have fainted… I am been among movie stars but never felt so much awe for anyone else… 🙂 The ribs and dumpings look great!
hi Trupti
I was actually quite excited as I never celeb spot and of course a brilliant chef is even better!
All of the food was amazing but the skin of the Cantonese duck was just amazing! And U have already started to experiment on the chicken wings!! 🙂
Nice!! I will try this!!!!
hi Keith
this is a lovely place! A bit of a treat but sometimes it is worth it! Hope all is good with you 🙂