Duck & Waffle Local, St James's: More than just the original crashed 40 floors into the street

With no view to make up for shortcomings on the plate, the new Duck & Waffle seems to have put in more effort than its sibling, says David Ellis
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David Ellis @dvh_ellis1 December 2017

Open 24/7, 40 floors up and – if you’re not in the cheap seats – with an eminently Instagrammable view of the city, Duck & Waffle has long been one of the ‘it’ crowd.

It is, if not the best sky high joint in London, probably the most interesting. William S Burroughs used to cut-up sentences and rearrange them at random to find new meaning: they have a similar approach to ingredients. Famously, duck is put with egg and waffle, then smothered in maple syrup. Dates are wrapped in bacon and a little manchego. Cocktails put bark, scotch and grapefruit together. And because you can eat it all at 3am, after you’ve tricked the doorman into thinking you’re sober, it can be jolly good fun. Most of the other cloud-sniffers, if not for their views, are really quite dull.

It makes sense, then, that this would be the first to take the lift downstairs and open up a sister on terra firma. Hence Duck & Waffle Local, in with the newish cluster of restaurants in St James’s Market. D&W Local (er, to who?) is, though, more than the original crashed 40 floors into the street. It's easier to get into, cheaper, and, above all, faster.

Faster? Yes. Be under no illusions: the handsome Duck & Waffle Local is a fast food restaurant. An upscale one, sure, but there’s no getting away from it. You cannot book. You must order at the counter before grabbing a table; the menu hangs over the tills like it does in KFC. Soon they'll ask if you’re taking away. Food comes out within about five minutes. You get it.

Does it work? Yes and no. Ordering at the counter is the real bugger: Maccy D’s global ubiquity means the hungry know what they want before stepping foot inside – familiarity keeps the pace up. Big mac, fries, coke. Job done, move on. How else could they handle refuelling drunks at midnight? The problem with Local is that no-one knows the menu, so everyone either a) orders in a rush, so as not to hold the queue up or b) holds the queue up. And they do, because there aren’t enough tills to handle the slow-coaches.

Our upshot was sitting down largely unsure of what we’d ordered or why: ‘You chose duck necks?!’ – ‘I panicked’ 

Our upshot was sitting down largely unsure of what we’d ordered or why – ‘You chose duck necks?!’ - ‘I panicked’ – and with catlike suspiciousness of how good any of it would actually be. Given the best dish I’ve ever had from D&W wasn’t in their restaurant, but at a festival stand in Regent’s Park, expectations were middling. Happily, with no view to make up for shortcomings on the plate, they seem to have put in more effort here.

Baked and pickled beetroot with harissa, yoghurt and toasted sunflower seeds (told you it was posh for a fast food place) is a gorgeous dish, full of that earthy beetroot bite, fresh, the seeds giving everything a little texture. Excellent for £6. Duck necks are a mere £4, but I don’t recommend anyone spends even that to spend an evening picking bits out of their teeth. The duck breast satay, with spiced quinoa and lime, is a much better investment (£12), satisfyingly zingy and nicely casual. The house dish is notably fresher, less salty and just plainly better than its high rise cousin.

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The place is very proud of its duck burger – one kindly comes out unbidden – which comes with crushed noodles, miso mayonnaise and spiced slaw. Noodles in a burger is like Donald Trump in the White House: no-one saw it coming and boy is it a bad match. The meat itself, though, is juicy, hearty, moreish. Elsewhere, the duck merguez flatbread is tempting, as is the heritage carrot and spiced chickpea salad. The fries with rosemary salt are reliably good.

There was no room for pudding: the service being quick as it is – we were in and out, somewhat dazed, in 40 minutes – meant there was no room. Service, actually, is excellent: a marked step up from its elder sister, which is notorious for snobbery. Still, for those who can fit in afters, pudding is a choice of three waffles: vanilla fudge brownie, caramel banana and 'the full Elvis', a mess of peanut butter, strawberry jam, Chantilly cream, vanilla ice cream, peanut brittle and berries that’ll have you All Shook Up (thankya, thankya very much.)

Best, though, are the drinks, both bargainous and brilliant. They offer a little bit of adventure – say, a burnt toast infusion in vodka – without being undrinkable experiments made to impress the cocktail nerds. Eminently drinkable stuff: the black olive-infused Negroni is a little bitter, but beautiful, strongly flavoursome. Up their with the very best premixed drinks out there. The wine is extremely well-priced, at £3.50 for a glass of white, rising to a fiver for fizz. We have the red, at £4.95: my scepticism is unfounded; it’s easy going stuff. Hardly Chateau Margaux but well suited to the surroundings.

Duck & Waffle Local’s goods aren’t going to be subject frenzied #influencers filtering the s*** out their photos. It’s actually a terrific advertisement for the place upstairs: the food and drink has more character here. The service is friendlier. Take it as it should be: a pit-stop place, for say, the beetroots and a quick cockail, or a waffle with a glug of wine. Three courses is going to be too much, and, given you’ll be in and out so quickly (said the nun to the bishop) you could spend a lot of money for only a little dining time. Treat it as fun. It’s right by Piccadilly Circus: if you’re around, fly by.

Duck & Waffle Local: The lowdown

Final flavour: D&W's classic sweet/savoury mix, making duck the star of the show

At what cost? Bites £4 - 6, mains £8 - £12, sides £6, puddings £6. Wine from £3.50 a glass, beers from £3.50, cocktails £6/7

Visit if you like: Duck & Waffle, The Cheese Bar (food very different, feel not dissimilar)

Find it: 2 St James's Market, SW1Y 4RP, duckandwafflelocal.com

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