Duck & Rice — Restaurant in London

What I Talk About When I Talk About Eating

By someone who eats, writes, and thinks

Most of what I know about eating, I didn’t learn from a book or a person. I learned it from the slow, silent rhythm of doing it. Three times a day, more or less. Sometimes out of hunger. Often out of habit. Occasionally out of joy. Rarely out of need. Always—inevitably—out of being alive.

I am not a gourmand. Nor a chef. I don’t Instagram my meals or write reviews on Yelp. But I do think about food a lot. Not the food itself, necessarily, but what it means to eat. What it means to nourish yourself. What it means to chew slowly, to swallow thoughtfully, to finish a meal not stuffed, but satisfied. What it means to cook rice perfectly—fluffy, but not mushy. To slice fruit just before it ripens. To drink water and feel it do something.

Just as running gave me structure when I began writing full-time, eating gave me rhythm. A pause. A punctuation mark in the long sentence of the day. Breakfast is the opening scene. Lunch, the turning point. Dinner, the quiet resolution. (Snacks are the subplot, often unnecessary but somehow essential.)

When I eat, I’m alone more often than not. It’s not sad. It’s peaceful. I listen to the soft clink of the spoon in the bowl. The kettle bubbling like a background character. The crunch of a cucumber, echoing like footsteps on gravel. In those moments, I’m not thinking about anything, and yet I’m thinking about everything. My next chapter. The shape of a sentence. The feeling of getting older.

I have no dietary ideology. I am not vegan or paleo or carnivore. I eat what makes sense, what feels balanced. I avoid extremes. I like brown rice. I like butter. I like a good apple, cold and crisp from the fridge. I like simple meals that do not argue with me. If food is too clever, I find myself trying to decipher it instead of enjoy it.

People say you are what you eat. That may be true. But I also think you are how you eat. If you rush, your thoughts rush. If you numb, you forget the flavours of your own life. If you pay attention, even a bowl of soup can tell you something about the world. Or yourself.

Eating, for me, is not performance. It is not fuel. It is ritual. The quiet kind. The private kind. Like putting one foot in front of the other on a long run. Like writing one sentence, then another. Like living. And so I eat. Slowly, mostly. Alone, often. But sometimes with the Mrs, but thats another chapter

Can’t cook Duck and won’t cook Duck and so I eat out,

As much as I Duck, I want to Rice

With thanks, always and all ways...

Duck & Rice at Battersea Power Station is definitely not a restaurant that I would recommend or be returning to after the experience we had on our first and last visit there last month in August. The service was fine, even if a little amateurish at times, and as for the food, it was just above average with the starters being better than the mains. The Half Crispy Aromatic Duck that we had was very dry and greasy and the quality of the meat was more average than it was good and for a restaurant call "Duck& Rice", I found that quite surprising........... However the biggest disappointment and the biggest rip-off of the meal was the (Whole) Lobster Cantonese for £72 (which at the time of writing this review, I noticed that they have changed this dish on their menu to make it half a lobster and changed the price to £45 at dinner and £35 at lunch. However when we received this dish not only was there very little lobster meat still in the shell, the whole tail section seemed to be missing and to make matters worse it did not taste, look or feel fresh. I spoke to a gentleman by the name of Tiago in order to complain and give my feedback during the meal (who at the time I thought was a manager, only to find out later he was actually a supervisor/team leader). He was gracious enough and he listened but did not actually do anything to resolve or rectify my issue or complaint and his response was the lobster were fresh and had come in that morning but were not live lobsters, although after tasting it had still have my doubts about their "freshness" and when exactly they arrived at the restaurant. As for the quantity of lobster, he just said that was a full lobster and that is how they came, but it clearly wasn't, especially as the whole tail section was missing. Plus eating this dish was messy and tricky as the meat had been left in the shell, which I found surprising in such a restaurant.

I can see that since the takeover of this restaurant chain/company, the new owners and management seem more interested in the global growth of the company with many new restaurants in the pipeline and with maximizing revenue, even if it is at the expense of the customer experience and food quality...etc

This is not how it used to be at the original Duck & Rice in Soho, especially when Alan Yau the founder was still involved.

It was a very disappointing experience and a expensive mistake and one I hope that other diners do not make by...

Duck and rice is a Chinese restaurants that has taken some inspiration from the classic British pub style. I didn’t get much but I went for the things I wanted to try on the day I got Singapore fried noodles and what I considered to be one half of the main attraction, which is the Cantonese half roast duck. I also got to try the curry soft shell crap and the chicken chow mein.

I unfortunately didn’t get to a picture of both noodles but when you go you can see them for yourself. The service there is pretty good our servers name was Ansary and he did a good job he checked up on us before the food arrived and during so can’t complain . The atmosphere is very date vibes, dim lights, nice booth. Also I’m not sure if it’s the space or something else but the waiters in the restaurant did tent to kinda hover around the tables sometimes they were just standing around it did look like they were bored at times which I’m sure it wasn’t there fault there weren’t that many people in the restaurant.

The Food

The Singapore noodles and duck we both fantastic ! The duck was the meat was tender and succulent and the sauce it was bathed in was lovely and it definitely elevated the flavour. The noodles we well cooked well flavoured I know it had pork and prawns in it which was fine but I believe for me the two of them worked well together. I know the duck is often eaten with rice like my waiter pointed out but I was more than happy to have it with noodles. My only issue with this is experiences was the timings that my meals came out, my duck came out first then 5–6 minutes later my noodles came out. So my noodles were nice and warm but my duck was essentially Lukewarm which was a bit disappointing but it didn’t take away from the flavour which was a blessing as I often hate my food going cold .

The chicken chow mein was also lovely and the curry soft shell crab was also tasty but I didn’t like it as much as I liked the duck.

I also got a free ice cream due to it being my birthday which I believe was a honeycomb flavoured ice cream with crunch raspberries which for me was a lovely way to end the meal. It was very sweet but I did enjoy it.

Overall...