Peter Morrell and his wife enjoy dinner in the UK’s highest restaurant, Duck and Waffle
Duck and Waffle is located at the top of Heron Tower in the City of London’s Bishopsgate. It’s the UK’s highest restaurant and the evening’s fun begins even before you sit down to eat. A wall-climber lift with glass windows whisks you skyward 700 feet in 30 seconds, faster than an aircraft on take-off
With ears popping and slightly shaky legs you emerge onto the 40th floor to the most amazing views of London, There are vistas in all directions, we were there on a clear night and many landmarks are easily visible.
The restaurant has a large bar area where we spent time relaxing and chatting with our fellow diners. I can personally vouch for the Bloody Mary and my wife approved of her sauvignon blanc.
There is a separate dining space and a private dining room. We ate in the private room as guests of the Province of New Brunswick in Atlantic Canada who were telling us about the many attractions in this beautiful part of the world. Although our menu was a choice of three starters, three mains and three desserts all the dishes were drawn from the All Day menu.
The entire party shared delicious and substantial nibbles which were on the dining table. The house bread was served with spiced butter and sea salt. The bread was crusty on the outside and the interior pillowy and yielding. There were bacon wrapped dates stuffed with linguiça sausage, manchego cheese and mustard. Plump Nocellara del Belice olives from Italy and pungent Kalamata olives from Greece. These were all good but the real star was the BBQ spiced crispy pig ears. These were crunchy strips of pork with the most intense flavour, very moreish.
My wife’s starter of roasted baby beetroot with fig, orange, crème fraîche and malted oats she enjoyed a lot. I had chosen the nduja seared octopus which was served with yellow lentils, fennel and a green sauce. The spiciness of the salami work well with the flavour of the seafood.
The fillet of sea bass was with potato, samphire ragout, an oyster emulsion and pickled seaweed was my wife’s main. This was a very well executed dish with lots of contrasting flavours. My choice had been the signature dish of the restaurant, Duck and Waffle. This was crispy confit of duck with a fried duck egg and mustard maple syrup to pour liberally over a waffle. This contrast of meat with the sweet syrup is always a popular combination.
Our indulgence for the evening was dessert, my salted caramel choux bun with smoked hazelnut cream was on point and bang up to date while my wife went retro with her baked Alaska with honey ice cream, thyme and lemon jam. and buckwheat cream.
The final finesse was a British and European cheese board with house made oat biscuits, a fig and almond wheel and seasonal fruit.
All the wines we drank from the standard list were all good, the whites were aromatic with lively acidity and the reds smooth and well balanced.
At the end of the evening we took one last look at the top of the Gherkin and stepped into the lift for the 30 second, 700 foot heart stopping plummet to earth surrounded by nervous giggles from City workers on a night out.
Go to Duck and Waffle for the lift adventure, the view and the excellent food. BTW an added bonus is that it is open 24 hours a day.
Duck & Waffle
110 Bishopsgate
London EC2N 4AY
0203 640 7310
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"
AboutMyGeneration 