Full Marx and tales of sibling rivalries

Well this is a first. We don’t do restaurants reviews at Quadrille.

Never. Ever. So this could well be a first and last. Which is probably a good thing.

Anyway, to Duck Soup.

Having spent five full days out of London (2 1/2 days in Bronte country…

…and then a further 2/1 days in Withnail and I country)

we returned to London yesterday afternoon to an outbreak of torrential rain.

After waiting for the flash flooding to go, myself and my girlfriend ventured into Soho around 6.30pm. We headed down Dean Street and stopped at No 41. The former home of Zilli Green, and now the new home of Duck Soup.

The name ( I really didn’t like it at first but it has since grown on me and the aforementioned girlfriend) made me think not only of that film with Groucho, Harpo and Chico but also the long forgotten Zeppo Marx who also starred in the film.

And then I remembered the equally unfortunate Branwell Bronte, another poor soul who history has pretty much passed over due to the well known efforts of his  better known siblings - Charlotte, Emily and Anne.

Branwell was actually a pretty talented artist. I know this as we had visited the parsonage in Haworth, the fomer family home of the Brontes, and they have some of his portraits - some very accomplished efforts too - hanging there, including the one above of his three writing sisters. He was originally in the painting too but scrubbed himself out. Probably due to low self esteem.

But I don’t want to dwell on sibling rivalries and their individual successes and failures… I write to tell you about this new venture… the venture that is Duck Soup.

So we went in and were shown to a table.

First, we chose some fabulous wines - pictured below - which were recommended by the Duck Soup staff. Alas, the names of which have been forgotten by us as I write almost a day later!

And then we went up and put a record on. They have a ‘byo vinyl’ policy but our outing was more spontaneous than planned so had come empty handed.

Luckily, they had a stock pile of around 4 dozen records including a live David Bowie album which was our choice.

Then we got round to choosing our food from the daily menus. These are written on several boards which were shown to us by the very attentive staff… the food is priced at £3.50, £7 and £14.The £7 board is pictured:

We decided to go with some Jesus de Lyon and some smoked mackerel with tomatoes to start with.(both priced at £3.50 each)  My girlfriend moaned, as without realising, I had practically demolished the former in a matter of seconds - hence the lack of food images.

Then we chose some fabulous lamb chops and the beef carpaccio with mozzarella for our mains. These were equally excellent. they were both off the £14 list if memory serves correctly.

Then we had plenty more wine and ending up staying for a good few hours, sampling the various recommendations that the staff offered us.

We also had a nice chat with Julian Biggs, who’s food we had enjoyed so much.
And Rory, the front-of house, came over. I have met Rory a few times and he’s one of the best at what he does. He’s worked with the Hix gang, also at the Savoy and with Chris Corbin and Jeremy King.  I always get the feeling that he didn’t need much training. He’s from Teeside. The man likes to chat with people!

So we had a nice chat. He mentioned his sister was sitting at the bar and that he also had a brother. I asked him (slightly anxiously) what his brother did.

‘Oh’, he said proudly… ‘he’s got one of the main parts in Jersey Boys. He’s doing very well for himself.’

I’ve got a feeling that the McCoy household doesn’t approve of sibling rivalry.

So go to Duck Soup. You will have great food and wine. You can bring great music. And Rory, Julian, Clare and everyone of the staff will give you a warm welcome.