We love duck, we love fries and we love wine, so when we heard there was a pop-up restaurant in Spitalfields called Monsieur Le Duck specialising in those three things, we had to fly on down and check it out.
Monsieur Le Duck, created by Richard Humphreys and inspired by the food, wine and general good times of Gascony, has taken over the space where Bishopsgate Kitchen used to be. The space hasn’t been changed much, but just a few pieces of duck-related artwork and a scattering of candles is enough to give it a French bistro feel.
The bird comes in three difierent ways – a confit duck leg, a duck breast (chargrilled or pan roasted) or a duck burger with prune d’agen mayo and cornichons – but if you can’t choose, go for Le Grand Jeu board. You get to try all of it, plus a mixed leaf salad and sides; we opted for the fries (ask for some of the burger mayo on the side for dipping action) and the green beans in garlic.
As you would hope for a kitchen that’s focusing on one meat, it’s perfectly cooked. Both the pan-roasted and chargrilled breast were exactly medium rare and succulent; the duck burger was juicy; and the confit leg had an excellent crispness to it but if we had to pick a favourite, the pan-roasted breast just edged it for us. Crispy skin and tender meat is always a winner.
All of that plus a carafe of the great house red (you wouldn’t expect anything less from a French restaurant), a Saint-Mont, shows that sometimes you can’t beat simple food done well. Hopefully Monsieur Le Duck finds somewhere permanent to roost.
4 Brushfield St, London E1 6AN
leduck.co.uk