The Duck
110 Battersea Rise, Clapham
London SW11 1EJ
The Duck
Inside...
TV scren for those into sports
We have noticed the Duck on our way to the excellent Japanese restaurant Tokiya. Actually, it is hard to miss the huge fire of their oven through the windows, especially in the evening. Inside, it is quite large and they have different rooms at different levels. It is basically decorated and it can feel even a little empty. There are tv screens for watching sports. The Duck is more a “real” pub than a gastropub. You go there for drinking mostly and food is essentially wraps (from £3.95 to £4.95), pasta, salads and pizzas (from £6.25 to £8.50 for 12″, they also have 6″ pizzas) which is fine since we were wanting to try their pizzas.
They have many different kinds of pizzas and beyond the regular Margherita or Quattro Formaggio some were more unusual, like the pizza Carne Fuego (salami, chorizo, Parma ham, pepperoni, spicy meatballs, mozzarella, fresh green chillies – £8.75), pizza Pesci ed Oliva (tuna, black olives, anchovies, red onion and mozzarella – 6.95), pizza Fajita Chicken (chicken, roasted peppers, fajita spice, red onions and mozzarella -£7.50), pizza BBQ Chicken (roasted chicken with red onion, mozzarella and BBQ sauce – £7.50), and pizza Formaggio di Capre (goats cheese, pesto, black olives, mozzarella, finished with rocket leaves – £7.25).
Their pizzas are stone baked and the dough is homemade and hand stretched as we could see from the cook making them in front of the fire. It is possible to have any of their 12″ pizzas served ‘calzone’ in a calzone way (folded) by just asking them when you place your order.
We ordered the classical pizza Romana (mozzarella, mascarpone cheese, Parma ham and red onion – £7.75) and a less classical pizza Crispy duck (with hoi sin sauce, mozzarella and finished with spring onions – £8.50) for curiosity. As drink we had a pint of Stella and a glass of grapefruit juice.
The two pizzas
Pizza Romana
The pizza Romana was basic but good. Nothing spectacular but nothing wrong either too. The pasta was thin and crispy. One thing that surprised me was the pizza arrived already sliced. I guess it is more convenient for the guests watching sport. The spicy olive oil was unfortunately missing but they had garlic oil which was ok.
Sharing the pizza crispy duck with the pizza romana
The pizza crispy duck was a bit strange, and rather too sweet with its hoi sin sauce. Well, it was always going to be an experiment, but its not one that I’ll repeat. Even with a different topping, this pizza base was a bit hard for my liking, clearly the pizza dough had not been left to rise for many hours prior to cooking. Overall, adequate but uninspiring.
Cost and conclusion: it was about £20 something. It is ok for watching sport with friends and beer but we would not go back just for the food, especially with Tokiya a few metres away and Pizza Metro 5 minutes walk away if you are into pizza.
