Review: Ducksoup, Soho

Ducksoup is a tiny wine bar in Soho serving up small plates alongside natural wines. They try very hard to pack everyone in. If you’re sat at the bar counter your elbows will be wedged to your ribs by the folks either side of you. We were sat at one of the little tables down the side and the chairback of the chap behind me dug into my shoulderblades every time he shifted his body. Thinking this a bit rude, I turned to ask him to shift in a bit only to see that he also had his stomach tucked right into the edge of the table and could no more make space than I could.

So. We still had a delicious supper at Ducksoup, but now you can go along and try it knowing that it’s… jolly cosy? It’s certainly well beloved – some of the patrons gave out a distinct “regulars” vibe.

The wines are all natural, and I must admit that the two reds we picked with the help of our waiter were tasty enough but still at the funkier end of the natural spectrum. I’ve had better. So what did we eat?

First up, a salad of small Italian courgettes with a rough hazelnut pesto. This was a lovely salad, the courgettes crunchy, sweet and raw, the mix of basil, toasty hazel and salty pecorino really zippy. Then three chunks of deep fried mackerel encased in a very scrunchy (but not oily) batter, which ate very nicely with the lemony tahini yogurt. Our third small plate was lamb sweetbreads jumbled up with tropea onions and radicchio in a tangy/sticky agrodolce sauce. This just couldn’t help being yummy; vinegary agrodolce and well-cooked sweetbreads. Mmmm.

The large plate we shared was chargrilled beef with hen of the woods mushroom and lentils. The beef was one of the cheaper cuts, full of flavour and reasonably chewy but done just nicely: seared edge and dark pink inside. The lentils made a good background, with wild garlic leaves for flavour and a lovely creamy dollop of anchovy sauce. All very heart-warming.

If you had a small and large plate each, you’d be looking at £40 before drinks, about right for central Soho. So Ducksoup is a good place to know if you enjoy the squished-in cosy wine bar vibe and natural wines. They’ve been here for more than 10 years now, and to be fair there are hundreds of similar quality/price small plate places scattered around, so I can’t really find a reason to say it’s worth a special trip.