By For six years the restaurant Ducksoup has offered a little oasis in the middle of Soho, the sort of continually surprising place you come back to time again for their vibrant dishes, unusual wines and great atmosphere aided by a record spinning softly in the corner.
Then in 2013 came its trendy younger sibling, Hackney's Rawduck, a hipster mecca that was ahead of the Instagram hashtag curve in serving experimental eggs and savoury dishes at brunch.
Now partners Clare Lattin, Tom Hill and Rory McCoy are preempting another gastronomic movement with their newest spot Little Duck, The Picklery, an experimentation room, neighbourhood restaurant and shop in Dalston.
Fermented foods are growing in popularity as they cleanse the gut and boost the immune system with healthy bacteria. The trio wanted a weird and wonderful space to brew and bottle their pickles and ferments for the foodies of East London and - hey - why not grab a chair for a bite while you're here?
Little Duck's windows display rose, magenta and ochre bottles of kombucha and drinking vinegars, as well as ceramics that are available to buy. Inside, it’s a spot to watch the world go by, with people dropping in for Masala scrambled eggs on flatbread in the morning and then enjoying a plate of braised rabbit with butterbeans and a glass of wine later on. As head chef Tom Hill says: "People go out for brunch to be fed, and out for dinner to eat. Later in the day people have a different mindset so they sit and really enjoy."
The restaurant takes the open kitchen cooking philosophy seriously with chefs preparing food on one side of the same vast concrete table which eaters can perch at. The effect is that of walking into someone’s kitchen and pulling up a chair while they cook. Each day at 7pm a slow-braised dish or pie comes out the oven and a server offers a scoop of it to customers. The scent of it cooking wafts over to you when you walk through the door.
At Ducksoup, the wine list scribbled up the wall is barely legible and encourages customers to start a conversation with the waiters. At Little Duck they try and create a similarly open affair with their natural and biodynamic wines, so that people feel able to ask questions without fearing they'll be recommended something unaffordable.
To see what’s on their changing menu you’ll need to make the journey to their blackboard, as they’ve chosen not to update it on their Instagram as is the new trend. That way, Lattin says, “the surprise happens here rather than when you’re at home on your phone.” Instead, Little Duck's social media feeds is a bright mosaic of dishes, from a rhubarb and ricotta tart on the table to an ox cheek, chanterelle and potato pie ready to go into the oven.
Pickles might make up their moniker and sit bottled in bright jars around the restaurant, but the menu of small sharing plates and larger dishes won't frighten anyone with a fear of the fermented.
There’s a mix of light and richer flavours. A Tonnarelli made with house-cured lamb pancetta and pepper where the fresh pasta is rolled over a ‘chitarra’ to create a square noodle shape which the cheese and pepper nestle into. Elsewhere warming Umbrian lentils are made fresh by the inclusion of Cavolo Nero and a plate of cauliflower and curd which I’m told uses 20 chilis, though it’s hard to believe it with a kick so subtle.
The menu is a passport of the team's travels and a testament to their open-mindedness, be it a tripe and chickpea dish pinched from a wine tasting in Spain or a savoury porridge dish with miso, bonito, wakame and egg concocted after a trip to Japan.
Little Duck has a friendly familiarity to it without making you feel like you’re in the way or being forced to play happy families. The focus is on simple foods, great flavours and serving the local community. With this in mind they are looking to launch a scheme where locals can have their summer fruit pickled for free and already run pickling and fermenting workshops.
“We’re not trying to create the world's busiest restaurant,” Lattin says, “We just want to want to make an extension of someone’s home.”
Little Duck - The Picklery, 69 Dalston Ln, London E8 2BF.
