Ducksoup.

Ducksoup

Bertie King rebuilds the by-the-glass and the cellar list every day, all of it natural or biodynamic, in a room with about as many seats as a bus shelter (Ducksoup).

Why go

Clare Lattin and Tom Hill opened this in 2011 with people who had cooked at Hix in Clerkenwell, and it was serving orange and natural wine before either was a category anyone in London used (Harden's). The kitchen under head chef Tom Lake rewrites its board daily and cooks unfussy Mediterranean food, which in one recent survey meal meant bread; pickles; aubergine fritters; squash with cheese and seeds; lamb chop with beans; cheese and frangipane. The wine buying is the other half and it runs on relationships: a small number of suppliers, producers the staff have actually met, and a glass list that turns over daily so the room keeps drinking new things (Ducksoup). Fifteen years on, Harden's diners still call it a Soho go-to, with the caveat that you may not get in.

Order this / avoid

• Order: whatever is written up that day, because the board changes daily. The Infatuation's picks hold up: dunk bread in whipped labneh with dukkah, fork mackerel with crunchy winter tomatoes or sweet, soft ones come summer, and share roast chicken with buttery potatoes (The Infatuation). Let the staff pick the glass; that is what they are for here.
• Avoid: Sunday night, when the room closes after lunch, and Monday lunch, when it does not open until five. Do not bring six people to a bar this size.

What locals & experts say

• Daisy Meager, The Infatuation, January 2022, in its 8 band: This European small plates spot feels way more neighborhoody than its Dean Street location suggests. Natural wine flows, the soundtrack is strictly vinyl, and people who own a whippet sit elbow-to-elbow at the bar. The outlet's own note on that band: Great: An 8 should be on your must-try list, because 8s are great. These spots are worth making an effort or crossing town for. High 8 territory is where we start approaching excellence.2
• Harden's survey diners, most recent edition: a 'Tiny', 'cheek-by-jowl' Soho natural wine bar which excels for 'delicious small plates of full-flavoured and balanced cooking', plus 'super-knowledgeable staff who have actually met the wine producers of the unusual wines they sell'. It's still going strong after 15 years.3
• Harden's, an earlier edition, on where it sat in the city: it was way ahead of the curve with its modern Mediterranean/North African menu and biodynamic wine list ('tried orange and natural wines here before they became popular categories elsewhere'). The same guide records the demerit honestly: it doesn't attract the volume of feedback it once did.3
• Hot Dinners, on where the founding team came from: Staffed by folk who previously worked at Hix in Clerkenwell, expect a small menu featuring the group's favourite dishes from around the world, created with seasonal British ingredients.4

Good to know

• Timing: Monday 5pm to 10pm. Tuesday to Saturday 12 to 3 and 5 to 10. Sunday lunch only, 12 to 3.
• Booking: take a table if you can get one. The room is small enough that people are turned away at the door.
• The wine: natural and biodynamic throughout, curated by Bertie King, with the by-the-glass and cellar lists evolving daily. Bottles start around 30 pounds and service is 10 percent.
• The turntable: vinyl only, and the house has long invited people to bring their own records.
• Single site. There is one Ducksoup, at 41 Dean Street. Nothing here belongs to any other room.
• Hygiene: FSA rating 4, inspected 9 January 2025.5

Jeff's take (his words)

• Note: Not one of my saves.

Verdict

should-visit — Fifteen years in, this is still one of the best arguments in Soho for eating at a wine bar. Bertie King rebuilds the by-the-glass and cellar lists daily, everything on them is natural or biodynamic, and Harden's diners report staff 'who have actually met the wine producers of the unusual wines they sell'. That is the craft, and it comes with a kitchen under Tom Lake that rewrites its board every day and sends out whipped labneh with dukkah, mackerel with whatever tomatoes the season has, and a roast chicken with buttery potatoes. The Infatuation puts it in its 8 band, which its own scale calls worth crossing town for. The room is very small and cheek by jowl, the soundtrack is vinyl, and the staff do turn people away. It was pouring orange and natural wine here before either was a category in London, which is a real claim on the city's drinking culture rather than a decorative one. It stops short of the top rung because no named national critic verdict is currently reachable, and because the plates are very good rather than career dishes.