Address 32 Great Queen Street WC2B 5AAPhone 020 72476400
Web site N/aMain dish price range £10-20
Rating 4 Stars. I would take my parents there.
Recommended dishes Duck confit
Fresh of the plane from a great holiday back home in the States, I was filled to the brim wit h the tasty ethnic food of New York. The previous day, I'd had bagels and lox for breakfast, Italian for lunch, and a fiery Sichuan dinner from the popular Spicy and Tasty in the very ground zero of America's ethnic kitchen: Flushing, Queens.
So upon my return to London, for onceI felt no great craving for ethinc food of any particular description. After work I took a gander at my favorite London food guide and an idea caught my eye: English food!
Great Queen Street is a warm looking, simple restaurant that fills most of a storefront on this fine street near Covent Garden. Bare wooden table tops and a busy bar in the back half left me feeling quite at home, and I dumped my duffel bag and coat over the empty chair at the next table over.
Ellen had already ordered a kippered fish starter, which came with a tasty egg and endive salad. The menu, filled with things such as dried blood and pig's cheek, made me a bit uncomfortable and for a few minutes I agonized both over what to order and whether or not it was safe to call this an "ethnic" restaurant. I was reminded that if the food makes me uncomfortable, then it's clearly ethnic. I dived in.
I had the duck confit, not being in an adventurous mood, and it was excellent. I sucked the bones dry, although that's something I do so often as to not be a true accolade. We also ordered the aforementioned cheek, which came deep fried in a crusty breading and served over seasonally appropriate lentils. All the ingredients were fresh and delicious and the dishes were well presented. Only the desert, a quince tart of some sort, was something of a miss, mostly due to the fact that it was served with warm, and not iced, cream.
Overall, this is certainly a place I would come back to, which earns it a comfortable four stars. Ellen pointed out, and I agree, that it's a great place to bring guests to show them the ethnic eating of our adopted home.
