London Fat Duck

The food was a bit of a hit-​and-​miss, and shockingly, the duck was lacklustre, whereas the barbecued pork was excellent.
Also, the Scotts Square tenant is an occupiers-​liability lawsuit waiting to happen; the floors were so oily that, even with my rubber-​soled heels, it was a feat trying to keep from slipping. It was a nightmare walking in and out the slippery floors.
We had:
1) Signature London Roast Duck ($ 12.80 for regular): gamey and chewy and dry. Terribly disappointing, considering its signature dish status. Suffice to say, we didn’t finish this.
2) Barbecue Pork with Honey ($ 14.80): saving grace of the meal and absolutely smashing. Beautifully caramelized with a sticky honeyed glaze, and meltingly luscious, this was perhaps the best char siew I’ve had in a while. I’ll return just for this.
3) Hongkong Wanton Noodle ($ 6.80): decent, if a little pedestrian.
4) London Roast Duck Noodle ($ 7.80): disappointing that the noodles was better on its own, plain, without the duck, which was double whammy with its gamey taste and lean breast cut.

Before today I had only ordered takeaway char siew which was nice and tender but expensive @ $ 15.90 for 11 small slices. Not sure that it was worth it. I had also ordered the black pepper duck buns (all good — moist, tender duck, soft bun — except maybe a bit too much of the black pepper). Even for takeaway orders, the staff were a confused lot and what I would call ‘cannot make it’.
Today I had a late lunch in the restaurant. By the way, they have taken additional space (see photo). No crowd so service was much better than before. Staff was friendly.
Had duck noodles and warm barley. Duck was tender, skin not crispy at all. I had to remove the fat but alas the skin came off too.
Barley was not even warm.
Waiters and Waitresses in Singapore food outlets have a problem understanding ‘hot’, ‘warm’ & ‘luke warm’.
So my conclusion is that it is not ‘die, die must eat’.

Ok why pay a premium here when you can easily get a whole roast duck at hawker centres for say SGD 25 – 30? Before we proceed, a duck here will cost you about SGD 50 after GST.
If you don’t already know, they do import their ducks from Ireland, which probably adds to the cost. But how different is it? I can only say it is very fat, very very fat, and I’m not kidding.
Next, have so far only bought the duck to go, meaning I only get to consume it at least 45 minutes to an hour later. Typically the roast ducks that you buy to go will either be too dry or too soggy. They provide very high quality boxes which has a plastic container so to speak within the paper box. Given that it is very fat and oily, the crisp and moisture is still retained in the meat and crispy skin. Hence even after an hour or so has passed, the duck still tastes as good.
This may not be the duck for everyone but if you like tasty, moist and crispy skin roast duck, I would highly recommend this.
The other popular item is the black pepper duck bun which is not expensive and very tasty. I guess I will continue to come bere to get my roast duck until I can find a place that has roast ducks done so well and able to retain it’s tastiness and crispiness for long.
Do be warned that it is really very fatty and oily.

This is more like Imperial Treasure and Crystal Jade Kitchen fare rather than a proper Chinese restaurant with only dishes to order.
So this is quite a do-​able meal if you are not here with a big group or are dining alone.
The difference will be a smaller menu as the focus is on the duck. The only meat available — duck, roast pork and char siew.
Then you get the dim sum options with the usual suspects of siew mai, har gow, cheong fun etc. The rice and noodle dishes highlight will be with the roast duck. Congee is also available.
I had the highly recommended black pepper duck bun which was nice. It was very saucy and while it was tasty, I felt the black pepper overpowered the duck flavor.
The duck noodle was excellent. The noodle had a bite to it and when mixed with the sauce and chili was delicious. The duck had a rich taste due to the fattiness. I removed the layer of fat from the crispy skin. Unfortunately the skin was not crispy all the way. The duck was tender at some part and a bit drier on others so it was not consistent.
Overall it was a good meal and I would come back again as it has more than just duck. A good option when you do not want to go to Crystal Jade or Imperial Treasure. The prices are decent too, slightly lower than the Noodle Place in 313 Somerset.

Go eat the duck! You can have dim sum or noodles or congee or whatever but you should just order a serving of duck and eat that. The duck is moist, delicious and fatty. Mmm. Don’t go with the kind of friend who eats meat and leaves the skin behind. On second thought, do — more skin for you!
Char siew had a yummy sweet glaze and was very good. With super chow tar bits at the end. Not the greatest char siew in the world but pretty darn good.
Go early for lunch — before 1230 — and you probably won’t have to wait much.

The cleanliness of this place needs to be improved on! Grotesque tables! (I can’t bear to elaborate)
Let’s start with the duck. Hmmmm… It’s over rated. Too fatty, the sauce is average and somehow it lacks that punch that I find in the ducks I had in London.
Char Siew and shrimp dumplings are worth your calories though.
Till we get the perfect london roast duck…

With all the rave about the «Wagyu of Duck», I decided to try it out for myself. Let’s start with the food. To be honest, the duck tasted pretty average to me. I personally prefer their Char Siew better than the Roasted Duck (and my girlfriends agreed too). Besides that, the rest of the dishes are alright. I won’t say it’s fantastic or like out-​of-​this-​world. But if you do head down and try, do try their Duck Bun and Egg Tarts. That I recommend.
Be warned though. With the expected waiting time (since they just opened and everyone wants a piece of their duck), the place was a little messy and chaotic. The plus point for them for our night there is the lovely wait-​staff who was assisting us (just that one nice auntie) and that the food came almost instantaneously.
Now, I can say «I’ve been there, done that.»

This Fat Duck is NOT for the skinny hearted.
I’ve recently been seeing a lot of people try this place out and I knew, if it was good, would make the perfect Sunday brunch.
We’re happy we got here around 10.15am as the queue really started to pick up around 10.45 –11.00 am.
First impressions… Service was a little slow. With only one main server taking orders, another 2 – 3 waitresses were running about getting the restaurant ready, turning on the tele which showcasing how their signature ducks are bred etc.
After getting our seats… We noticed a huge amount of filth on their floor. Not a very good second impression. Used tissue paper and crumbs on the floor, clearly they weren’t ready to open.
We decided to ignore all that and concentrate on what we were here for, their famous duck.
Signature London Roast Duck ($ 12.80)
$ 12.80 for an entire leg (drum and thigh) is pretty decent and comparable to the prices you get at imperial treasure or crystal jade.
The skin itself was so wonderfully crispy, while the meat was juicy and tender. The health conscious maybe not be a fat of the thick layer of fat under the skin but hey, that’s what they’re known for.
London Roast Duck Rice ($ 7.80)
We decided to ask for the breast this time around and we were not disappointed. Just as tender as the leg, the duck rice gave a good portion of meat along with a generous portion of fluffy white rice. Very very good.
Signature Black Pepper Duck Bun ($ 4.80)
Similar to a Bolo Bun, the top of the bun has a nice, sweet, crunchy crust while the inside was filled with succulent duck, cooked with a tasty black pepper sauce (almost a hybrid between a char Siew and black pepper filling).
It was such a delight the have!
Pig Liver Congee ($ 7.50)
Breaking away from an all duck brunch, we decided to order a Pig Liver Congee and see if it truly is a worthy challenger to Crystal Jade’s crown.
The texture was perfectly smooth and a worthy rival to many of the top Cantonese style porridge a in Singapore.
The taste however fell a little short. It’s not as «porky» or tasty in comparison while the liver was a little over poached. Will try the century egg Porridge next to see how it measures up.
Overall, I’m giving this place a 4* solely based on food.
Their manager or owner still seemed a bit lost while and looked drastically under staffed and not prepared for the flood of patrons and the cleanliness leaves a lot to be desired. But at a month old, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and hopefully they will be able to stabilize the ship and really give the other Chinese restaurants a run for their money.
But for duck’s sake, please try the duck! b