The Duke Pub & Dining Room

Without intending to have a 'pub' lunch, this dark facade appeared on my left when walking towards the green, trying to think where to eat. Taken back because I never knew it existed, I was intrigued, so made my way inside.

Inside the mix of lounging sofas and tables and chairs makes a relaxing atmosphere with the background music playing away it's very friendly.

We sat in the bar area, instead of the separated dining room, and we're able to see the kitchen and bar staff busying themselves. Even though there are clearly way too many staff, either walking aimlessly, standing chatting or having staff meetings (next to us).

There is no table service in the bar area, as you would expect, so the drinks and food were both ordered simultaneously at the bar and the staff were charming which is always pleasing.

The food arrived, being the beef brisket on a bun w/chips for myself and a broccoli and stilton soup for the lady.
The soup was nice, if a little too salty and the brisket was very good. It reminded my of my mothers sweet beef curry, with it's undertones of chutney. Naturally it was very soft and juicy, with all the juice spilling onto the plate when I pressed the bun. Lovely. The hand cut chips were ok, but I'm not a fan of crispy outside and fluffy inside, but their chunkiness is good.

We finished up and paid the £27 bill and left, having to squeeze up against the wall whilst the motorway of mummies with their buggies ploughed through into the bar.

It was ok... gastro pub food, for a reasonable price for London. Nothing to particularly rave about. It serves a purpose, but lacks charm.

THE DUKE - I'm back to Richmond borough, if you missed my food blogger meal at Bumpkin in Chelsea this week be sure to check it out. 
On this occasion we headed for a Sunday lunch that we booked almost a week in advance - when you eat at The Duke you may need to check bookings a week out as it is quite popular on Sundays. The restaurant itself is a nice little gastro pub, tucked away off the High Street in Richmond and Richmond Green. It attracts an affluent, not bothered crowd, so it is a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere and easily enjoyed by all.

There is plenty of seating inside, and the interior is divided into a dining area and another more relaxed lounge area. In the dining area it's light and airy with plenty of room for yummy mummy's and kids. Service is effortless, the staff were pleasant and not intrusive. 

As it was a busy fathers day Sunday we were given a fixed menu with mostly Sunday roast offerings (not normally my blogging specialty but they were perfect for the occasion), thankfully there were good choices on the starter & dessert menu as pictured below.

So to start we had Salmon with gin dressing and goats cheese. This was delicious, however the cheese slightly over powered the Salmon. The salmon - I would have loved a more generous portion, but very nice.

Also to start was grilled asparagus and poached duck yolk. This was a great starter, nicely executed and presented, and one thing I really liked was that nothing was over salted. The sesame gave nice texture as well.
 
The mains of chicken and pork were your run of the mill, typical Sunday roast meals but cooked well with plenty of gravy, great Yorkshire pudding. I loved the crackling on the pork - that was completely crispy, no chewy bits. Both dishes were decent in size, so were quite satisfying but I have to say the potatoes weren't roasted well. I mean, I love a yellow, crispy outside, floury inside potato, but these were quite plain, and heavily salted. Meh, I'm just being picky, I know, I know .... it was a Sunday lunch, can't be too fussy. So we'll just say the rest of the food (starters and sweets) were probably on another level. I say this because when I decided to share a dessert, the sticky toffee pudding, everything changed. The Sticky toffee pudding came out and y'know it instantly looked good. Think of a cake, straight out of the oven, its still warm right? that's it. All those treacle comfort flavours coming together in a sponge cake, and its really moist. Furthermore, its bathed and rested in a sweet buttery sauce and topped with salted caramel ice cream. I dug into it and was enjoying mouthful after mouthful. I must been in sugar deficit that day because it was sublime. I was lost in a world of my own when I suddenly remembered.... I'd opted to share my dessert with the chic geek! I looked up and saw he was now death staring at me, spoon poised upward, face steadfast. Oh, woe is me, I'd made a rookie mistake! I'd picked a star dish to share, ugh! I reluctantly pushed the dessert plate toward him. Never again, next time its mine ..... all mine!!!

For more pics check out my blog below

Friendly local pub with a great selection of interesting and tasty craft beers on tap. Wooden decor, plenty of seating options. Basic and perfectly functional. Extra star for the beer selection.

Their burgers are really good with their beer. Great service too.

Very friendly lady serving, decent selection of wines by the glass, was surprisingly quiet though for 9pm on a Saturday night which was nice actually as we had a seat and could chat and actually hear each other 😊

Pleasant meal and a good selection of beer. I ate here as part of a team meal and the menu selection was interesting with a good number of options. The food was tasty and arrived relatively quickly. It didn't blow my socks off but I wasn't really expecting it to. The selection of beer was great, I spent the evening working my way through a few tasty IPAs.

Please train your restaurant staff to take an order correctly. I have eaten here on many occasions as the food is generally very good and they usually able to accommodate larger groups of diners. However, I don't remember a time when everything we ordered has made it to the table on the first try!