Duck & Waffle at St James Quarter will celebrate their second birthday this week and they have a birthday game all diners can play.

Visitors will be invited to roll the dice before paying and their next brunch will be on the house.

Alex Winter the General Manager explained the restaurant team will celebrate all week from 3rd to 9th February. This is usual for Duck and Waffle – anything that the calendar offers they try really hard to amplify with their creativity. Employing around 50 to 60 members of staff in their upstairs space in SJQ, this business is important to the economics of SJQ and is owned by the development company, Nuveen. The other D&W is the original in Heron Tower (renamed Salesforce Tower since it was completed in 2011 but still known as Heron Tower in Bishopsgate), and curiously Sushisamba is a neighbour in both high profile locations, with both restaurants beginning their different concepts at the same time. There is a third D&W just opened in Dubai.

Alex Winter, General Manager at Duck&Waffle Edinburgh

What is the signature dish – Duck and Waffle? A French chef in Miami came up with the concept. Duck and Waffle is a homemade waffle, not really sweet. It’s more on the savoury side. (And 99% the stuff we do here is homemade, which I think is something to shout about these days.) So you begin with a nice homemade waffle, and confit on top. We have a specific supplier we use over in Ireland where they make the confit to a recipe that we give them.

“We then deep fry that so it’s super juicy and tender, and the skin on top is super crispy. Then a fried duck egg is placed on top with just the perfectly cooked egg white. And then on the side is a little pot of maple syrup and mustard seed, so it’s sweet with a little bit of spice in the mustard seed. Then you’ve got the savoury, the fat and everything just works together.”

Duck & Waffle

Although born in South Shields, Alex then grew up in Scotland with the family following his dad’s career as a chef. With hospitality in his background, having come through the Montpelier ranks at Tigerlily, followed by Tattu, he is proud to say that he can do almost everything in the restaurant – except hosting which he says is where his versatility stops (though he is perfectly charming!). He loves running the restaurant and said that he has a lot of freedom from “Head Office” to run the buiness in his own way – and that has changed a lot since opening.

  • His favourite dish on the Duck and Waffle menu is Duck and Waffle. “Genuinely it is duck and waffle which is unique to our restaurant.
  • His favourite cocktail on the drinks list is a Piña Crush. “It is made with all the regular incredients of a piña colada but then clarified. It is served with a nice big bit of block ice and a coconut foam on top. It is so good.”
  • Where would he eat if not at Duck & Waffle? “Probably me favourite meal in the last couple of years was at Eleanore from the team behind the Little Chartroom. The guy who paired the wines that night was amazing. I have wanted to go back but the opportunity has not come up – but it is definitely on the list to return.”

Visit Duck and Waffle at St James Quarter between 3 and 9 February to have a chance of winning a free brunch if you can roll a double two.

Duck & Waffle Edinburgh
St James Quarter
400-402 St James Crescent
EH1 3AE
www.duckandwaffle.com

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.

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