The Archduke

Popped in for a Sunday bite the other week. Prices were fairly reasonable, especially given the proximity to tourist hotspots. Food was nice, standard pub grub fare. Service was fine, but rather uninvolved — no checking back in, seeing if drinks were needed and such; lacked a little warmth. Coffee tasted burnt which was a low point. Great potential for this place given location. Loved the jazz in the background, very festive.

This place was one of the highlights of my recent trip to London. The words «live jazz», «steak» and «cocktails» surely piqued my curiosity when I saw them on the façade of the restaurant. I told myself and my girldfriend: «I want to go there», and so we did!
I was really not disappointed. The food was really tasty from what we both had, and I was even pleasantly surprised with some live jazz even though we were there during lunchtime. I remember saying that if things were different and I lived in London, this would definitely be a place I’d visit often.

Auch wenn es auf einem Touri-​Spot ist, da muss man auf alle Fälle hinein! Ich habe bei Restaurants, die so nah an Attraktionen sind ja immer ein bisschen ein schlechtes Gefühl, dass es entweder zu teuer oder nicht gut ist, aber das war bei The Archduke ganz und gar nicht der Fall. Die Kellner waren sehr zuvorkommend, die Empfangsdame eine Perle. Es gibt eine Suppe und einen Cocktail des Tages, was toll ist!
Auf dem Weg zu unserem Tisch haben wir ein Piano und weitere Plätze für Musikinstrumente gesehen und fanden es Schade, dass da gerade keiner war. Doch zu unserem Glück fingen dann doch zwei Gentlemen zum spielen an und es war eine tolle Erfahrung. Wir waren zu Mittag dort, aber am Abend ist es sicher noch besser.
Das Essen ist ausgezeichnet, wirklich eine Wucht. Die Karte ist überschaubar und Preise sind auf alle Fälle in Ordnung. Sobald wir mal wieder in London sind werden wir das Restaurant auch wieder aufsuchen, vielleicht sogar am Abend, auch wenn ich mir vorstellen kann, dass es rappelvoll sein wird. Kein Wunder, wenn alles passt :) (Man findet hier sicher auch einiges an Touristen, sollte aber eigentlich nicht stören, oder? ;) Und außerdem sind die Kellner dort auch so extrem Kinderfreundlich gewesen, da möchte man selber mit kleinen Zwetschken vorbeischauen)

The Archduke is 4 – 5 stars for location and atmosphere, but 3 stars on a few other things. I started to average it down to 3 stars as I wrote my review, but then I realised I actually go here fairly often. It can’t be that bad if I’m going here every other month.
I love the real, live music, the location under a train bridge and right near Waterloo station. It’s a good place to meet someone for a drink or maybe a meal. It is fairly popular, so if you stop in for the after-​work drink, you may not find a table. That’s a shame because the bar isn’t all that great a place to stand. In good weather there’s some nice outdoor seating, giving them a bit more capacity.
Beer selection is small but varied. They have a few and they’re not all major names. They have a full bar but nothing stands out there.
Food is good. It’s upmarket and tasty. Frankly I tend to meet folks for drinks here more than I eat, so I don’t have much experience with the menu. We did have a company dinner here one time and they fit 10 or 11 of us in easily and served us well.

Touristy as hell but has live jazz which is always a plus point in my book. After trying (and failing miserably) to find a place to eat in the Waterloo area in the dead zone between Christmas and New Year’s, we finally stumbled across Archduke’s nestled conveniently in… an arch. Gotta love it when they have at least a little subtlety in word play compared to others (here’s looking at you Arch1).
So the jazz drew us in despite the obvious tourist nature of the place (but then again what isn’t at Southbank?) and we were seated upstairs within easy listening distance of the jazz pianist.
The menu is fairly simple with a range of steaks and grill items and little else. I think its styles itself as a jazz steakhouse so go with that in mind. I ordered the burger with bacon, mushroom sauce, and cheese. My cousin ordered the bbq chicken with mash, and my cousin in law (I’m going with that… he’s my cousin’s wife’s brother… starting to sound like a line from Spaceballs) had the ribeye.
My burger was excellent although slightly more than I would normally pay at £11. The £2 supplement for bacon and cheese was well worth it but the additional £2 for a tiny thing of creamy mushroom sauce was definitely not. Sign of a good burger is when it’s juicy without being oily, and has a proper deep meat taste. This had both elements in spades. The chips likewise were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside and were devoured in no time at all.
The chicken was massive in portion (think half a large chicken) and for £14 was an excellent value proposition. The mash was a bit flavourless (a little butter and salt would have gone a long way) but okay with the sauce from the chicken. The steak by all reports was perfectly cooked to order and made me a bit envious. At £20 you are at the edge between a regular restaurant and a proper steakhouse. Since they didn’t mention the provenance of the meat, I’m leaning towards it being on the slightly higher end pricewise but for Southbank it’s reasonable.
For dessert, I tucked into a sticky toffee pudding (my last before training diet begins). It was perfectly adequate with moist cake, sticky sauce, but no wow factor. Still, I was happy to eat it all.
They have a good cider selection (the fact they have any cider selection at all is good to begin with) and I quite enjoyed it with my meal.
Overall, definitely a place to keep in mind when looking for dinner after a gig at the Udderbelly or a walk down the river. The jazz pianist takes requests too!