Organic Gastro: The Duke of Cambridge

30 St Peter’s Street
N1 8JT
Tel: 020 7359 3066

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The Victim: Fellow London food blogger Ben

The Damage: £22 each?

The Background: I am on Day 2 of the conference, and I am so hoping it will be better than Day 1. It’s an online marketing conference, which had sounded SO great when I read about it online. But when they put up a slide in one session that explains what a Web site is (or maybe it was a search engine)…well, I get a little peeved. And then one person reads their entire presentation off a piece of paper, verbatim. That sucked. And a couple of speakers didn’t show up or got "stuck in traffic." The most oft-heard phrase? "This next slide…" (ARGGGH.) And the rest all spoke very vaguely, in a theoretical manner that DROVE ME CRAZY. I wanted some specific examples, not sweeping generalizations. And I gradually came to understand A. How Much I Already Know and B. My Presentation Skills are FANTASTIC.

Funnily, towards the end of Day 1, I run into Ben of Food & Drink. We make tentative plans for lunch the next day and I suggest the Duke of Cambridge up the road and east a bit. It’s a plan.

The Surroudings: Are very gastro-pub-y. There are many chairs, and few of them match. It’s a very wide and open space and I like it.

The Service: Even though it’s an "order at the bar" kind of place, there are folks meandering around the pub and they are very helpful and friendly. Paying the bill took a while, but I’ll forgive them for that.

The Food: I get the fish pie. And it’s good. But it’s got like three very large potatoes in it. I could have used something else in there–some veggies of some sort–all within the pie. The wilted greens served on the side are not super-edible. Maybe they are not wilted enough? Ben got the curry-ish chicken, and I say "ish" because it was like 1/4 of a chicken, not little chicken chunks. He seemed to like it. I will let him add details if he should so desire.

The Verdict: I liked the atmosphere. Thought the food was so-so. But I’d go back if the opportunity were to present itself.