Roast Duck Leg - London Tavern, Richmond

I ate: Roast duck leg with sweet potato cake, green beans and mandarin sauce
I drank: carlton draught, in pots, from jugs.

As people who eat with me often would know, duck is probably my favourite meat. Tastier, I guess a bit gamier than chicken, but still poultry. It's delicous. I don't think I've ever disliked a duck meal I've eaten, so really, me reviewing this meal would be like me trying to objectively review the Dresden Dolls concert I saw last night after dinner. Just not gonna happen. I'm going to rave.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the 'sweet potato cake', bloody Melbournites referring to a slice of battered deep fried potato as a 'cake', but it turns out to be more related to the traditional cake than to the fish-and-chip-shop-staple. A dense wedge of mashed sweet potato, with herbs and spices throughout, and a deliciously caramelised bottom (I think it may actually have been overcooked, but it worked in it's favour).

The duck was perhaps a little bit dry, but made up for that by having beautiful crispy skin that almost got to pork-crackling texture. *drool*. The mandarin sauce was not as sweet as I expected, which is a good thing, mandarin can end to the over-sweet when used in anything other than desserts, and there was plenty of it, enough to compliment both the duck and the cake. When I was done with eating, Ray and Tim both had to try the sauce, and I think both almost had an urge to have a second dinner!

Side notes: sanitary pads (in particular, Libre Hearts) do burn when placed in a burning fire, but will do so in several layers, and smell quite toxic. An entire box of matches will catch on fire, and then make cool noises when all the match-heads ignite at once. The chips I stole off Tim's plate were cold but very very tasty, and I was nearly tempted to get a side order to go with my duck.