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! read more