Truthfully, there’s not a lot of choice if you want to grab a quick meal before going to a show at the Seymour Centre. So, I was intrigued to try the Duck Inn Pub, which has excellent ratings on Zomato, and specialises in duck, which I love. I’m pretty sure I had a casual meal here back when it was the Duck and Swan, and it was transformed under new owners maybe a year and a half ago. There’s a lively bar on one side, an outdoors space in the back and restaurant seating on the other side, with lots of room between the tables.
I was hoping to get the duck tasting plate, meant to be shared, but I was going to hog it all to myself for a main: hoisin duck treats, a rillette, some smoked duck… But it was sold out. I settled on the sous-vide crispy skin duck breast, as did another in our party. The others had bangers and mash and a duck ragout pappardelle.
We of the duck breast though it was good not great, though the others really liked theirs. We matched it with the cheapest pinot noir on the wine list (I think it was $42), which was light and spicy. We worried about getting to the show in time as the service seemed a bit slow, but our timing was just fine in the end (arriving at 7pm at the pub; show was at 8:30pm; though we only had main courses).