Duck Tales: Gold Mine

Everyone wants a piece of the famous Bayswater crispy roast duck. What most people don't realise is that there are two restaurants boasting the famous crispy roast duck in Bayswater, just a few doors away from each other. So, you say, famous crispy roast duck is famous crispy roast duck. When it comes to down to it, is there really a difference?

Gold Mine
102 Queensway, Bayswater, W2 3RR

When an old friend decided to pay us a visit recently, we thought that the "famous crispy roast duck" place would be a good dinner choice. Places like this make ordering simple - no fuss, no stress, just as long as roast duck is included in the selection of dishes.

The Cantonese roast duck is heavenly - and I do not kid. I'm not sure what exactly it is that makes it so good, the delicious roasted skin that's crispy on top and soft on the underside, the tender succulent duck, the sweet-salty gravy or even the soft Chinese cabbage that the duck rests on. There's a flavour like no other and it really does keep you reaching out for more. The duck was snapped up so quickly that we had to order a second duck.

Other note-worthy dishes include the dried chilli squid and the special tofu though both pale in comparison to the duck.


It's the sort of meal where you want to clean up every morsel of duck and every little piece of cabbage on the plate. With reasonable prices and duck that is second to none - it's also the sort of place that leaves you looking forward to your next visit.

Ready, set, go!

It was one of those crazy student-type ideas: "Hey, let's see if we can each finish 20 McNuggets!" I think this is what happens when all there is to life is work - people would do anything to have a laugh and the thought of going up to the counter at McDonald's and ordering 60 nuggets at one go was entertaining enough.

And so, the "Nugget Challenge" was born.


We set the scene up - boxes of nuggets open and packets of sauce ready to be dipped into. To be fair, it was not a race of any sort, just a little challenge to see if we could go through a box of 20 nuggets without getting tired of the chewing, or the taste.

It was no surprise at all that the boys went through the box like lightning, followed by yours truly. In all honesty, a box of 20 is far less filling than we thought it would be and the nuggets do have a somewhat addictive quality. Only Diana, the original challenger, had a moment of weakness at some point. Perhaps it was a case of underestimation on our part.

We were left pretty full, pretty contented and very much hoping that McDonald's wasn't lying when they said that the nuggets were made from 100% chicken breast.