Best places to munch a delicious Sunday roast
Clear your diary this Sunday and take in one of these badboys...
The Sunday roast: a tricky blighter to get right.
We're all haunted by the carveries of our earliest pub experiences. A dried old slab of pork, bendy crackling (actually a culinary crime), veg obliterated by the 7 hours of high pressure boiling... and "the trimmings": packet gravy and apple sauce courtesy of Cow & Gate.
Thankfully, things have changed. You can now look forward to the prospect of a meal on a Sunday (and not just the hangover banishing morning fry-up). London now boasts a bevy of roasts of which to be proud. Intimate pub surroundings, well-sourced meat, local and seasonal veg, gravy with a genetic association to the meat on the plate... and not a shard of bendy crackling in sight.
Clear your diary this Sunday and take in one of these badboys...
Columbia Road Flower Market is without a doubt one of London’s finest days out, however, it is also one of London’s most stressful. The crowds, the yelling, that overpowering scent of nature, yuck! Get thee to the Royal Oak for a slap up roast dinner of admirable quality.
Imagine the scene: a lunchtime stroll over picturesque Hampstead Heath leads onto a mid afternoon roast dinner at The Bull and Last on Highgate Road, arriving clear of mind and rosy of cheek, you realize, this is living. Plus, having scooped last year’s Observer Food Monthly’s Best London Roast, you can be assured that the Sunday lunch that awaits you at The Bull and Last will impress. What a day out.
If you have ever eaten steak at one of Hawksmoor’s (Hawksmoor - Spitalfields, Hawksmoor – Guildhall or Hawksmoor – Seven Dials) restaurants the prospect of a roast should already have you salivating. When a place takes its beef this seriously all you need to do is book, turn up and enjoy one of the top roasts in London.
If you have ever eaten steak at one of Hawksmoor’s (Hawksmoor - Spitalfields, Hawksmoor – Guildhall or Hawksmoor – Seven Dials) restaurants the prospect of a roast should already have you salivating. When a place takes its beef this seriously all you need to do is book, turn up and enjoy one of the top roasts in London.
If you have ever eaten steak at one of Hawksmoor’s (Hawksmoor - Spitalfields, Hawksmoor – Guildhall or Hawksmoor – Seven Dials) restaurants the prospect of a roast should already have you salivating. When a place takes its beef this seriously all you need to do is book, turn up and enjoy one of the top roasts in London.
The Kenton’s location on the divide between Hackney Wick and Victoria Park means that it has to work harder than most to charm people with its Anglo-Scandi style. Part of that means one of the largest roast dinners in London, at one of the most reasonable prices. In addition, service is warm, the people are a mixed bag and there’s always good music.
There’s something about the name ‘De Beauvoir’ that oozes class and sophistication, yet remains just a touch, playful. The good news for locals and roast hunters, The Scolt Head is a little of all that itself. Great for big groups, fine for intimate occasions and in possession of a large football room out back. The roast bests its weekday menu with great quality meat and a killer horseradish sauce.
The Broadway Market pub isn’t renowned for its Sunday lunches but we think it should be. Sure there’s a lot of great atmosphere at The Cat and Mutton on Sundays, everyone drinks like they don’t have a job to go to on Monday morning, but the roast is the pub’s key Sunday ingredient. It is delicious. Excellent local ingredients, cooked simply and well.
The Garrison on Bermondsey Street is the kind of place you might take your in-laws to show them that London isn’t the lawless hinterland they read about in the newspapers. In fact, it’s a place where Sunday Roast can match the heights of the country pub, a meal is finished with a movie and pastel shades soothe while trinkets sparkle. Yes, The Garrison is all this and more.
Maybe it’s something about The Albion’s online menu closely resembling the style of Hawksmoor’s, but even before we took the chance to visit there were some good vibes flying around. At £17 for a beef roast, some might baulk, but The Albion on Thornhill Road does it all so well that that issue – and many others – seem to drift away as the food arrives. Maybe it’s the aged rib of longhorn beef, maybe it’s the triple cooked, duck fat potatoes, who can know? But it’s magical.
A Sunday roast isn’t solely about the food. Obviously, that’s the name of the game but without the venue to support it you might as well be at home. The Marksman on Hackney Road is a warm, intimate pub boasting just the right amount of rustic, east-end charm. The roast also happens to be delicious. Served on long narrow plates, portions are deceptively large. The highlight is the pork belly – if you’re that way inclined.
