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Hattie Lloyd 08/02/24


London’s Best Sunday Roasts

The Sunday Roast.

A meal so integral to our identity as Brits that the French literally refer to us as ‘les rosbifs’.

Something that – with the whole ‘frogs’ thing – we probably started.

Fortunately though we’ve come to wear our crown with pride, turning what began as a humble piece of meat and veg to feed the whole family into a food-driven cultural beacon representing the entirety of Britain.

It is London that reigns supreme though, and we’ve outlined exactly where you can find out why.

Behold, London’s best Sunday roasts:


JUMP TO: EAST LONDON | SOUTH LONDON | WEST LONDON | NORTH LONDON


CENTRAL LONDON

Blacklock | Soho, Covent Garden, Shoreditch, The City, Canary Wharf

Blacklock Sunday Roast

A quintet of chop houses opened by a trio of ex-Hawksmoor folk, where the week culminates in one hell of a Sunday roast. Choose your meat – beef, lamb or pork – or don’t, and get the ‘All In’ which has everything, with all the trimmings, and is perfect for sharing. Their gravy is the best in London; we said it. And it’s all even better paired with one of their ‘beefy’ maries or breakfast martinis.

Details: 24 Great Windmill St, W1D 7LG | £16-£25 | Book here

The Prince Arthur E8 | Hackney

prince arthur roast

The Prince Arthur, E8. And he ate well, thanks to the pub’s knack for bussing in top talent for its kitchen residencies. Currently on the pans is former Hawksmoor chef Joe Couldridge, who’s pouring his experience directly into the roasts here. Tuck into roasted pork collar or chicken with anchovy butter; a picanha (rump cut) of beef with horseradish cream or a delica squash filo croustillant; and load up on hispi cabbage & roasted shallots alongside the usual trimmings.

Details: 95 Forest Road, London E8 3BH | £19-23 | Book here

temper | Soho, Shoreditch, Paddington

temper sunday roast

It’s hard to keep cool at temper, whose huge smoked roasts – aged beef, pulled lamb shoulder, pork belly or baby chicken – are given a thorough dose of flame from an open fire-pit kitchen. Chuck in a trio of Bloody Maries, beef fat roasties, sizeable veggies, four-cheese cauliflower and a Yorkshire pudding that could contend for London’s biggest, and any semblance of composure you might have had before is gone completely…

Details: £21.50-£35 | Book here

Dean Street Townhouse | Soho

dean street townhouse

Unlike Soho House’s other spots, you don’t have to be a member to dine at the Dean Street Townhouse. And unlike most other spots on this list, it doesn’t have to be a Sunday to enjoy a roast – their lamb rump, pig cheek and sage-stuffed whole Yorkshire chicken sit on the menu every day of the week.

Details: 69-71 Dean St, London W1D 3SE | Book here

FOWL | St James’s

fowl

FOWL is a sustainable chicken restaurant from the guys behind Fallow, who’ve become rightfully renowned for their ingenious use of otherwise ignored ingredients – so when they say they’re making a Sunday roast with all the trimmings, they mean it. You’ll get a full on plateful of fluffy Yorkies, tender carrots, crisp roasties, and bright greens, as well as either their succulent chicken (with a chicken foot for good measure), or a huge hen of the woods mushroom. You can even get a chicken head pie, complete with the actual, edible chicken head. And for dessert? A gorgeous chicken fat tarte tatin does the trick.

Details: Norris St, St. James’s Market, SW1Y 4RJ | £24 | Book here

The Guinea Grill | Mayfair

guinea grill roast

The Guinea has built a loyal clientele around being one of the most underrated steak places in London, but on a Sunday the historic pub is well aware of what the story is and serves a stonking roast. There’s no grilled guinea pigs here – let’s just get that one out of the way first – instead you’ve got choice between a rump of Godfrey’s beef; blue cheese, truffle & walnut gratin; or slow-cooked pork belly, all bolstered with a Yorkshire pud and the regular ensemble of beef-dripping roasties, honey-glazed carrots, baby onions with bacon and gravy from the pan.

Details: 30 Bruton Place, W1J 6NL | £30-£36 | Book here (closed for renovation work until February)

Fallow | St James’s

fallow sunday roast

Just because Fallow is a sustainability-focussed restaurant doesn’t mean they hold back when it comes to Sunday roasts. The plates arrive groaning with enormous Yorkshires, roasties and exceptional veg, as well as your choice of beef rump (from an ex-dairy cow), pork belly, Romney Marsh lamb, or maitake mushroom for the veggies. But if you really want to subscribe to their low-waste philosophy, it would be a shame not to help the kitchen out by ordering the smoked cauliflower cheese and their famous kombu-dusted corn ribs, too…

Details: 52 Haymarket, London, SW1Y 4RP | £32 | Book here

The George | Strand

A slip of a pub on the Strand that looks like it’s been ripped straight out of Tudor England, with mullioned windows, cosy nooks and a carving on the outside of a naked man chasing pigs. Unconventional farming methods notwithstanding, that pork (and beef, and chicken) is whipped into a surprisingly excellent Sunday roast for the very centre of London, with crispy roast potatoes, springy greens and maple-roasted carrots.

Details: 213 Strand, WC2R 1AP | £19.50-24.50 | Book here

Cora Pearl | Covent Garden

Coral Pearl Roast

It’s a super-intimate, richly designed space in Covent Garden that serves Sunday lunch with a jazz soundtrack. Roast sirloin, chicken, celeriac or stone bass come prefaced with cod roe crumpets and devilled whitebait, and arrive alongside bowls of seasonal veg, crispy cuboids of layered confit potatoes, cauliflower cheese, and of course a Yorkshire pud.

Details: 30 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8NA | £22-£34 | Book here

 


BEST ROASTS IN EAST LONDON

The Quality Chop House | Farringdon

quality chop house

The Quality Chop House is a dining room, wine bar and butchers shop that has opened for lunch and dinner since 1869. Or, you could just call it an institution. And the Sunday lunch is a big part of that, with dishes like Jacob lamb shoulder to share, roast Tamworth belly with apple sauce and beef rump & brisket all served up with Yorkshire puds, roasted carrots, parmesan-crumbed Hispi cabbage, and the option to upgrade your roasties to their famous confit potatoes, which take almost 24 hours to make. Just be warned, they book up weeks in advance.

Details: 88-94 Farringdon Road, EC1R 3EA | £55 for 3 courses | Book here

Jones & Sons | Dalston

Jones and Sons Dalston roast

The Sunday roast at Jones & Sons is pure perfection. The cuts are all sourced from The Ginger Pig – pork belly, lamb rump, ribeye & sirloin or a whole chicken to share – while the veggie and vegan wellingtons aren’t left as an afterthought, and might even tempt a meat-eater. Naturally, all the trimmings are in tow, and the puddings (torched lemon tart or butterscotch & date pud) are worth passing over the last roastie for.

Details: Stamford Works, 3 Gillett Street, N16 8JH | £18-£27 | Book here

The Marksman | Hackney

The Marksman

This beloved Victorian pub serves up Hackney’s finest Sunday roast, all designed to share and served with universally admired Yorkshires. There’s excellent veggie and fish choices too if you have a pescatarian or vegetarian to drag along with you. Doors open at 10am and coffee is served on their balcony, just around the corner from the Columbia Road Flower Market.

Details: 254 Hackney Road, E2 7SJ | £42 for 3 courses | Book here

The Wolseley City | Monument

wolseley sunday roast

For all the things The Wolseley does so well – afternoon tea, indulgent brunches, an all-day menu of ‘Grand Café-style’ classics – The Wolseley hasn’t yet tackled the Sunday roast. Well, they needn’t have held back: the new offering at their sophomore restaurant in the City ticks a lot of boxes. There are three choices – a half-chicken, rose-pink beef, or gravy-slicked celeriac – and a phenomenal set of sides to indulge in. Crisp roasties, honeyed root veg and Yorkshires come as standard, but you can throw in a little cauliflower rarebit or creamed spinach as well. Oh, and the whole event’s given a sophisticated, atmospheric soundtrack of live jazz.

Details: 68 King William Street, London EC4N 7HR | £25-35 inc. trimmings | Book here

The Spread Eagle | Homerton

The Spread Eagle Sunday roast

Okay so, if you’re reading this article, you’re probably not a vegan. But the fact is that the roast at The Spread Eagle is both vegan, and delicious. They’ll cook you up a beet wellington, a walnut & cashew nut roast, or slow-roast celeriac with potato crackling, and then embellish it with all the usual trimmings, and it’ll be every bit as good as your regular roast. And it’ll be from a zero waste kitchen.

Details: 224 Homerton High Street, E9 6AS | £16/17 | Book here

The Ned | The City

the ned bottomless roast

If you’re going for a big, blow-out, no-holds-barred roast, book in for Ned’s Feast. It’s an entirely bottomless banquet of decadence held in the stunning former banking hall that is now The Ned. You can help yourself to limitless oysters, lobster, and roasts of every kind, alongside salads, charcuterie, and pigs in blankets… before then tucking into a dozen different cakes and puddings; the cheese board; and the fruit bowls. And when you can no longer move? Just flag down the Bloody Mary trolley…

Details: 27 Poultry, EC2R 8AJ | £100 or £165 with bottomless Champagne | Book here

The Jugged Hare | Barbican

The Jugged Hare Roast

The Jugged Hare has a secret weapon in the Sunday Roast wars: a rotisserie. That means that their sage-stuffed chickens, Tamworth pork bellies, and Longhorn rump beef cuts all come with rotisserie gravy (should you want it… which you do).

Details: 49 Chiswell Street, EC1Y 4SA | £32 | Book here

The Culpeper | Spitalfields

culpeper sunday roast

The Culpeper is all of five things: a pub, a restaurant, a boutique hotel, a rooftop bar annnd an urban farm. And somehow amidst all this, the team finds time to rustle up a mean Sunday roast. If you’re going in a group, you’ll want to order the big hitter: the 800g Côte de Boeuf to share, made with beef from regenerative farms and herbs picked from their very own rooftop garden.

Details: 40 Commercial Street, E1 6LP | £19-23 | Book here

Barge East | Hackney Wick

barge east sunday roast

A 120 year-old Dutch cargo barge moored up by the Olympic Stadium, that serves some of the best food in London. And like any respectable boat, Sundays are dedicated to formidable roasts, duck fat roasties and Bloody MariesAnd any veggies seeking an alternative to nut roast will find a delicious shallot tart with miso carrots and horseradish sauce awaiting them…

Details: Sweetwater Mooring, River Lee, White Post Lane, E9 5EN | £20-29 | Book here

 


SOUTH LONDON ROASTS

Darby’s | Battersea

darbys sunday roast

Darby’s comes to us from Robin Gill, the man behind such south London restaurant luminaries as The Dairy and Sorella. This, however, is his masterpiece, a restaurant named after his own father, and which happens to serve Battersea’s finest Sunday roast. There’s every kind of meat going – ex-dairy rump, lamb leg, pork belly, sirloin or slow-cooked lamb to share – and here, they come with roasties, cauliflower cheese, and a side of live music.

Details: 3 Viaduct Gardens, Embassy Gardens, SW11 7AY | £26-28 | Book here

The Laundry | Brixton

the laundry roast brixton

This place hangs Brixton’s other Sunday roasts out to dry. Mighty Yorkshires, crisp roasties, slow-roasted meats and – hello, peas, all with bottomless gravy, make this one a sure-fire winner. And you can even book their private dining room for 12-34 people, and tuck into a set roast menu for £35 a head, perfect if you’ve got something to celebrate. Like it being a Sunday.

Details: 374 Coldharbour Lane, London SW9 8PL | £20-35 | Book here

Coal Rooms | Peckham

coal rooms sunday lunch

If you’re looking for a great Sunday Lunch in Peckham, The Coal Rooms is just the ticket. Housed in a former ticketing office right next to Peckham Rye station, it gently moves from cafe in the day – with fancy coffees & fresh pastries – to a fully-blown restaurant in the night. On Sundays they offer refined takes on the traditional Sunday lunch: whole wood-roasted chicken; smoked Sussex lamb; dry aged beef with roast bone marrow; and a lovely veggie wedge of artichoke, celeriac & comté pavé, all served with all the trimmings.

Details: 11a Station Way, Peckham Rye Station, SE15 4RX | £24-35 | Book here

The Camberwell Arms | Camberwell

Camberwell Arms Sunday roast

Dining at the Camberwell Arms is a test of willpower. Because you’re going to have to either starve yourself for a fortnight beforehand, or somehow hold back on the starter of squash & gorgonzola; the side of brown butter cabbage; and the sharing plates of overnight braised lamb and spit-roast chicken with creamed cavolo nero… if you want to have room for desserts like this bad boy.

Details: 65 Camberwell Church Street, London, SE5 8TR | £25-35 | Book here

The Anchor & Hope | Waterloo

Anchor & Hope

No great shakes from the outside, but one of Waterloo’s best restaurants within. The pub setting makes for a cosy atmosphere, and the roasts are top-shelf: seven-hour lamb shoulder to share, slow-cooked venison and aged beef rump slot into a lengthy Sunday lunch menu bookended by pork & pistachio terrine, and buttermilk pudding with roast figs.

Details: 36 The Cut, London SE1 8LP | £26.80-33 | Book here

The Victoria Inn | Peckham

The Victoria Inn

It’s a handsome gastropub and hotel on Peckham’s Bellenden Road where – alongside roast chicken, pork belly, and beef – they do the best vegan wellington on the south side of the river.

Details: 77-79 Choumert Road, Peckham, London SE15 4AR | £18-20.50 | Book here

The Great Exhibition | East Dulwich

The Great Exhibition Sunday roast

Your classic neighbourhood boozer with a knockout Sunday roast, and they don’t skimp on the gravy either. Also, they serve a seriously good spicy Bloody Mary to help ease it all down. Come here after a stomp across Peckham Rye, then sleep it off in the East Dulwich Picturehouse.

Details: 193 Crystal Palace Road, East Dulwich, SE22 9EP | £17.50-£20 | Book here

The Canton Arms | Stockwell

Canton Arms Sunday roast

This isn’t your typical Sunday roast. It’s way better than that – as you’d expect from a place by the same people behind the esteemed Anchor & Hope. Cornish hake with creamed leeks; chicken & smoked ham pie; rare Dexter beef… you can pick from them all (not easily, mind), as well as a seven-hour Salt Marsh lamb shoulder to share with potato and olive oil gratin, greens, and more. And that’s before you get to the run of classic British desserts. 

Details: 177 South Lambeth Road, SW8 1XP | £24.80-27 | Book here

 


WEST LONDON ROASTS

Hawksmoor | Knightsbridge, Covent Garden, Piccadilly, Guildhall, Borough, Spitalfields, Canary Wharf

Hawksmoor Sunday Roast

Simply the best steaks in London, and also a pretty strong contender for best roast, with 55 day aged beef rump started off on charcoal, finished in the oven and covered in lashings of bone marrow gravy. With beef dripping potatoes.

Details: Various locations | £27+ | Book here

The Holland | Kensington

the holland sunday roast

Chef Max de Nahlikl has taken The Holland from old boozer to gastropub worthy of a mention in the Michelin Guide. The Sunday roasts here are some of the best in West London: lush slabs of just-pink beef or tender confit chicken leg, dishes up with beef dripping roasties and fist-sized Yorkshire puds. And being a pub, there’s an equally excellent selection of cask ales, wines and cocktails to wash it all down.

Details: 25 Earls Court Road, W8 6EB | £17-40 | Book here

The Hunter’s Moon | Kensington

hunters moon roast

We could wax lyrical about the roast at The Hunter’s Moon. This West London spot feels like a country pub transposed to a well-heeled residential back street, with its chequer-tiled floors and pooches curled up at the feet of cosy armchairs. The kitchen turns out quality food any day of the week, but on Sundays you can score treacle-cured sirloin, butter roast chicken and stuffed pork belly with caramelised apple sauce, plus all the trimmings. Save space for the three cheese cauliflower, and the sticky toffee pud.

Details: 86 Fulham Road, South Kensington, London SW3 6HR | £23.50-25 | Book here

Sam’s Riverside | Hammersmith

Sam’s is a relative newcomer on the roast dinner scene, but Sam Harrison certainly is not. He’s been in the restaurant game for a couple of decades, and it shows in the skilled execution of his Sunday roasts. Expect a melting cut of Herefordshire sirloin, or a crackling-topped wedge of rare breed pork, all sided by pillowy Yorkies and crisp roast potatoes.

Details: 1 Crisp Walk, W6 9DN | £21-39 | Book here

The Drayton Arms | South Kensington

drayton arms roast

21 day-aged beef sirloin. Half a roast chicken with pigs in blankets. Slow-cooked pork belly in a red wine jus. No need to choose, get it all on one glorious plate with cauli cheese and thyme-roasted potatoes at this typical Victorian boozer a stone’s throw away from the V&A, the Natural History Museum, and other such edifying Sunday activities.

Details: 153 Old Brompton Road, SW5 0LJ | £18-21.50 | Book here

The Harwood Arms | Fulham

The Harwood Arms Roast

The only Michelin-starred pub in London. So unsurprisingly, the roasts here are rightfully lauded. And it’s one of the few places in the city where you can get slow-cooked, bacon-wrapped deer shoulder…

Details: Walham Grove, SW6 1QP | £65 (three courses) | Book here

 


NORTH LONDON ROASTS

The Tamil Crown | Islington

tamil crown roast

Desi pub The Tamil Prince won heaps of critical acclaim when it opened back in 2022, but it might just be its new sibling that takes the crown. Because aside from reprising the menu of Tamil Nadu-style dishes that made the original such a hit, The Tamil Crown offers a Sunday roast… with a twist. Your choice of beef, lamb, chicken or veg will arrive on a platter laden with turmeric roasties and spiced potato masala, Indian cabbage, beef dripping masala gravy… and a Yorkshire pud. Because you simply can’t improve on perfection.

Details: 16 Elia Street, London, N1 8DE | £25-32 | Book here

Acme Fire Cult | Dalston

acme fire cult sunday roast

If there is any part of you that has started to find traditional roasts a little, well ‘samey’, then look no further, Acme Fire Cult is here to shake things up. You can enjoy a live-fire take on the classic Sunday roast which includes a whopping grilled and smoked platter for two with Vadouvan chicken thigh, Tamworth pork belly, Highland beef rump and smoked cotechino sausage – all served alongside Acme’s ‘meat bread’ and pickles. And if you’re veggie, you’ll be looked after too with a range of creative vegetable-led dishes like char siu beetroots with fennel pollen and mojo verde, and smoked delica pumpkin with fig, chilli and hazelnut.

Details: Abbot St, London E8 3DP | £18-£32 | Book here
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The Old Queen’s Head | Islington

roasts at the old queens head

The OQH’s four roasts jostle for the crown – there’s a leg of lamb with minted peas; roast corn-fed chicken with aioli and smoked gravy; just-pink 32 day-aged Longhorn beef with bone marrow gravy; and an excellent chestnut mushroom wellington with all the trimmings. Add to that a roaring fire and a karaoke room for hire, and you’ve got yourself a Sunday.

Details: 44 Essex Road, London, N1 8LN | £17.50-17.90 | Book here

The Albion | Islington

Sunday roasts, The Albion

Is The Albion nicer in winter or summer? With one of the best beer gardens in London, all clad in purply wisteria during May/June, and a cosy countryside-esque interior with a roaring fireplace, it’s a tough call to make. Fortunately, you can enjoy their roast all-year-round, in either of those lovely settings, where they source their meat from trusted local British farms – anything from lamb shoulder to rolled porchetta and Yorkshire chicken breast – and supplement it as one should with a spot-on Yorkshire pud, veg and perfectly-cooked spuds.

Details: 10 Thornhill Road, London N1 1HW | £19-26 | Book here

The Baring | Islington

the baring

One of the breakout hits of 2022, The Baring delivers on its gastropub ambitions by nailing the Sunday roast. Make the difficult choice between Vendée chicken, Simmental beef bavette or grilled Normande beef rib (all served with roast potatoes, Hispi cabbage & gravy) and then make the easy choice to return again next week…

Details: 55 Baring Street, N1 3DS | £27-38 | Book here

The Pig And Butcher | Islington

pig & butcher roast

Perfect cuts, direct from the suppliers and butchered in-house, paired with beef dripping potatoes, creamed leeks, buttery carrots, extraordinary gravy and ballooning Yorkshire puds perched on top. Plus, ginger Jamaica cake with whisky toffee sauce to finish.

Details: 80 Liverpool Road, N1 0QD | £20-26 | Book here

The Drapers Arms | Islington

Roast coquelet with bread sauce. Seven-hour lamb shoulder. Roast beef forerib for three to share. North London’s finest gastropub ain’t messing around when it comes to roasts: the Yorkshire puds are the size of your face. Order a half-litre carafe of wine, and get stuck in.

Details: 44 Barnsbury Street, London, N1 1ER | £19.50-40 | Book here

Smokehouse | Islington

smokehouse sunday roast

If this Islington gastropub were called Roasthouse, this would be a whole different ball game. But this is Smokehouse, a temple to the joys of playing with fire, and their Sunday roasts are perfect for when you want a twist on the genre. On the menu you’ll find 50 day aged Dexter sirloin, a whole smoked chicken to share between two, and smoked Tamworth pork belly, all cooked over English oak. They do all, however, still arrive with puffed-up Yorkshires, veggies and beef fat roast potatoes. Nobody needs to go ripping up the rule book that much.

Details: 63-69 Canonbury Road, N1 2DG | £20-27 | Book here

 


Like great restaurants? Check out our excellent guide to the best restaurants in every London neighbourhood.