There are few meals that are more soothing than a Sunday roast – a heaving plate of juicy meat (or veg, for those who are so inclined) drowned in gravy and accompanied by perfectly crispy roast potatoes, a Yorkshire pudding the size of your head, and a glass of red wine or two, all guaranteed to lull you into a blissful food coma. Most Londoners have their local favourites, of course, but there are also a handful of restaurants and pubs that offer Sunday roasts that are worth booking ahead and travelling across town for. Here, we shortlist 15 of the best Sunday roasts in London.
Hawksmoor
The low-lit, dark wood-panelled steakhouse – which now has seven outposts in the capital, from the Spitalfields flagship, with its exposed brickwork and leather banquettes, to its branch on the edge of Soho, with its emerald-green booths – still offers an unparalleled Sunday lunch: moist slices of slow, charcoal-roasted beef rump drizzled with unctuous bone marrow and onion gravy on a bed of sweet sliced carrots, cabbage and shallots. It comes with a fluffy Yorkshire pudding, a side of zingy horseradish, and a giant bulb of roasted garlic that you can smother onto the beef dripping roast potatoes. Service is reassuringly relaxed, with solo diners leisurely leafing through Sunday newspapers alongside couples, families and large groups of friends, and the piping hot sticky toffee pudding is always non-negotiable.
Multiple locations
Blacklock
Of the London stalwart’s four chophouses, its Soho den is the most seductive – a sleek restaurant housed in a notorious former lap dancing club and brothel. Equally irresistible is its Sunday roast menu: begin with a hangover-busting Bloody Mary or Breakfast Martini with orange marmalade, before digging into whole joints of meat roasted over open coals. Choose between beef rump, lamb leg, pork loin or a celeriac roast, all of which are served with golden Yorkshire puddings, parsnips, tenderstem broccoli and duck fat roast potatoes doused in thick gravy. It’s even better with a squeeze of apple ketchup, and hefty servings of both the bubbling, creamy cauliflower cheese and the roasted pumpkin covered with parmesan.
Multiple locations
Temper
This cacophonous, smoke-filled chain of Central and South American-inflected barbecue restaurants (with branches in Soho, Covent Garden, the City and Shoreditch) is not the place to go for a traditional Sunday roast, but rather a mouthwatering spin on all the classics. Grab a spot at the bar, where you can watch chefs flipping slabs of meat on the expansive central fire pit, and sip on a spicy margarita while perusing the menu. Starters range from beef nachos to salmon, miso and smoked pineapple tacos, while the roasts feature beef, pulled lamb shoulder, pork belly and smoked baby chicken. The latter is the highlight, smothered in chimichurri, alongside a crisp Yorkshire pudding, carrots, pickled cabbage and some of the best roast potatoes I’ve ever had. Their deep dish cookies, topped with fior di latte ice cream, are justifiably legendary, too.
Multiple locations
Claridge’s
The impeccable and impossibly warm service is what sets the showstopping Sunday roast at the Mayfair institution apart from all the rest. From the moment you walk into the stately dining room – all olive green booths, marble tops, mirrors and soft lighting – you’re greeted like an old friend. Stop by the stunning gilded bar for a cocktail (their take on a mimosa is excellent), before heading to your table for a three-course extravaganza. Savour the braided loaf with exceptional butter art, and then tuck into the flaky, lemony seabass and crab fishcake, perhaps, or the baby beetroot salad. Next up are the roasts: porchetta with caramelised apple purée, roasted Herefordshire rib of beef, or the Norfolk black leg chicken for two with truffle stuffing, all presented alongside roast potatoes, glazed carrots, greens, gravy, and cauliflower and cheese gratin. It’s the dessert selection, however, that’s truly jaw-dropping – served family style, it gives you a taste of everything, from the chocolate mousse concealed under a hard layer of chocolate that you have to crack through with a tiny wooden hammer, to the warm apple crumble, baked meringue tart, and vanilla panna cotta with pineapple. Masterful.
W1K
45 Jermyn Street
Discreetly tucked away from the hubbub of Piccadilly, this elegant St James’s dining room is somewhere you’d like to linger for an hour or three, cosied up in one of its bright orange booths and nibbling on Welsh rarebit. For Sunday lunch, their offering includes everything from caviar and oysters to hake swimming in champagne butter sauce, but the roast Cumbrian sirloin is the reason to visit – delectable cuts of meat served with a velvety gravy, roast potatoes, a Yorkshire pudding, and a leek and cauliflower cheese that is to die for. After that, take a breather if you must, but don’t leave without trying the apple crumble soufflé – a subtly sweet, creamy, airy delight.
SW1Y
Hicce Hart
Pip Lacey and Gordy McIntyre, the pair behind Coal Drops Yard’s modern European restaurant Hicce, recently opened this charming offshoot: an old-school Islington pub with squishy armchairs and a roaring fireplace, where you’ll struggle to decide between the roast beef; a herb-stuffed, rolled pork belly; a barley, ale and hazelnut tart; and a succulent half chicken which, controversially, comes with mushy peas (trust us – it works). There are buttery potatoes, too, of course, as well as herby carrots, cabbage soaked with meaty gravy and almost sculptural Yorkshire puddings. End the afternoon with a pint (the well-priced craft beers are from the local independent taproom The Goodness Brewery) and a slice of Guinness cake with dark chocolate icing.
N1
Marksman
In less than a decade, Jon Rotheram and Tom Harris have turned this carefully refurbished Victorian boozer into a Hackney institution – an oasis of polished oak and green leather seats where the dishes are as innovative as they are hearty, earning it the title of Michelin Pub of the Year in 2016. The three-course menu is pricier than most, but worth every penny: beef and barley buns with horseradish cream or whipped goat’s curd on toast with shallots and mint might lead you on to the roast Hereford rump with all the trimmings or the whole roast chicken with bread sauce. The Yorkshire puddings are gigantic, the potatoes heavenly when dipped in the rich gravy, and the brown butter and honey tart the only way to finish your meal. Just make sure you don’t have anything too strenuous planned for the rest of your day, beyond rolling yourself home.
E2
The Jugged Hare
A stone’s throw from the Barbican, this cosy gastro pub is the ideal place to retreat to after a morning spent browsing art in the Brutalist landmark. Snag a seat in one of the red leather nooks – from where you can admire the eclectic taxidermy and whimsical illustrations of game that line the walls – and feast on one of the four delicious Sunday roasts: Longhorn beef slathered with horseradish cream; roast pork belly drizzled with apple sauce; lamb shoulder with a fresh mint sauce; and a tender baby chicken served with pigs in blankets, sage stuffing, bread sauce, carrots, parsnips, duck fat roast potatoes and a giant Yorkshire pudding. It’s as satisfying as a Christmas dinner and, crucially, available year round.
EC1Y
The Parakeet
It’s worth travelling up to leafy Kentish Town for a Sunday roast at this picturesque pub, where you can spend hours in one of their pistachio-coloured booths, surrounded by wood-panelled walls, beautiful stained glass windows, and striking paintings by Ghanaian artist Theophilus Tetteh. The menu, presided over by chefs Ben Allen and Ed Jennings, both formerly of Brat, is equally impressive: flame-grilled lamb, succulent roast beef, wonderfully crispy roast chicken or a celeriac wellington, all accompanied by gravy, dressed spring greens, squishy roast potatoes, sweet carrots, a Yorkshire pudding and a slather of carrot and swede purée. Make sure to stay for dessert – a rich sticky toffee pudding, say, or a bowl of blackberries and cream topped with white chocolate, cherry granita and mint – and then walk it off with a climb to the top of the Parliament Hill viewpoint on the nearby Hampstead Heath, from where you can see all of the city laid before you.
NW5
The Laundry
Around the corner from bustling Brixton market is this equally lively bistro, a neighbourhood hotspot housed in a lovingly-restored former Edwardian laundry where Sunday lunches are served up with a playful twist or two. The roast chicken with garlic and chilli butter, and the Hereford sirloin with creamed horseradish are both failsafe orders, granted, but you’re here for one thing: the surf and turf, which combines said sirloin and chilli butter with a grilled half shell scallop, fluffy Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, minted peas, glazed carrots and silky gravy. Be sure to ask for seconds of everything.
SW9
Cut at 45 Park Lane
For a truly decadent Sunday roast, make a beeline for this lavish Mayfair hotel on the edges of Hyde Park, where the mood is set from the second you enter the sumptuous dining room: you’ll be greeted by a tinkling guitarist serenading diners, an ice-cold glass of sparkling wine, warm bread, and a flurry of canapés that range from small but perfectly formed (gougères, delicate tuna tartare cones) to substantial (miniature wagyu beef burgers). It’s a wonder that you have any appetite left at all by the time your main arrives: roast beef sirloin or the equally delicious beef wellington, with a Yorkshire pudding, wagyu dripping, bubbly cauliflower cheese, carrots, tenderstem broccoli, and potatoes generously sprinkled with truffle, followed by a classic, hearty dessert (the Granny Smith apple crumble and berry pavlova are our favourites).
W1K
The Audley Public House
All dark wood panelling, leather stools and eclectic framed artwork, this Mount Street boozer might look like any other classic British pub at first glance – cosy and packed to the rafters – but look closer, and you’ll see that it’s so much more than that. There’s the eye-popping ceiling mosaic by Phyllida Barlow for one thing, but also the Sunday menu, overseen by chef Jamie Shears, which combines inventive, elevated pub grub (scotch eggs; sausage rolls; coronation crab on toast; cockle popcorn and malt vinegar; cheesy chips with curry sauce and jalapeños) with hearty roasts. Start with the Durslade Farm lamb scrumpet with garlic mayo, followed by the roast beef, served on a bed of carrots alongside an Yorkshire pudding that’s stuffed with even more glorious meat.
W1K
Cafe Kitty
Billed as the elegant little sister of Kitty Fisher’s and Cora Pearl, this sexy, art-filled Soho hideaway – the third restaurant from the Kitty Fisher’s Group – offers a fresh take on Sunday lunch: one which begins with a Bad Kitty (gin, sloe gin, lemon, elderflower and cava), devilled eggs, and scallops rockefeller, before you get to the roasts: squash and harissa; chicken and dill mayo; and sirloin and horseradish, with crispy potatoes, hispi cabbage, cauliflower cheese, and giant Yorkshire puddings. End with the insanely creamy boozy plum knickerbocker glory – you won’t regret it.
W1F
The Wolseley City
Head north on London Bridge, and you’ll spy the grand ivory facade of a 1920s bank looming in the distance – this is the setting for one of the City’s latest openings, the new sister restaurant of the Piccadilly institution, which transplants its casual grandeur (as well as its trademark monochrome interiors) to the Square Mile two decades after its predecessor first opened. It’s essential to begin with seafood, here – the lemony, dressed Dorset crab is heaven, as are the lightly seared scallops with wilted spinach and champagne velouté, after which you move on to one of the three signature Sunday roasts: celeriac with sage and onion stuffing, corn-fed chicken with bread sauce, or sirloin of Herefordshire beef with a crispy Yorkshire pudding. Add one of the delectable desserts – the apple strudel, or the salted caramel and chantilly choux – and the three-piece jazz band which provides the soundtrack on lazy Sunday afternoons, and you have a future classic.
EC4N
The Camberwell Arms
Sunday lunch at this pared-back, effortlessly cool south London gem is a tale of two halves. First, you have a bevy of scrumptious, ever-changing small plates to choose from, such as the spiced celeriac with smoked pollock hummus and walnuts, or the Lombardy ragu on toast with parmesan. Then comes the main event: spit-roasted chicken with spinach and chilli yoghurt; aged Dexter steak with wild garlic butter and watercress; lamb with Italian greens; or rolled pork belly with Savoy cabbage and mustard, all of which are designed to be shared but so good you won’t want to. Afterwards, you can ward off the Sunday scaries by picking through a bowl of potato fritters and nursing your merlot at the bar – and counting down to your next roast.
SE5