The best Sunday roasts in London

I’d never sampled a good old British Sunday roast that required the use of a smoker in its preparation until I went to the Star by Hackney Downs to sample the wares of resident barbecue restaurant The Dragon Flame. After devouring the juicy, smoky, falling-apart-tender beef brisket that came piled high atop a plate laden with crispy roasties, sweet and sticky carrots, crunchy green beans and a hefty Yorkshire pud, I’m inclined to believe that all Sunday roasts should be made this way. Coupled with a seriously cheesy cauliflower cheese and an immaculate sticky toffee pud for dessert, it’s the best pub roast I’ve sampled in London for quite some time. I can’t wait to try everything else on the menu.

A Day-Glo-bright artwork of Jimi Hendrix with a couple of parakeets provides the first indication that you’re in the presence of greatness. The rumour that the guitarist introduced the colourful birds to London might have been debunked, but there’s no doubting the quality of the roasts at The Parakeet, a Kentish Town boozer turned top-drawer gastro pub replete with stained-glass windows. The smoky, wood-fired lamb is melt-in-the-mouth, the gravy richly flavoursome. As with any great roast, though, it’s all about the accoutrements: the pillowy yet crunchy spuds, the zesty greens, the great gooey spoonfuls of cauliflower cheese. Excuse me while I kiss these sides…

Currently in residence at Homerton’s Adam & Eve pub, Greek-Australian kitchen Essi is whipping up a majestic Hellenic feast every Sunday. The Aegean-inspired roast takes place in the boozer’s chilled out, actually-quite-fancy back room and the roasts come cooked on a charcoal spit. Silver platters come absolutely stacked with your choice of meat (pork, lamb, chicken) or BBQ mushrooms, and the sides are plentiful. Potatoes, roast pumpkin, bbq cauliflower, crispy kale, tzatziki, Aegean slaw and lemon & oregano gravy, as well as a fresh and addictively chewy pita. If you have room, order a saganaki toastie on the side; a decadent, cheesey delight oozing runny honey, thyme and topped with preserved lemon. 

This one means business. The Quality Chop House is a slice of delicious London history, a 150+ year old Victorian dining room in the centre of town with a magnificent meaty menu. On Sundays they pull out all the stops with a set roast menu with three courses for a pricey £55. Pick from sweet starters such as Cornish mussels with satay jalapeno before getting stuck into the main event. Add on QCH's legendary confit potatoes for an extra £8 and finish up with a raspberry ripple arctic roll or cherry bakewell with clotted cream. For atmosphere, nothing comes close. 

Looking for an all-vegan roast with a heavy metal twist? Then it's off to Camden's Black Heart with you. This divey rock pub's food comes courtesy of the Bristol-born LD’s Kitchen and features a full plant-based offering every Sunday until 6pm. Try 'pork' tofu belly, beef style steak or a chicken-ish main, complete with garlic and rosemary roasties, collard greens with garlic, roasted sweet potato, swede and basil puree, creamy mustard leeks and spinach, maple and fennel glazed carrots and a crispy yorkshire pud. Don't forget the southern-style Guinness gravy. Cauliflower 'cheeze' comes as extra. You can now also find LD's vegan smokehouse at Saint Monday brewery in Hackney.

A 200-year-old Georgian boozer that’s recently had a spit and polish courtesy of new owners, Hoxton’s William IV treads the line of classic and modern with gusto. Bedding in for a roast in their candlelit upstairs dining room provides exactly the kind of low-level lighting built for guzzling yourself giddy on fatty, decadent fennel and rosemary porchetta or a thick slice of perfectly-cooked, 28-day-aged top rump as wide as your head. A hefty portion of soft, sauteed leeks are an appreciated addition to the usual roasted roots. Squaring up to The Devonshire in Soho, the William IV claims to specialise in a perfect pint of Guinness. It is, indeed, very good, and even better coupled with their plump, palate-awakening pickled mussels.

Want to rid yourself of that ghastly hangover from Saturday night and turn back into the charming character you were before your 11pm Rowan's karaoke sesh? Then a Sunday lunch booking at the ever-so lovely Brunswick House is in order. Begin with grilled potato bread and green garlic butter, before a sharing platter of wood-fired Highland côte de boeuf with beer mustard. Forget the roast bone marrow yorkshire puds at your peril.  

I’ve lived in London for a little over a year and have more often than not found myself disappointed with a roast, either by uninspiring veg, gravy gatekeeping or the total on the bill. Not at the Mall Tavern: this Notting Hill pub had an atmosphere so buzzy you could confuse early Sunday evening with a Friday night; groups around the room cosily nestling in and ordering bottle after bottle of wine and owners Nati and Andy running food and zig-zagging between the tables for a chat with what seemed like a pub full of regulars. Pair that with Sunday lunch which was unfussy, but whose roasties, carrots, Yorkshire pudding, greens, cauliflower cheese (a side dish) and meat (we ordered beef and the half roast chicken) were all cooked beautifully, this place is a real cracker. Oh, and the team don’t bat an eyelid if you ask for a little extra gravy – absolutely no stinginess here.

Yes, it’s the restaurant from Boiling Point. Once you get over the slightly starry nature of the venue, then you can settle in to the celebratory nature of a roast in this tucked-away dining room in a hidden Dalston courtyard. Running 12-6pm every Sunday, a roast at Jones & Sons is kind of a big deal. There are starters galore, but the main event is so sizable you probably won’t need the extra sustenance. A mega chunk of old spot pork belly comes with the largest yorkshire pudding we might have ever seen, while vegan smoked tofu and butternet squash wellington is the size of a paving slab. All roasts come with a serious selection of carrots, parsnip puree, seasonal greens, confit shallots, roast potatoes and gravy.

There's some absolutely sterling Sunday lunch work happening at elegantly revamped Mayfair boozer The Audley Public House. Now in the hands of Artfarm – the hospitality arm of fancy gallerists Hauser & Wirth – alongside upstairs' slick Mount St Restaurant, this glammed-up gastropub does trad classics with extreme flair. A pianist tinkles away unobtrusively while you start with a half pint of fresh prawns and mayo before you feast on an immaculate beef roast, complete with yorkshire puds filled with surprise stew, perfect roasties, an array of seasonal veg (we had kale, carrots and squash), and a side of cauliflower cheese. This is what a London pub roast should be like; utterly flawless. Get there early to nab the sharing braised shoulder of lamb. 

If you’re looking to escape Columbia Road’s Sunday flower market, just head down a side street to one of London’s only remaining independently owned, LGBTQ+ pubs. Here rainbow flags and years’ worth of penis and vagina drawings decorate the walls. But don’t let the decor distract you from lunch: their no-frills Sunday roast is locally known as one of the area’s best (and most reasonably priced). A choice of lamb, beef or pork, or a tantalising veggie option of cauliflower cheese wellington, is served up with perfectly crisp roast potatoes, maple glazed carrots, a sizable Yorkshire pudding, and gravy that’s just the right kind of thickness. Wash it down with a cold pint of Guinness, and you might just have the perfect east London Sunday.

Drinkers and diners are both happy at this brick and timber 1930s boozer. The former get a sterling selection of cask and craft ales, while the latter get a menu that changes regularly, depending on the pop-up kitchen, plus hefty Sunday lunches supplied by ‘Fit Roasts’. And fit they are: everything comes with roast potatoes, maple carrots, parsnip puree, cauliflower cheese, greens, yorkshires and gravy, and there are great plant-based options – veggie and vegan haggis – to go alongside rolled lamb shoulder, topside of beef, rolled pork belly and roast chicken. 

One of the London’s fanciest, schmanciest hotels is also responsible for one of the capital’s most banging Sunday roasts. Let’s acknowledge the gold-plated elephant in the room: this is expensive. A treat. The two-course version is £75, not including drinks, but you’re in a 126-year-old, five-star hotel in Mayfair, what did you expect? Starters are light yet flavoursome, a worthwhile investment, and anyone with a sweet tooth is going to love the onslaught of sugar that is the dessert option. Basically you can't order just one. You get all five. As you’d expect though, the actual roast is where the party’s at. The roasted Hertfordshire rib of beef, served with a horseradish puree, is phenomenal. In terms of sides special mention goes to the cauliflower cheese, which maintained a freshness not found in most dishes coated in unctuous goo. 

The roast here comes with the lot. Crispy potatoes, decent sized yorkshires, a big ol’ chunk of grilled cabbage, carrots and parsnips. The beef in the wellington was perfectly rare and tender. That said, it’s a rare thing to declare the cauliflower cheese as the star of the show. It was perfectly crisp on top, like a creme-brulee, and the sauce a herby and flavourful respite from the normally quite bland side dish. You do have to pay extra, but it comes with enough to feed two people. Don’t even go if you’re not going to try the cauliflower cheese. Many tables at Mama Shelter have sofas instead of dining chairs - which makes it the ideal place for when that sleepy, post-roast bliss kicks in. Sit back, relax and have another glass of red.

Want to go medieval (or Victorian, or Tudor, or Elizabethan) on your lunch? Then the London outpost of culinary wizard Heston Blumenthal’s empire has got you. A roast which recreates dishes from ye olden days, this slap-up Sunday feast includes Heston’s signature Fat Duck meat fruit (c.1500) as a starter, before dazzling diners with roast chicken from 1672 and roast beef like they did it in 1830. Buttery bay carrots and beef fat triple cooked roast potatoes come on the side, before high-end desserts of spitroast pinapple and tipsy cake (c.1858) and sambocade goat milk cheese cake from way back in 1390. Three courses will set you back £98, but, frankly, time travelling has never been this cheap. 

The well-proportioned Camberwell Arms famously takes the classic Sunday roast and moves it up a gear, with things like scotch bonnet on toast giving way to eclectic starters. The main event is a choice of four roasts (currently roast chicken with schmaltz yoghurt, crispy pork belly with hispi cabbage and apricot, rolled leg of lamb with peas or hereford onglet with crispy spuds) served for two people to share, plus a veggie option, such as aubergine with chickpeas and chopped tomatoes. For afters, ice creams, sorbets and cheeses are on hand for those who still have room to spare. The pub’s pared-back, 1940s brasserie aesthetic – pastel walls, bare tables, dangly lights and salvaged furniture – goes well with the no-nonsense service, daily changing guest ales and fairly priced wine list.

Fancy Deptford spot Buster Mantis is home to a rather ravishing Jamaican-inspired Sunday roast. Expect the likes of saltfish fritters with pineapple salsa, oxtail croquettes, and grilled asparagus with ackee and sweet pepper before the main event (chicken/lamb/pork belly/pumpkin stuffed cho cho), which is served with seasonal veg, rice and peas, yorkshire puds, roast potatoes and gravy. Rum punch and Guinness punch make sure the drinks follow the Caribbean flavour trail. 

The Prince Arthur, tucked into a corner of Victorian terraces near London Fields, was re-launched in 2020 by Emma Piggott and Jonathan Mercer, who also own The Plough in Homerton. Since then, it’s earned a reputation for attracting voguish kitchen talent, as well as one of the finest roasts in Hackney. Vegetarians get a ratatouille and pangrattato with preserved lemon salsa verde, while meat-eaters can feast on roast chicken with anchovy and basil butter. All roasts come with hispi cabbage, glazed heritage carrots, a roast shallot, roast spuds and yorkshire puds and gravy. For an extra few quid there's a monumental rarebit cauliflower cheese.

Riverside East in Stratford’s Olympic Park is a glass-heavy open plan bar-restaurant with the capacity – and external toilet access – to cope with periodic tidal influxes of West Ham fans. But it’s serious about food too, as confirmed by the new residency from Gordon Ramsay alumnus Jamie Duvale, who has introduced its first Sunday roast menu. Heartiness is the watchword here – there is no chance you’ll leave hungry as you’re promised an unlimited supply of the big, crisp (but not brittle) Yorkshire puddings, an offer the staff promote with an almost fanatical zeal. Some rich, startlingly good cauliflower cheese is the least orthodox accompaniment to the choice of beef, chicken or celeriac (all decent), and adds to the all-round sense of heft. If you somehow have room left, the very pleasant slab of croissant dough bread & butter pudding on offer will soon put a stop to that.

If it's spectacular surroundings you're after, then you can't do better than the lavish Booking Office 1869. This used to be the spot to get your train tickets and now it's a fabulous, 1930s-style brasserie, complete with palm trees set against the original building's grand Gothic architecture. Sunday roasts are a fun, two or three course affair with grilled Cornish mackerel with green chili salsa to start, followed by chicken, 30-day dry aged sirloin with horseradish cream or salt baked celeriac for the main event. Roasties are crisp as anything and yorkshire puddings bigger than average. A Sunday lunch to impress.  

Big-hearted, meaty British dishes are given full rein here. You can drop by and get stuck into a plate of rare roast Dexter beef with carrots, roasties and watercress, but why not go big, bring some mates and share the spoils from the showpiece saltmarsh lamb shoulder, cooked for seven hours and served with potato and olive oil gratin? It should feed up to five famished souls, but beware – it’s fall-off-the-bone stuff and it sells out quickly. After that, you might just have room for a helping of apple and pear crumble with custard. The pub’s hugely popular, so be sure to book in advance. 

Named as popstar Paloma Faith's fave roast in London on Time Out's Love Thy Neighbourhood podcast, Clapton Country Club offers live jazz with its massive yorkshire puddings and slabs of mighty meat. In an old tram shed that's regularly used for weddings, this isn't your typical Sunday lunch venue – but it's one of the most inviting with chandeliers and parquet floors and a toasty ambiance. There are always veggie and vegan options, and you can also order the roast to your front door if you live locally. 

If you like your Sunday lunches big and bold, the Marksman on Hackney Road is bang on target – whether you plump for the bar’s polished oak surrounds and green leather banquettes or graduate to the strikingly modern first-floor dining room. It’s not cheap, but you’re paying for the calibre of the cooking. Check it out by ordering the Hereford beef rump with a Yorkshire pudding so big it threatens to eat you first. Otherwise, go down the sharing route by bagging a whole roast chicken or a full Hereford wing rib with all the trimmings. You can get extra helpings of roasties and buttered greens, while pud might be brown butter and honey tart.

You can't help but feel like you're bang in the middle of town at this extremely central branch of the ever-popular meat mecca. The Art Deco-ish upstairs dining room is big, roomy and especially boomy (big, cheerful groups and birthday dates et al) on a Sunday, but their revamped roast dinner unparalleled. The meat (roast beef is your only option) comes with extra crispy beef-dripping roast potatoes, a giant yorkshire, carrots, greens, gravy and a head of roasted garlic as standard, but added extras include a phenomenal sausage stuffing, sweet Madeira shallots and bite-sized chunks of roasted bone marrow. Drinks-wise, the Bloody Mary is great, but the zingy and refreshing Green Snapper (made with green tomato juice, jalepeno, lime and pea vodka) is even better. What's not to like? 

The Soho House-affliated Dean Street Townhouse offers a rarefied roast experience in the middle of Soho. In this glammy Georgian townhouse-turned-plush-bistro, you can usually expect to see a celeb or two as well as a Sunday lunch that’s a little more demure than your regular pub roast, with unobtrusive jazz playing in the large but intimate space. Start with a throat-searingly spicy Bloody Mary, before the main event – two courses for £39 and three for £45 – with topside of beef, chicken, lamb or mushroom wellington accompanied by vast sharing platters of veg and cauliflower cheese. Opt for the gorgeously gooey tableside apple crumble for pudding if it’s on offer.

Home to one of north London’s most photogenic dining rooms, the Old Queen’s Head can also now boast one of the area’s most accomplished and rewarding Sunday roasts. When we visited, the leg of lamb was expertly prepared and served with loads of delicious trimmings (which included the eternal favourite: honey-glazed carrots). Air-punchingly good food, complemented by a bouncy, fun atmosphere and very polite, obliging staff.

You’d expect a trendy British chophouse to be clued up when it comes to Sunday roasts, and Blacklock really nails it – serving up the kind of nostalgic grub that your nan might produce for the family. Of course, it’s brought the whole shebang up to date, adding a touch of theatre by slow-roasting whole joints over open coals (not the way nan would do it!) and providing a choice of three meats – usually beef, pork or lamb, as well as a veggie option. All the trimmings are present and correct (the gravy is off the scale for flavour) and portions are strictly family-sized, right down to the cheesecake for afters. Blacklock’s outlets in Soho and the City and Covent Garden offer a similar menu.