All The Trimmings: The Best Sunday Lunches Across The UK
It’s Sunday lunch weather. Granted, a Sunday Lunch is always a good idea but a colder, greyer climate makes a wholesome, all-the-trimmings roast feel like even more of a treat.
We love a good Sunday roast here at Ape and it’s fair to say that some places do it better than others. God bless Toby Carvery and everyone’s mum, but if you want something truly special to see out the weekend and fill your belly, you’ll want to try our pick of the best roasts in the UK.
Brassica, Beaminster
If you were big on the roasts at London’s Canteen, you’ll certainly appreciate chef Cass Titcombe’s latest venture in Dorset. Roasts on a Sunday at Brassica run alongside their full a la carte menu and make the most of locally-farmed organic veg, duck fat roasties and a rotating selection of hogget, pork, Devon Ruby beef and even venison.
Brassica scooped The Good Food Guide’s Best Local Restaurant 2020, which should give you an idea of the calibre of food on offer.
Cookhouse, Newcastle
The FT Restaurant of the year 2019 does a spectacular roast with a difference, opting for unconventional alternatives to traditional veg like salsa verde and giant cous cous. Central to whole-table sharing dishes are large meats to carve like slow-roast lamb shoulder or a créme fraiche stuffed whole roast chicken.
Surroundings are warm and comforting and there’s a great list of wines on offer to complete the package.
Hawksmoor, Edinburgh
Of course majestic steak palace Hawksmoor does a terrific roast. Started over charcoal and finished in the oven, the Hawksmoor roast – be it in London or Manchester – is a true delight, but Edinburgh’s delightful surrounds pip others to the post.
Expect bottomless jugs of joyously thick marrow-laden gravy and triumphant Yorkshire puddings. Follow up with a sticky toffee pudding like no other and you’ll not need to eat until the following Tuesday.
Asador 44, Cardiff
It’s Wales via Spain for Asador 44’s excellent Sunday roast with 60-day, dry-aged, coal-roast rump of Hereford beef taking centre stage. In support are 7-year, ex-dairy-cow sirloin Manteca fat Yorkshire puddings and Ibérico pork fat and rosemary roast potatoes, among others.
Asador’s inspired take is only improved with a glass of one of their sumptuous wines.
The Woodsman, Stratford-Upon-Avon
At The Woodsman, Sunday roasts swap traditional solo carving for voluptuous sharing platters that make the most of nose-to-tail cooking from their in-house butchery.
Diners can expect an array of mains, from wood-fired bantam chicken to game such as wild Gloucestershire roe deer. Starters include wild venison scotch egg and wood-fired Fowey mussels and patrons can marvel upon the open kitchen in the centre of the dining room as they feast.
Castle Farm, Bath
A restaurant, in a barn, on an organic farm would be a poetic tagline for Castle Farm – albeit doing little justice to what is a magical eating experience. Whilst Friday evening is curry club and themed menus pop up throughout the month, Sunday is roast day and this means long tables, sharing platters and a genuine obsession with roast potato perfection.
Whole Castlemead Chicken is an instant hit complemented by an array of locally-sourced veg.
Blacklock, Soho
When a Sunday roast needs booking two months in advance you know somebody is doing something extremely right. A further scoping out of the menu confirms suspicions with pig’s head on toast with gravy getting thrown around as a starter before you’ve even got to mains.
Choose from 55-day-aged beef rump, Cornish lamb leg or middle white pork loin with a host of delicious trimmings including duck fat roasties.
