Sunday roast
Photo: by robbie jim · CC BY 2.0

History

The roast joint of meat on Sunday traces to medieval landowner kitchens and church-day eating. Industrial London pubs codified the modern format in the late 1800s: a single sitting, often midday to mid-afternoon, with one carved meat, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots, greens and a gravy made from the pan. The Eagle on Farringdon Road, opened in 1991, is usually credited as the first London gastropub to take the dish seriously as a kitchen-led plate rather than school-dinner fare. The form spread through Anchor and Hope, The Camberwell Arms, Quality Chop House and the modern pub crawl that defines London Sundays today.

Book a food experience

Tours, tastings and classes from the cities on this page, bookable on GetYourGuide.

Browse every bookable food experience

Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 45 minTotal 2 hr 30 minDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 1.5kg topside or sirloin of beef, on the bone if possible
  • 1kg floury potatoes (Maris Piper or King Edward), peeled and quartered
  • 60g beef dripping or duck fat
  • Sea salt and black pepper
  • 4 medium parsnips, halved lengthways
  • 1 head of broccoli or savoy cabbage, trimmed
  • For Yorkshire puddings: 140g plain flour, 4 eggs, 200ml whole milk, 1 tsp salt, beef dripping
  • For gravy: 30g plain flour, 500ml beef stock, 100ml red wine, 1 tsp English mustard

Method

  1. Take beef from fridge one hour before cooking. Rub with salt and pepper. Heat oven to 240C.
  2. Roast beef at 240C for 20 minutes, then drop to 180C and cook for 15 minutes per 500g for medium-rare. Rest for 30 minutes loosely covered with foil.
  3. Parboil potatoes for 8 minutes in salted water. Drain, shake in colander to rough the edges.
  4. Heat dripping in roasting tray until smoking, add potatoes, turn to coat, roast at 220C for 50 minutes until deep golden, turning twice.
  5. Whisk Yorkshire batter: flour, eggs, milk, salt. Rest 30 minutes minimum.
  6. Heat a 12-hole muffin tin with a teaspoon of dripping in each at 220C for 10 minutes until smoking. Pour batter to halfway. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until risen and dark.
  7. Roast parsnips alongside potatoes for the last 30 minutes, tossed in dripping.
  8. Steam broccoli or boil cabbage briefly until just tender.
  9. Make gravy in the roasting tin: pour off excess fat, sprinkle flour, cook 1 minute, deglaze with wine, add stock and mustard, simmer 3 minutes, strain.
  10. Carve beef thin against the grain. Serve everything on warmed plates.

Tip from the editors. Get the oven fully hot before the Yorkshires go in. A cold oven gives flat pancakes; the right temperature gives an eight-centimetre rise.

Where to eat sunday roast

Sunday roast in London

The Eagle ★ 4.3

££ GastropubClerkenwell

Britain's first gastropub on Farringdon Road in Clerkenwell London, opened 1991 by Mike Belben and David Eyre, still serves Mediterranean-leaning.

OrderThe Bife Ana steak sandwich, on the menu since 1991, and a pint of bitter.

TipWalk-in only. The chalkboard menu rewrites every day at 12:00; the best dishes go by 14:00 on a busy lunch.

Directions

The Camberwell Arms ★ 4.7

££ GastropubPeckham

Mike Davies's gastropub on Camberwell Church Street in south London, opened 2014, runs a daily-changing seasonal menu and a famous family-style Sunday roast.

OrderSunday roast for four (booked in advance), or whatever whole-animal cut is on weeknight dinner.

TipSunday lunch books a fortnight ahead and serves until they run out. The bar room takes walk-ins all evening.

Directions Book

Quality Chop House ★ 4.3

£££ Modern BritishClerkenwell

The 1869 Farringdon Road working-class dining room in Clerkenwell London, restored under Will Lander since 2012, runs daily-changing British cooking.

OrderThe famed confit potato, then mince and potatoes off the daily menu, with a bottle from the shop next door.

TipThe wine shop next door is corkage-free if you buy a bottle there. Lunch takes walk-ins at the counter Tue-Sat.

Directions Book

Blacklock Soho ★ 4.8

££ SteakhouseSoho

Gordon Ker's basement chophouse on Great Windmill Street in Soho London, opened 2015, runs charcoal-grilled chops in a 1850s-era basement room.

OrderThe all-in chops board with beef, lamb and pork, plus the bone-marrow gravy.

TipSunday roast is £20 and books two weeks ahead through Resy. Pre-theatre chops at 17:00 walks in for half-price.

Directions Book

The Jugged Hare ★ 4.1

£££ British GastropubClerkenwell

The Jugged Hare on Chiswell Street in the City of London, opened 2012 by ETM Group, runs a game-led gastropub menu with hung-game cabinets in the dining room.

OrderWhole roast partridge or grouse in season, or the family-style Sunday roast in winter.

TipLunch and pre-theatre runs walk-in friendly. Sunday roast books a fortnight ahead through their site.

Directions Book

All London signature dishes →

More cities are in research. Want sunday roast covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.

Browse all dishes →