Sunday Special: Our Favourite Roasts in London

We’ve feasted our way across the capital to bring you our top picks for the best Sunday roasts. Succulent meat cuts, enormous Yorkshire puds and golden roasties, incoming

As the saying goes, "a Sunday well spent brings a week of content", and we can think of no better way to end our week than devouring a mountain of golden roasties, succulent meat cuts and enormous Yorkshire puds - all with a glass of red to hand, too, obvs. If, like us, you're not thrilled by the thought of slaving over a hot stove, rally the troops and head to one of these London joints for a long, lazy lock-in instead. Produce plucked from neighbouring allotments, blazing log fires and trolleys loaded with experimental cocktails await.

A Sunday well spent: the best roast dinners in London

restaurant

The Laundry

Brixton

Sitting pretty on Brixton's legendary Coldharbour Lane, this all-day bistro is the sort of place that forces you to pause and drink in its beauty. Housed in a beautiful red-brick building, The Laundry is a London landmark known for its top-notch menu and achingly cool interiors. Outside, chalkboard signs, wrought-iron railings and enormous white parasols make for sublime al fresco dining. Inside, a relaxed setting is made inviting with high ceilings, glass pendant lights, bare-brick walls, banquette seating in duck-egg green and floor-to-ceiling shelves stocked with an impressive selection of independent wines - we can thank owner Mel Brown for that one. The food? Undoubtedly the best feast of our existence. Start by ordering a couple of sharing plates - the roasted beetroot with whipped goat's cheese and honey-drenched burrata got our vote. Then, choose between three different types of mains: leek and mushroom pie, roast pork belly and a succulent sirloin. Wash it all down with an extra-large cucumber margarita and end on a sweet note with an ice-cream sandwich.

Address

374 Coldharbour Ln, SW9 8PL

restaurant

The Pig and Butcher

Islington

If you're craving a home-cooked meal, then make tracks to this Islington institution, which offers comfort in spades. Corners are piled high with firewood, while copper pans delicately line the walls. The on-site butcher provides delectable cuts, Yorkshire puds are the size of your face and wine is carefully sourced from family-run vineyards. Book in advance and arrive hungry - an elasticated waistband is recommended, too.

Address

80 Liverpool Rd, N1 0QD

restaurant

The Three Stags

Lambeth

Known for its strong eco-credentials, this south London pub grows its own vegetables on a plot next door, and uses local produce whenever possible. The current menu features foraged porcini and girolles from a secret Scottish location. Save room for pudding; the lemon posset contains honey scooped straight from the rooftop hive.

Address

67-69 Kennington Rd, SE1 7PZ

restaurant

Blacklock

Soho

Cocktails cost a fiver and there's wine on tap at this former brothel in Soho. We recommend visiting on a Saturday; that way, it won't matter as much if you end up bar-hopping post-dining. Line your stomach with the mammoth all-in of pork, lamb or beef. Eclectic sides such as coal-roasted scallops complete the banquet. The real drawcard, though, is the creamy cauliflower cheese - a dish we would happily visit for in itself.

Address

24 Great Windmill St, W1D 7LG

restaurant

Smokehouse

Chiswick

Butcher-turned-chef Nicholas Essex takes Sunday dinners seriously at Smokehouse. Topside of longhorn beef has been dry-aged for 34 days (insert dribble-face emoji) and is impossibly tender, oozing meaty juices over fluffy Yorkshire puddings and potatoes lovingly roasted in duck fat. Snuggle under one of the faux-fur throws next to the blazing fire and feel the Sunday blues evaporate in an instant.

Address

12 Sutton Ln N, W4 4LD

restaurant

Roast

London Bridge

If you're naming your restaurant "Roast", you've got to be pretty damn confident your Sunday lunch is up to scratch - and this Borough Market joint doesn't disappoint. Swallow higher prices along with exemplary beef sirloin and expertly paired wines, with sweeping city views making it well worth it - particularly if you've got visitors to London in tow.

Address

The Floral Hall, Stoney St, SE1 1TL

The Chelsea Pig

restaurant

The Chelsea Pig

Chelsea

A roaring open fire, well-dressed locals and some of the crunchiest crackling in town make this gastropub a timeless winter favourite. The Yorkshires are huge, there’s pavlova for pudding and the staff don’t mind when you ask for more gravy – on more than one occasion.

Address

35 Old Church St, SW3 5BS

restaurant

Number 90

Hackney Wick

This waterside hangout is the ideal place to fend off hangovers over a roast and bloody marys combo among east London cool cats. The gravy is homemade, the carrots are honey-glazed and there's a beetroot, mushroom and spinach wellington for vegetarians. Be sure to head down early, as it's known to get busier than Piccadilly Circus at rush hour.

Address

90 Wallis Rd, E9 5LN

restaurant

The Grill at The Dorchester

Mayfair

Adding to its extensive repertoire, London's favourite grande dame puts on quite the Sunday spread in its copper-hued dining room, The Grill. Coming in at a very decent £75 per head, the three-course affair kicks off with the Dorchester's take on a bloody mary, which is made with beef consommé instead of your bog-standard Worcestershire sauce. To start, opt for the scotch egg stuffed with tender chunks of premium lobster and a golden yolk that oozes at the first prick. After the drinks trolley - manned by expert mixologist Federico - has whizzed round to provide your fix of made-to-taste sours, it's time for the showstopper: patience-thin cuts of blushing beef, molten cauliflower cheese, mint-spiked broccoli and moon crater-sized Yorkshire puds. Mop up the gravy with hunks of freshly baked brown bread smothered in chicken butter.

Address

53 Park Ln, W1K 1QA

restaurant

The Harwood Arms

Fulham

If only a Michelin-starred roast will do, book a table at this west London lovely. With a focus on wild game, don't be surprised to find venison served alongside Galloway beef, cauliflower cheese croquettes, smoked bone-marrow gravy and scotch eggs.

Address

Walham Grv, SW6 1QP

This article was updated on 14 November 2022.

Andrew Edmunds, Exterior
Discover More
Our Favourite Romantic Restaurants in London