Looking for a roast dinner in London with a twist? Try tucking into one of these alternative Sunday lunches.
BBQ roast dinners: Acme Fire Cult, Dalston; The Britannia – SMOK’D, London Bridge; From the Ashes, Hackney
Little is more deflating on Roast Dinner Day than ordering what turns out to be a leathery old shoe sole of beef. These days, fortunately, there’s a parade of BBQ pitmasters ensuring the meat’s more tender than a Mitski vocal.
Acme Fire Cult, Dalston: Tamworth pork loin and smoked lamb shoulder are among the Sunday roast options cooked over a fire pit, at this rustic concept born in the pandemic, when restaurants could only operate outside. While the smoke-laced meat is wholesomely succulent, the veg is the polar opposite to that limp, defrosted stuff which lesser roast establishments foist on you — we’re talking blackened barbecued greens drizzled in ancho sauce. Begin with a mezcal ‘sharpener’ or grab a beer from across the way at 40ft Brewery. Acme Fire Cult
From The Ashes: Londonist is admittedly biased towards From The Ashes; they provided the food at our 20th birthday party after all — but how could any carnivore not be aroused by their juicy cuts of sustainable, salt-sprinkled meat, sided with charred veg and washed down with pints of Railway Porter from Five Points Brewery, inside which FTA works its smoky magic. If you’re not having a good time, then it’s you who’s the problem. Note that this Sunday roast is only available between September and May each year. From The Ashes
The Britannia – SMOK’D: The Sunday ‘Sm’ost’ at this whisky-peddling pub-cum-BBQ-joint features cuts of pork belly, beef brisket or chicken — all slow smoked for tenderness. There’s a vegan/veggie option, or you can push the boat out with a Jacob’s Ladder beef rib, which — judging from the images — slides off the bone like a fireman down a pole. (Full disclosure: on our visit, we were served a disappointing fragment of meatloaf, which could have done with, ahem, beefing up. Hopefully that was a momentary blip.) The Britannia – SMOK’D
German roast dinner: Albert’s Schloss, Shaftesbury Avenue
There’s a pork roast, and then there’s Albert Schloss’ brobdingnagian beast of a pork knuckle, which arrives at your table shanked with a knife, as if to say ‘do your worst’. While some knuckles are soft on the outside, this one is crisp as they come — the meat essentially swaddled in one giant shell of crackling. Served up alongside Yorkshire puds, crunchy greens, roast potatoes and apple sauce, this is your reward for admitting to yourself that while Brits know their way around a roast dinner, a little steer from our German cousins can make it a helluva lot tastier. No danger of a souring pint of Doombar at Albert’s, either — all six of the official Oktoberfest beers are on tap, and there’s a ‘press for Pilsner Urquell’ button too — hold me back! Albert’s Schloss
Chinese roast dinner: Tattu, Soho
Duck doesn’t generally feature on a traditional roast menu, which is odd when you think it’s one of the finest roasting meats there is. The Imperial Sunday Roast at Tattu casts such fowl discrimination aside; their aromatic duck is served alongside spiced-up roasties, sweet soy-dressed green beans and steamed bao buns with pickles (a brazen sub for Yorkshire puddings, but one that works). Other meat options are lemon baby chicken or char sui pork and caramel soy aged beef fillet; with satay cauli or mock caramel soy beef for the meat swervers. Tattu is an upmarket kind of joint (the kind that has subdued lighting, and a forest of cherry blossom trailing from the ceiling), and it’s safe to say that — at £41.50pp — this roast is not a direct competitor to Toby Carvery. Tattu
Caribbean roast dinner: Guanabana, Camden; Fenchurch, City; Café Caribbean, Spitalfields and Loughton
Fenchurch: Sunday dinner gets a Caribbean haute cuisine glow up at Fenchurch, the eatery perched 37 floors above London, namely in the Walkie-Talkie Sky Garden. Chef Kerth Gumbs’ slap-up roast features a smoky jerk chicken, or 45-day aged strip loin drizzled in rich, slow-braised oxtail gravy — alongside ginger-glazed carrots, roasted new potatoes, spring greens and Yorkshire puds. Like the venue, the price of this one is way up in the ether — this roast will cost you a head-turning £75, although bear in mind that includes a welcome mini colada, starter, main, sides and dessert. Oh, and a dreamy view over the City. Fenchurch
Guanabana: Two of the finest ways to cook chicken are a) jerk and b) roast — and when the two are combined, you’ve got a chef’s kiss of a plate on your hands. Guanabana Restaurant know this, which is why they serve — every Sunday AND SATURDAY, mind — their Island Roast, in which half an oak smoked, jerk-slicked chicken comes with baby carrots, roast potatoes, plantain, grilled cabbage and a yorkie. To top it off, quite literally — lashings of piquant jerk gravy. Other meat options are beef, sea bass, and portobello mushroom. This is one of few BYOB roast dinners we know of too. Guanabana
Cafe Caribbean: Proudly flaunting its Eating with Tod seal of approval, this family-run Caribbean Cafe (which occupies a stall in Spitalfields Market and a restaurant in Loughton) does a jerk-slathered roast of a Sunday, which not only features succulent halal chicken and all the trimmings inc. roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and stuffing balls — but also a scoop of rice and peas. Now that’s what we call carb loading in style. Cafe Caribbean
Greek roast dinner, Meraki, Fitzrovia
If your Sunday lunch went on holiday to a Greek island, it might taste something like this — Meraki’s corn-fed roast chicken is crisped up with olive oil, rosemary and thyme; there’s also a garlicky shoulder of lamb, or slow roasted pork with florina pepper and lemon zest. All are served with Greek roast potatoes (more olive oil you’d presume), leeks, carrots and peas — then drizzled in lemon and thyme oil. There’s also a vegan roast with a Redefine plant-based fillet. Pair with a zesty Greek wine, slip on your shades, and you’re halfway to Mykonos (with the added bonus that you can catch the Tube home). Meraki
Vegan roast dinner, Black Heart, Camden
Veggie and vegan roast dinners are a genre unto themselves, but for an alternative roast in more ways than one, we’d steer you toward Camden’s Black Heart pub. A spit from Camden Town station, this friendly boozer is renowned for both its heavy metal music, and its above par vegan food, whipped up in the kitchen by LD’s Plant-Based Soul Kitchen. Even if meat is your usual jam, you will not regret ordering one of these. Who knows, maybe this will be the afternoon that you get into both vegan food AND death metal. But one step at a time, hey. Black Heart
