What better way to celebrate Easter Sunday than a lavish roast with all the trimmings? We’ve rounded up some of the best places across the UK to go for Sunday Lunch, according to our 2016 survey. From the traditional beef and Yorkies in a country gastropub to three course menus in some of London’s top dining destinations, and Chinese roast duck to dim sum, we’ve got it covered…
For a no-expense-spared affair…
Easter Sunday lunch £80 pp
Roast rib of Aberdeen Angus beef with Yorkshire pudding. Their signature dish, the beef is selected from Donald Russell, Royal Warrant holder since 1984 and trusted supplier to H.M. The Queen.
“A real treat in every respect” – this luxurious, well-spaced Belgravia dining room is firing on all cylinders after its revamp last year; as well as the top-quality roast beef and grills for which it’s long been famous, the “seasonal menus show true skill and inventiveness”.
Sunday Roast with cheese or dessert: £27.50
English sirloin of beef roasted on the bone, rare to medium, carved at your table, served with Yorkshire pudding, a panaché of vegetables and roast potatoes.
“A wonderful place to step back in time” – the “old-school” dining room of this vast and “delightfully old-fashioned”, historic coaching inn (on what used to be the A1 before this fine Georgian town was by-passed) “serves the best traditional fare, faultlessly, in impeccable surroundings”, backed up by an “a large and well-stocked wine cellar” and is just the place for “an occasion”. (If the prices in the “more formal” restaurant are too daunting, there’s also the cheaper and more atmospheric ‘Garden Room’).
Hawksmoor (London and Manchester)
It may be expensive for dinner but go for Sunday lunch and it’s a comparatively reasonable at £20 pp.
Slow-roast Longhorn beef rump with duck fat roast potatoes, Yorkshire puds, veg and bone marrow & onion gravy.
“Utterly brilliant steaks” and “professional” cocktails have won cult status for Huw Gott and Will Beckett’s “lively and clubby” steak houses (a fave rave for “boozy business lunches”); they risk starting to seem “up themselves”, however, not helped by increasingly “stupid prices”.
Sunday three course lunch menu – from £50.00
“Marvellously discreet” bastion near Victoria (complete with royal warrant) – “a fine example of everything old-fashioned and English”, not least its “magnificent” staff. “Superb” traditional fare is served in the “beautiful” and “civilised” dining room, with top billing going to the “breakfast fit for a queen” and “quintessential afternoon tea”.
Sunday lunch: 2-courses £27, 3-courses £34
Navarin of local lamb with new seasons spring vegetables.
“For a special treat” (particularly a romantic one), Bryan & Susan Webb’s country house hotel – regularly one of Wales’s highest-rated destinations in the survey – remains “on top form”. The cuisine is “superb”, “the cellar is a match to anywhere”, service is “unobtrusive”, and the “cosy” ambience “fabulous”. Top Menu Tip – “beautifully prepared Welsh lamb”.
For a reliable roast in London…
Roast beef rump, boulangère potatoes, horseradish and watercress: £19.80
“London’s best gastropub” (for the 10th year running) – this “rammed” but “engaging” South Bank fixture is “still an exciting and exhilarating food experience” which “incorporates unusual ingredients (including game and offal) much superior to the norm”. “I just wish you could book” (though you can for Sunday lunch).
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3-courses: £39.50
55 day aged rib eye of Hereford beef with horseradish cream (£10 supplement per person). Or roast leg of Herdwick lamb with goat’s curd and sunflower seeds.
The “unassuming frontage” gives no hint of the “gorgeous” British cooking – some of London’s best in either a pub or restaurant – at this “marvellous” gastropub “par excellence” in an obscure Fulham backstreet; and at the bar, “you wont find a better Scotch Egg anywhere”.
North Essex Shorthorn roast sirloin of beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, carrots & horseradish: £21
“Just what a gastropub should be” – North London’s top boozer is an “always enjoyable” Kentish Town destination, with “hearty food that gives a nice nod to the seasons”.
35-day roasted Hereford sirloin: £18.95
Beautiful meats cooked to perfection” are the highlight of the daily changing menu of this “very decent” Islington gastropub – “it’s very busy, and rightly so”.
Smoked English lamb leg & braised shoulder with garlic & rosemary infused lamb sauce: £18
“It’s transformed the area!”; this “surprise gem” is “just what Maida Vale has been waiting for” – “an exceptional local”, whose first-floor dining room provides quite “complex” cuisine, alongside matching wines. Top Menu Tip – an extensive gluten-free menu.
Rib of Cumbrian beef, Yorkshire pudding, horseradish: 17.50
This “beautifully restored, Victorian gin palace” makes a “lovely” and “bustling” retreat from a busy highway, deep in Shepherd’s Bush; it’s become a major local destination thanks to its “enticing” food and “very strong wine list for a pub”.
Dexter forerib, béarnaise, potatoes and watercress: For two-three £50, for three-four £60
“Unusual and utterly delicious” British fare – “strong cooking geared towards offal” – helps make this “confident” yearling “a great addition to SE5”; it’s from the same stable as Anchor & Hope – “at least the wait here is shorter”.
Even after all these years, there’s still “rarely a false note” at “the original and best gastropub” – an engagingly “grungy” and “low key” hang-out, near Exmouth Market; the “rustic” Mediterranean cooking is “reasonably priced”, and “there’s always something new and interesting on the menu”.
For proper country pub dining…
Freemasons at Wiswell, Wiswell
3-courses £25 pp
Roast sirloin, Yorkshire pudding, duck fat potatoes, cauliflower cheese, and roast beef juices.
“Northcote’s only serious competitor in the area!” – Steve Smith’s “hard-to-find gastropub, tucked-away in a rural village”, gives its grander local rival a good run for its money, with “skilful and complex” local and seasonal cooking that’s “full of flair” (“and its pub guise even means there’s good ales on draught too”). One or two reporters were “disappointed after all the rave reviews”, but they seem like the exception that proves the rule.
21 Day aged roast rump of beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, mash potatoes, seasonal vegetables, red wine shallots and gravy.
“A new team and a spruce-up has put this much-improved dining pub firmly back on form”. Part of the Ribble Valley Inns chain, it serves “brilliant” locally sourced pub grub, with “a nice range of regional ales” in a “lovely” setting (“you can eat outside when the weather is good”).
The Feathers Inn, Hedley on the Hill
2-courses £21.25, 3-courses £24.50 (tea or coffee included with three courses)
Roast rib of 38 day aged Haydon Bridge beef, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, honeyed parsnips, braised red cabbage, Madeira gravy and horseradish.
That it’s “rather squashed” is the only drawback of this “rustic” pub, whose huge fan club is at odds with its “out-of-the-way” location. Staff are “straightforward and friendly”, and the “fairly traditional fare” (“using local meats and lots of game”) “close to perfection”.
Roast sirloin of Highland beef with Yorkshire pudding: £25.50
“Incredibly refined pub food” – “the depth of flavour they give to traditional dishes is amazing” – justifies many-a-trip to Heston’s “very relaxed” pub, next door to The Fat Duck. It’s not quite as commented-on as The Hand & Flowers nowadays, but reporters say it has the edge on its nearby rival.
Treacle cured Chateaubriand of Stokes Marsh Farm beef with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and red wine sauce: £34.50
“Tom Kerridge never fails to deliver”, according to the armies of fans of his famous, Thames-valley phenomenon (which – notwithstanding its “relaxed”, “cosy” and “buzzy” vibe – is sufficiently ambitious it’s “hardly a pub” nowadays). But while his “fine-dining-comfort-food” is undoubtedly “spectacular”, the place still strikes some folk as “unjustifiably hyped” due to Michelin’s “bemusing” award of not one but two stars. Whatever the correct level of guide-book-esteem, shortage of custom is not a problem – “it’s a nightmare to book”, and “even the extension does little to reduce the over-crowding!”
Set Sunday lunch: 2-courses £22, 3-courses are £28
“What was always the most delightful inn is now back with a new team”, since the November 2014 take-over by Tom Sellers of Bermondsey’s Story fame, and nowadays delivers “a stunning foodie experience” with “unbeatably accommodating service and the most incredible cooking”. Even ardent fans, though, can feel it’s perhaps “too expensive in its current guise”.
For Sunday lunch with a twist…
Dumplings from £4.20-£11.90
“Perfectly executed” and “creative” dim sum – probably “the best in London” – have made the “trendy” Soho basement original a “classic” destination, and its new more “airy” sibling in Broadgate fully lives up. W1 also boasts an “HK-style pâtisserie selection – both breathtakingly beautiful and very delicious”.
Legendary wood-fired Beijing Duck: Whole £58, half £32
“Peking duck to die for”, “fantastic dim sum”, and “a superb panorama as a bonus” – that’s the “rare combination” at this 8th-floor dining room overlooking Kensington Gardens, which – as one of London’s top Chinese destinations – breaks all the rules for rooms with a view.
