Best Sunday Roasts.
Your guide to the best joints to meet for the best joint of meat!
Parakeet, Kentish Town
Live fire? Check.
Former Brat chef? Check.
A roast that’ll ruin you for all others? Absolutely.
At The Parakeet in Camden, Ben Allen brings his flame-fuelled flair to a gloriously bold Sunday roast. Step through the pub’s dark, moody bar, past a velvet curtain, and into a wood-panelled dining room where the real action happens — a semi-open kitchen glowing with live fire and culinary confidence.
The menu is a love letter to British produce at its seasonal best. Start with warm, spongy potato bread and smoked butter that practically evaporates on contact, oysters dressed in apple and chilli, or prawns bathing in garlicky brown butter. It’s seafood heaven, and you’re only getting started.
For mains, it’s all about choices: perfectly pink lamb, hay-smoked chicken, deeply flavoured roast beef, or a celeriac Wellington that gives meat a run for its money — all served with top-tier trimmings. Bonus points for the sea bream, charred and shareable. Don’t skip the leek gratin.
Finish with a zingy kalamansi sorbet if you’re feeling virtuous. Or surrender to the sticky toffee pudding and leave gloriously full and smug.
Come hungry. Leave heavier. No regrets.
Origin City, Smithfield
Tucked away in the heart of Smithfield, Origin City isn’t your average roast joint — it's where nose-to-tail meets farm-to-fork, all wrapped in stripped-back industrial chic. Think exposed brick, warm lighting, and the kind of easy buzz that makes a lazy Sunday feel a bit luxurious.
This is a roast for purists and adventurers alike. The menu shifts weekly with the seasons, but always revolves around their ethical, pasture-raised, organic Aberdeen Angus beef, Tamworth pork and Texel lamb — all served family-style, feast-style, and full-on delicious.
To start? Mushroom arancini with a cheeky tarragon mustard, plus oysters from the wild Scottish and northern coasts — zinged up with apple balsamic or a fiery Namjim. The catch of the day (a flaky bass, if you’re lucky) comes with confit tomato, braised fennel and a slick of black garlic ketchup you’ll want to bottle.
Then the main event lands: a trio of expertly cooked meats with roasties crisped in beef dripping, cauliflower cheese, proper Yorkies, fine beans with toasted almonds, and grilled tenderstem broccoli slicked with anchovy dressing. It’s indulgent. It’s unmissable. It’s meat-lover nirvana.
Wash it all down with a glass of Pinot Noir Sincera from a family-owned organic vineyard in Provence — all cherries, spice and earthy elegance.
Still standing? Go for the tangy mango mousse or the perfectly torched crème brûlée and float home in a food coma.
Dark Horse, Camden
Tucked inside the buzzing maze of Camden Market, The Dark Horse is Camden’s only proper British pub — and it wears the crown well. With its rustic-chic interiors, vintage lighting, and leather booths made for sinking into, this place brings serious Sunday energy without taking itself too seriously.
On the menu? Pub classics with polish. The Hereford beef rump is tender, blushing pink, and served with all the right bits — crisp roasties, golden Yorkies, seasonal veg, and homemade gravy worth writing poetry about. Not to be outdone, the Creedy Carver roast chicken (a half bird, no less) is juicy, golden-skinned and just begging to be drenched in that same glorious gravy.
Need a tipple? A whisky sour cuts through the richness beautifully, or go full summer mode with a zingy mojito.
Leave room for dessert — the chocolate & cherry trifle is a riot of textures and flavours (think mousse, sour compote, crumble, and clouds of cream), while the apple crumble is comfort food at its finest, all almond shortbread crunch and silky vanilla custard.
Smith’s Bar & Grill, Paddington
Tucked between Paddington Basin and Little Venice, Smith’s Bar & Restaurant is the kind of place where a Sunday roast turns into an all-afternoon affair — and nobody’s mad about it.
Just steps from Paddington Station, Smith’s serves up modern British and Euro charm in a stylish space with a buzzing bar, plush lounge, and a dreamy outdoor terrace perfect for sipping something bubbly in the sun.
Every Sunday from 12 to 9, they go all-in with the Ultimate Bottomless Roast — 90 glorious minutes of non-stop small plates, roasts, and indulgent desserts, washed down with your choice of bottomless red, white, fizz, or a spicy Bloody Mary (or all four, we won’t judge).
Start light(ish) with crisp calamari, a zesty avocado-spinach salad, or melon & silky San Daniele ham. Then buckle up: 35-day matured British picanha and 10-day lamb shank arrive piled high with all the good stuff — duck fat roasties, tenderstem broccoli, honeyed carrots, parsnips, and Yorkshire puds that could double as edible throw pillows.
Dessert? Oh yes. Churros with hazelnut chocolate sauce and zingy orange zest. Or a cheesecake dome so pretty it’s practically sculpture.
