Sunday lunch. There’s nothing quite like it. An elemental meal, one that Londoners take incredibly seriously. Debates about what constitutes the ‘perfect’ Sunday roast have been known to last for hours.
There is no shortage of top roasts in London. We’ve rounded up the city’s best Sunday meals from a host of homely pubs and restaurants all around town. From snug neighbourhood staples to more bijou gastropubs and plently of vegetarian options too, we’ve got something for every taste (if that taste is for comforting mounds of roast meat, lashings of gravy and carbs for days).
A lot of these places get quite busy, by the way. So you’re always advised to book ahead to avoid disappointment.
Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.
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Top Sunday lunches in London
1. The Audley Public House
- Bars and pubs
- Mayfair
There’s some absolutely sterling Sunday lunch work happening at elegantly revamped Mayfair boozer The Audley Public House. Now in the hands of Artfarm – the hospitality arm of fancy gallerists Hauser & Wirth – alongside upstairs’ slick Mount St Restaurant, this glammed-up gastropub does trad classics with extreme flair. A pianist tinkles away unobtrusively while you start with a half pint of fresh prawns and mayo before you feast on an immaculate beef roast, complete with yorkshire puds filled with surprise stew, perfect roasties, an array of seasonal veg (we had kale, carrots and squash), and a side of cauliflower cheese. This is what a London pub roast should be like; utterly flawless. Get there early to nab the sharing braised shoulder of lamb. Leonie CooperFood and Drink Editor, Time Out London
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2. Camberwell Arms
- Bars and pubs
- Pubs
- Camberwell
The well-proportioned Camberwell Arms famously takes the classic Sunday roast and moves it up a gear, with things like scotch bonnet on toast giving way to eclectic starters such as celeriac, tarragon and caper fritters with almond aïoli. The main event is a choice of five roasts (usually spit-roasted chicken, roast pork belly, braised lamb, lamb steak or dry-aged hereford beef) served for two people to share, plus something a bit different – perhaps a pie or some seasonal game. For afters, ice creams, sorbets and cheeses are on hand for those who still have room to spare. The pub’s pared-back, 1940s brasserie aesthetic – pastel walls, bare tables, dangly lights and salvaged furniture – goes well with the no-nonsense service, daily changing guest ales and fairly priced wine list.
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3. The Black Heart
- Music
- Music venues
- Camden Town
Looking for an all-vegan roast with a heavy metal twist? Then it’s off to Camden’s Black Heart with you. This divey rock pub’s food comes courtesy of the Bristol-born LD’s Kitchen and features a full plant-based offering every Sunday until 6pm. Try ‘pork’ tofu belly, beef style steak or a chicken-ish main, complete with garlic and rosemary roasties, collard greens with garlic, roasted sweet potato, swede and basil puree, creamy mustard leeks and spinach, maple and fennel glazed carrots and a crispy yorkshire pud. Don’t forget the southern-style Guinness gravy. Cauliflower ‘cheeze’ comes as extra. Ella DoyleGuides Editor
4. Canton Arms
- Bars and pubs
- Gastropubs
- Stockwell
Big-hearted, meaty British dishes are given full rein here. You can drop by and get stuck into a plate of rare roast Dexter beef with carrots, roasties and watercress, but why not go big, bring some mates and share the spoils from the showpiece saltmarsh lamb shoulder, cooked for seven hours and served with potato and olive oil gratin? It should feed up to five famished souls, but beware – it’s fall-off-the-bone stuff and it sells out quickly. After that, you might just have room for a helping of apple and maple syrup pudding with custard. The pub’s hugely popular and doesn’t take bookings, so be sure to get there early.
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5. Clapton Country Club
- Things to do
- Cultural centres
- Clapton
Named as popstar Paloma Faith’s fave roast in London on Time Out’s Love Thy Neighbourhood podcast, Clapton Country Club offers live jazz with its massive yorkshire puddings and slabs of mighty meat. In an old tram shed that’s regularly used for weddings, this isn’t your typical Sunday lunch venue – but it’s one of the most inviting with chandeliers and parquet floors and a toasty ambiance. There are always veggie and vegan options, and you can also order the roast to your front door if you live locally.
6. Quality Chop House
- Restaurants
- British
- Clerkenwell
- price 4 of 4
This one means business. The Quality Chop House is a slice of delicious London history, a 150+ year old Victorian dining room in the centre of town with a magnificent meaty menu. On Sundays they pull out all the stops with a set roast menu with three courses for a pricey £55. Pick from sweet starters such as crispy pig’s head with sauce gribiche before getting stuck into the main event. Add on QCH’s legendary confit potatoes for an extra £8 and finish up with a decadent drunken pecan tart. For atmosphere, nothing comes close. Leonie CooperFood and Drink Editor, Time Out London
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7. Harwood Arms
- Bars and pubs
- Gastropubs
- Fulham
- price 3 of 4
Officially Fulham’s worst-kept secret, this terrific gastropub gets booked up weeks in advance – you could be looking at a month-long wait for a Sunday lunch table. However, patience brings its own rewards in the form of sharing roasts made up of slow cooked fallow deer and loin and jowl of Cumbrian pork. There are also starters such as venison pâté en croûte and fine puds like mandarin trifle. At £65 a head it isn’t cheap (or two courses for £50), but remember, this is a Michelin-starred spot.
8. The Prince Arthur
- Restaurants
- Gastropubs
- Dalston
- price 2 of 4
The Prince Arthur, tucked into a corner of Victorian terraces near London Fields, was re-launched in 2020 by Emma Piggott and Jonathan Mercer, who also own The Plough in Homerton. Since then, it’s earned a reputation for attracting voguish kitchen talent, as well as one of the finest roasts in Hackney. Vegetarians get a delica squash filo croustillant and gremolata while meat-eaters can feast on roast chicken with anchovy and basil butter. All roasts come with hispi cabbage, glazed heritage carrots, a roast shallot, roast spuds and yorkshire puds and gravy. For an extra few quid there’s a monumental rarebit cauliflower cheese.
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9. The Old Queens Head
- Restaurants
- Burgers
- Angel
Home to one of north London’s most photogenic dining rooms, the Old Queen’s Head can also now boast one of the area’s most accomplished and rewarding Sunday roasts. When we visited, the leg of lamb was expertly prepared and served with loads of delicious trimmings (which included the eternal favourite: honey-glazed carrots). Air-punchingly good food, complemented by a bouncy, fun atmosphere and very polite, obliging staff.
10. Booking Office 1869
- Restaurants
- British
- St Pancras
If it’s spectacular surroundings you’re after, then you can’t do better than the lavish Booking Office 1869. This used to be the spot to get your train tickets and now it’s a fabulous, 1930s-style brasserie, complete with palm trees set against the original building’s grand Gothic architecture. Sunday roasts are a fun, two or three course affair with cured salmon or beetroot hummus to start, followed by chicken, rib-eye or a braised butternut squash for the main event. Roasties are crisp as anything and yorkshire puddings bigger than average. A Sunday lunch to impress. Leonie CooperFood and Drink Editor, Time Out London
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11. The Axe
- Bars and pubs
- Craft beer pubs
- Stoke Newington
- price 2 of 4
This Stokey beer nerd paradise is also home to one of N16’s best roasts (and this is an area absolutely drowning in them). Fennel porchetta, vegan nut roast, free-range chicken and beef topside are all on offer, with sides of cauliflower cheese, and extra roasties an option too. They also do Negronis on tap, and Four Roses picklebacks, if you need a solid Sunday sharpener.
12. Marksman
- Bars and pubs
- Gastropubs
- Hackney Road
If you like your Sunday lunches big and bold, the Marksman on Hackney Road is bang on target – whether you plump for the bar’s polished oak surrounds and green leather banquettes or graduate to the strikingly modern first-floor dining room. It’s not cheap, but you’re paying for the calibre of the cooking. Check it out by ordering the Hereford beef rump with a Yorkshire pudding so big it threatens to eat you first. Otherwise, go down the sharing route by bagging a whole roast chicken or a full Hereford wing rib with all the trimmings. You can get extra helpings of roasties and buttered greens, while pud might be brown butter and honey tart.
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13. 65a
East London is not short on roasts, so any challengers to the gravy throne really have to make themselves stand out. 65a, a swish new brasserie-style arrival to Spitalfields’s Brushfield Street, does just that, by correctly identifying the best element of the meal – the potatoes, naturally – and serving you not one but two kinds. A choice of chicken, beef, or an indulgent slab of chateaubriand for two is dished up alongside veg, buttery mash, crisp roasties and a planet-sized Yorkie P. Settle into one of the dining room’s cosy leather booths with a house cocktail or a well-poured Guinness, and slide serenely towards that carb comaLauren O’Neill
14. Hawksmoor Air Street
- Restaurants
- British
- Regent Street
- price 3 of 4
You can’t help but feel like you’re bang in the middle of town at this extremely central branch of the ever-popular meat mecca. The Art Deco-ish upstairs dining room is big, roomy and especially boomy (big, cheerful groups and birthday dates et al) on a Sunday, but their revamped roast dinner unparalleled. The meat (roast beef is your only option) comes with extra crispy beef-dripping roast potatoes, a giant yorkshire, carrots, greens, gravy and a head of roasted garlic as standard, but added extras include a phenomenal sausage stuffing, sweet Madeira shallots and bite-sized chunks of roasted bone marrow. Drinks-wise, the Bloody Mary is great, but the zingy and refreshing Green Snapper (made with green tomato juice, jalepeno, lime and pea vodka) is even better. What’s not to like?
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15. The Three Crowns
- Bars and pubs
- Pubs
- Stoke Newington
With its huge, wrap-around windows, nothing quite beats sitting in the dining room of what feels like Stoke Newington’s largest boozer with an equally sizable roast in front of you. Head chef Ousmane Gaye (who used to be found cooking at Holborn Dining Room) is turning out some serious Sunday scran here, with a Big Three of corn-fed chicken with lemon & thyme gravy; pork belly stuffed with sage and garlic and butternut squash & nut roast wellington, and a beef option too. Spuds are perfect; golden and crispy on the outside and soft as carby pillows on the inside, and a very decent wine list helps the afternoon rattle along with a touch of class.Leonie CooperFood and Drink Editor, Time Out London
16. Pig & Butcher
- Bars and pubs
- Gastropubs
- Barnsbury
- price 2 of 4
A bright gastropub on the outskirts of Angel, The Pig & Butcher is meticulous about meat, sourcing rare-breed lamb, pork, beef, chicken and specialist cuts with care, butchering the carcases on site and serving them up with gusto. For around £25, you get a bountiful portion of meat cooked perfectly – rare for lamb and beef – atop freshly steamed greens, crisp beef-dripping roasties and Yorkshire pudding. They don’t skimp on gravy, plus all orders come with cauliflower cheese as standard. This is roasting as an art form.
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17. Boundary Shoreditch
- Bars and pubs
- Cocktail bars
- Shoreditch
Pub roasts are great n’ all, but it’s not every day you want to sit at a sticky-tabled pub in the dark and leave smelling of pork and Neck Oil. So if you fancy something more tasteful, head to the brasserie at Boundary in Shoreditch, where you can munch your lunch in a light-filled bar on comfy sofas and order a dozen oysters to start. This one’s a treat, but prices are pretty reasonable for this kind of establishment (£21 for the pork belly, £19 for veggie, £29 for the mammoth triple meat). Staff are delightful and there’s a great wine list, but the best bit? Cauliflower cheese comes included with every roast. If, like us, you always order it on the side anyway, you’ve actually saved money in girl math terms.Ella DoyleGuides Editor
18. Jugged Hare
- Bars and pubs
- Gastropubs
- Barbican
- price 2 of 4
A game-centric gastropub, this posh Barbican-based boozer does a slap-up, spenny Sunday lunch in its taxidermy-decorated dining room. There might be a cursory celariac, but this is a vegetarians-need-not-apply joint (the various furry friends on the walls are well past rescuing, alas), with muntjac deer on the menu alongside the more standard pork belly and beef roasts, as well as pigs in blankets, haggis scotch eggs and black pudding croquettes on the side. Leonie CooperFood and Drink Editor, Time Out London
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19. 12:51
- Restaurants
- British
- Angel
- price 3 of 4
It’s named after a song by The Strokes, there are vinyl sleeves on the walls and the tables are all scuffed up, but it’s quality all the way at this near-flawless solo venture from chef James Cochran (ex-The Ledbury and the Harwood Arms). Sunday lunch consists of just one mighty plateful for £28 per person. Expect something like a 42-day aged sirloin with beef dripping roast potatoes, carrot puree, chargrilled hispi cabbage, cauliflower cheese, Yorkshire puddings and smoked bone marrow gravy. It doesn’t serve this meaty extravaganza for singletons, so team up with a mate or a date.
20. The Cow
- Bars and pubs
- Gastropubs
- Notting Hill
- price 2 of 4
Tom Conran’s Cow has been putting the ‘gastro’ in gastropub for ages, but his bovine-themed hybrid venue still delivers in spades. Despite the meaty moniker, seafood is the main attraction here (oysters and Guinness in the saloon bar is something of a local tradition), but the kitchen also comes up trumps with a proper sit-down roast served in the colourful upstairs dining room on Sundays. There’s no choice, but when the chefs can produce a beautifully cooked forerib of beef with Yorkshire pudding, roasties, carrots and horseradish cream, no one’s complaining. Rest assured, you’ll also be properly looked after in the drinks department too.
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Photo: Ollie Patterson Photography
21. The Farrier
- Restaurants
- Gastropubs
- Camden Market
A relatively recent addition to Camden’s famous pub scene, the Farrier puts most of the neighbourhood’s foodie boozers to shame. Expect high-quality food in a welcoming, warm environment. The Sunday roast is one of the best we’ve had for ages, with the beef and chicken cooked to perfection and all all the trimmings bang on the money.
22. Spaniards Inn
- Bars and pubs
- Gastropubs
- Hampstead Heath
Most Londoners know the Spaniards Inn – it’s been a feature of Hampstead Heath since 1585, with Keats and Dickens both former quaffers. It’s atmospheric as you’d hope, with dark panels and low beams stretching through the bar and restaurant rooms. It’s also the perfect place for a post Heath stroll roast, with sharing beef, chicken and pork belly options, with pigs in blankets on the side; as well as the feeling that you’re dining in a slightly haunted house.
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23. Blacklock Shoreditch
- Restaurants
- Grills
- Shoreditch
You’d expect a trendy British chophouse to be clued up when it comes to Sunday roasts, and Blacklock really nails it – serving up the kind of nostalgic grub that your nan might produce for the family. Of course, it’s brought the whole shebang up to date, adding a touch of theatre by slow-roasting whole joints over open coals (not the way nan would do it!) and providing a choice of three meats – usually beef, pork or lamb, as well as a veggie option. All the trimmings are present and correct (the gravy is off the scale for flavour) and portions are strictly family-sized, right down to the cheesecake for afters. Blacklock’s outlets in Soho and the City and Covent Garden offer a similar menu.
24. Claridge’s
- Restaurants
- British
- Mayfair
- price 4 of 4
One of the London’s fanciest, schmanciest hotels is also responsible for one of the capital’s most banging Sunday roasts. Let’s acknowledge the gold-plated elephant in the room: this is expensive. A treat. The two-course version is £75, not including drinks, but you’re in a 126-year-old, five-star hotel in Mayfair, what did you expect? Starters are light yet flavoursome, a worthwhile investment, and anyone with a sweet tooth is going to love the onslaught of sugar that is the dessert option. Basically you can’t order just one. You get all five. As you’d expect though, the actual roast is where the party’s at. The roasted Hertfordshire rib of beef, served with a horseradish puree, and the rare breed porchetta were both phenomenal. In terms of sides special mention goes to the cauliflower cheese, which maintained a freshness not found in most dishes coated in unctuous goo. Joe MackertichEditor, Time Out London
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25. Heathcote & Star
- Bars and pubs
- Gastropubs
- Leytonstone
In the backstreets of Leyton and off the beaten track, the Heathcote & Star doesn’t just boast the biggest bear garden in the area, but a killer Sunday roast. After Thai street food heroes Krapow! finish up for the week, the Sunday squad serve up a punchy ribeye, pork belly, chicken or vegan nut roast. Good at 12pm, and good at 4pm – the sign of true roast quality.
26. The Prince
- Bars and pubs
- Gastropubs
- Stoke Newington
- price 3 of 4
This backstreet Stokey local does a fine trade in the best meal of the week. Pork, chicken and beef are the meat options, but there’s also a mushroom, spinach and feta wellington. Everything comes with duck fat potatoes, carrot and butternut squash mash, seasonal greens, leek gratin and a Yorkshire pudding. Amiable staff, bountiful supplies of gravy and the hum of local chatter really warm the cockles.
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27. Cat & Mutton
- Bars and pubs
- Gastropubs
- London Fields
- price 1 of 4
Sitting proud at the helm of Hackney’s Broadway Market, this sizeable boozer has been welcoming all sorts since 1729 – and it’s still a prime local asset. Take a Sunday stroll around the stalls before decamping to the Cat’s bar for one of its mighty roast lunches, served with roasted potatoes, charred hispi cabbage, maple roasted carrots and parsnips, celeriac purée, Yorkshire pudding and a rich red wine gravy. There are normally three meaty choices (aged beef sirloin, roast chicken and pork) plus a veggie option. If they have vegan sorbets and Hackney Gelato pots on the menu, make yourself popular by ordering plenty to share around. It is the weekend, after all.
Photograph: Boxcar Bar & Grill
28. Boxcar Bar & Grill
- Restaurants
- Grills
- Marylebone
- price 2 of 4
A Marylebone spot known for its fire-charred fare, Boxcar also puts out a pretty mean roast every Sunday from 12. Hereford beef sirloins are a cut above what you’re going to find almost everywhere else in central, and the fact that Boxcar butchers its own meat means these roasts are being put together by people who know what they’re doing. Sides and trimmings are excellent, including roasted carrots, beef-fat potatoes and baby leek gratin. A great centre-of-town option for all your London gravy heads.
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29. The Twenty Two
- Restaurants
- Contemporary European
- Mayfair
During the week you’ll get graceful Mediterranean-ish cuisine from executive chef Alan Christie, but on Sundays this chic hotel, restaurant and private members’ club in Mayfair pulls out all the stops. Their roasts are a thing of beauty, with sharing sides of cauliflower cheese, individual yorkshire puds in copper pans and light and fluffy roasties accompanying some serious servings of meat. They don’t come cheap, with chicken, lamb or beef all teetering around the £40 mark – and that’s before you add on your essential Bloody Mary – but the elegant service, stunning room, and potential celeb spots make it all worth it.
30. The Wilmington
- Bars and pubs
- Clerkenwell
Don’t let the Wilmington’s creative menu have you overlook it’s great no-frill roasts. There’s three different meat options and a veggie option and each element holds its own, from the stacks of soft roast beef with horseradish cream, to potatoes with a perfectly crisp outside. Though straightforward, these offerings are cooked well enough to still be considered special in their own right. While you’re there make sure to order the cauliflower cheese to share, and if you manage to have any space left after, the sticky toffee pudding is the perfect way to end the meal. Delia Barth
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31. Smokehouse Islington
- Restaurants
- Barbecue
- Canonbury
Meat is put on a pedestal at this popular joint on an Islington backstreet, and it has the balance between pub and restaurant spot on. Sunday roasts have an edge here, particularly as the carefully sourced flesh is smoked in-house: lamb shoulder is a heavenly mound with beautiful burnt ends that fall apart when teased with a fork, although the pork ribeye and beef sirloin are equally tempting. Best of all, first-rate Yorkshire puddings come as standard, so there’s no need to worry about dish envy. Nachos and other starters are top-notch too, while the sticky toffee pudding will have you begging for mercy. Strange global brews feature heavily on the beer list.
32. Temper
- Restaurants
- Barbecue
- Soho
This Mexican-inspired BBQ joint is perfect for a slightly left of centre Sunday session. Meats include smoked baby chicken with chimichurri and roast aged beef, while the family-style sharing roast is a ‘three beast feast’ of beef, roasted pork and smoked lamb shoulder for two. Seasonal sides include chunky veg, a huge Yorkshire pudding and (the best bit) a heap of gloriously moreish beef-fat potatoes. Roast-averse? You can order a juicy steak or even some wood-roasted fish on Sundays, too. Just remember that supplies are limited: when they’re gone, they’re gone.
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33. Junction Tavern
- Bars and pubs
- Gastropubs
- Kentish Town
- price 2 of 4
Superior Sunday lunches at user-friendly prices bring crowds of Kentish Town weekenders to this enduring popular watering hole. There’s sirloin of beef (cooked rare) and slow-roast pork loin with apple sauce (plus a couple of veggie/vegan offerings), or you can share one of the biggies – perhaps a whole chicken, all served with Yorkshire pudding, gravy and a harvest festival of essential veg. The menu kicks off with a selection of Med-influenced starters and snacks, but unless you’re feeling heroically hungry, sacrifice them in favour of the roasts, then fill up any extra available space with one of the excellent desserts. The fun continues right through to 9pm, supplies permitting.
34. Lady Mildmay
- Bars and pubs
- Gastropubs
- Newington Green
- price 2 of 4
Roast potato alert! This light and airy Stokey boozer is a wonderfully calm place to get your spud fix. Pick a table next to the open side doors on a sunny day or a sofa by the fire when it’s wintry, but make sure to arrive early; even with two meat options (chicken or rump of beef) plus an unusually tempting nut roast (mushroom and Stilton, perhaps), the lunches will be sold out well before the 4pm cut-off. Clearly word has got out about how damn fine they are – from the Yorkshire puddings right down to the gravy, not forgetting generous seasonal veg and even a side of cauliflower cheese. Best book ahead to be on the safe side.
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35. Princess of Shoreditch
- Bars and pubs
- Gastropubs
- Shoreditch
- price 2 of 4
You can choose to eat your Sunday lunch in the elegant downstairs bar of this handsome gussied-up Shoreditch boozer or head up the spiral staircase to the chic surrounds of the first-floor restaurant. A two course set menu is £32 (£27 for veggies), and three comes in at £39 (or £34 for meat-free dining). The kitchen manages to tease out every last bit of flavour from each bite, be it a stuffed Norfolk Black chicken, pork loin with apple sauce or pecan and apricot nut roast. All are served with a big, tasty Yorkshire pudding, plus roasties, seasonal veg (including kale) and chicken sauce (we’ll continue to call it gravy). Cauliflower cheese is an extra £4 but you won’t regret it.
