Centuries of mastering the art of perfectly cooking large slabs of meat, crisp yet fluffy roast
potatoes and gravy full of more meat juices than the meat itself have made the humble ‘roast’ the cornerstone of our nation. So by calling itself Roast, this restaurant has really set itself some high standards.
Roast is a busy and popular restaurant & bar drawing on the best of Britain’s seasonal produce and cooking traditions, set in London’s Borough Market. As an unexpected bonus, the first floor venue provides impressive views onto the market on one side and over into St Paul’s Cathedral on the other.
Key to the menu at Roast is a large spit oven in which everything from free range chickens to suckling pigs are rotated. Cleverly, the open kitchen is central to the restaurant, so the emerging sights and smells will have you sold into the menu by the time the waitress has walked you to your table! Thankfully, the food is every bit as good as the promise. Our starters included Miss Pancake’s ‘off menu’ Sea kale with brown shrimps; it was the most perfect marriage of rich, savoury and refreshing flavours and is an absolute must if available. The highlight of our mains was the Sirloin steak with mushrooms & garlic; cooked to absolute perfection and full of all of the flavoursome juices and the earthy mushroom flavours. The roast potatoes were also notably good. Some lovely desserts, including a decadent Chocolate pot finished off a lovely meal.
It was also good to see a good number of English wines present on the extensive list, including various tipples from the highly regarded Chapel Down Winery. Even the cocktail list is based on British seasonal produce and features numerous English spirits. Service was crisp and put the polish on a fine meal. It’s restaurants like this that show how good traditional English food can and should be!
Food: 4/5
Venue: 4/5
Value: 4/5
Cuisine type – British
Dinner for 2 (ex. drinks) – £75
Beer – £3
Wine – £5
Roast
The Floral Hall
Stoney Street
London
SE1 1TL
020 7940 1300
