CENTRAL

Blacklock, Soho

You know a lunch out is going to be a good one when the meat all originates from the restaurant owner’s family run farms in Cornwall. At Blacklock, the trilogy of roasts is the star of the menu: 55-day aged beef rump, lamb leg and pork loin served with golden potatoes, roasted carrots and crunchy crackling. Then there’s the cauliflower cheese and enormous gravy boat. Turn up hungry. 
 
24 Great Windmill Street, Soho, W1D 7LG
 
Visit TheBlacklock.com
 

Temper, Soho

Serious cuts of meat are cooked over coal at Temper Soho making this basement smokehouse lively, dark and, well... smoky. The Sunday roast is a meaty showcase of farm-sourced Welsh lamb, Gloucester Old Spot pork and Belted Galloway beef. When you get served a yorkshire pudding as big as your head, you know you’re in the right place. Kick things off with a Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz served with rosemary and tonic.
 
25 Broadwick Street, Soho, W1F 0DF
 
Visit TemperRestaurant.com
 

Hawksmoor, Covent Garden

Think steak in London, and your mind will inevitably turn to the inimitable Hawksmoor. It’s only natural the meat-first group also does a decent trade in Sunday roasts. Joints of rump are grilled over charcoal and finished in the oven to give them the traditional roasting treatment. They’re served with duck-fat roast potatoes, yorkshire puddings, carrots, greens, roasted shallots and garlic, and plenty of bone marrow and onion gravy. Hawksmoor’s Seven Dials outpost is in an old brewery and you can count on an impressive selection of ales to go alongside the red you’ll want to order with your beef.
 
11 Langley Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9JG
 
Visit TheHawksmoor.com
 

Guinea Grill, Mayfair

The Guinea is a Mayfair institution – there’s been an inn on this site since 1423. The Guinea Grill restaurant opened in 1952. Since then, it’s become the place to head for dry-aged, grass-fed British beef cooked on an open grill. You’ll find a selection of Young’s ales at the bar and premium steak-and-kidney pies – which have been served on site since the 40s – complete with suet lids and filled with offcuts of dry-aged beef on the menu. On Sundays, we’d opt for oysters followed by the six-bone rack of lamb, served with beef-dripping roast potatoes, honey-glazed carrots and parsnips, seasonal greens, baby onions with bacon, and gravy.
 
30 Bruton Place, Mayfair, W1J 6NL
 
Visit TheGuinea.co.uk

WEST

Harwood Arms, Fulham 

The Harwood Arms is London’s only Michelin-starred pub. Head chef Sally Abé learnt in the kitchens of Gordon Ramsay, Phil Howard and The Ledbury’s Brett Graham, so her food is, of course, top notch. Sunday mains include braised jowl of Tamworth pork with crushed turnip, roast apple and mustard. You’ll need to book well in advance to get a table.
 
Walham Grove, Fulham, SW6 1QP
 
Visit HarwoodArms.com
 

The Hero of Maida, Maida Vale

On the site of the much-missed Truscott Arms, this stylish pub is the work of Harcourt Inns, the collective behind The Coach which specialises in rescuing noteworthy sites and conserving them as drinking and dining destinations. Headed up by Henry Harris, the Hero’s menu merges classical French cooking with British ingredients: Sunday lunches include whole roasted black leg of chicken with bread sauce, and treacle-cured chateaubriand with madeira sauce. Independent beers from family-run breweries are served from behind a zinc-topped bar, alongside a variety of wines.
 
55 Shirland Road, Maida Vale, W9 2JD
 
Visit TheHeroMaidaVale.co.uk

EAST

The Royal Oak, Bethnal Green

The roast menu at this Grade II-listed pub spans seven-hour roast lamb shoulder to 21-day aged dry roast striploin and free-range chicken. For veggies there’s a beetroot, fennel and mixed nut roast. All roasts come with a full set of trimmings: expect goose-fat roast potatoes, crushed butternut squash, creamed peas, leeks and bacon, maple-roasted pumpkin, sautéed sprout tops, double-egg yorkshire pudding and gravy.
 
73 Columbia Road, Bethnal Green, E2 7RG

Visit RoyalOakLondon.com
 

The Kenton, Hackney

The Kenton was runner-up in last year’s Observer Food Monthly Best Place To Drink competition. We can confirm it is indeed an outstanding spot for a few weekend pints. On Sundays, count on Scottish topside of beef, leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic, free-range corn-fed chicken, or butternut squash and artichoke nut roast. All come with roast potatoes, crushed carrot and swede, pickled cabbage, cheesy leeks, weekly changing greens, yorkshire pudding, parsnip crisps and gravy.
 
38 Kenton Road, Hackney, E9 7AB 
 
Visit KentonPub.co.uk
 

The Marksman, Bethnal Green

This traditional East End pub serves local beer and cider alongside a selection of fine wines and spirits, but is perhaps best known these days for its dining room – in 2016, it was the first London boozer to win Michelin Pub of the Year. Its menus are inspired by the diverse culinary history of London and change daily. On Sundays expect to eat the likes of roast mallard, damson jelly and bread sauce; Hereford wing rib and yorkshire puddings; or a chicken and girolle pie to share.
 
254 Hackney Road, Bethnal Green, E2 7SJ
 
Visit MarksmanPublicHouse.com
 

The Jugged Hare, Clerkenwell

This Clerkenwell boozer is well established as one of the City’s best game restaurants. Bedecked in taxidermy and wooden panelling, it’s a cosy spot to hole up in on colder weekends. Given its proximity to the Barbican, you can earn your roast at an exhibition before you hit the dining room. On Sundays, the kitchen serves chicken, pork belly and Longhorn beef rump with all the trimmings, but we’d opt for the signature jugged hare with creamed mashed potatoes, bacon and greens.

49 Chiswell Street, Clerkenwell, EC1Y 4SA

Visit TheJuggedHare.com

SOUTH 

The Anchor & Hope, Waterloo

This no-nonsense establishment on The Cut by Waterloo station serves some of the best pub food we’ve had in London. A proper boozer with a chalkboard menu, it majors in comfort food such as chicken, foie gras and prosciutto terrine with quince jelly; or Provencal-style crab broth with aioli and comté croutons. An impressive wine list complements its selection of local ales, while Sunday lunches are served from noon until 2:45pm. We recommend the seven-hour lamb shoulder, served with tomatoes, fennel seeds, gratin dauphinois, to be shared between three.
 
36 The Cut, Waterloo, SE1 8LP
 
Visit TheAnchorAndHopePub.co.uk
 

Roast, Borough

Given the name, you’d expect good things. This is Sunday roast like your mum used to make it – with all the trimmings. Look out for pork belly with mashed potato and Bramley apple sauce, but don’t discount the slow-roasted lamb shoulder or sirloin of Hereford beef. Roast is a fine place in Borough Market to feast and people-watch on a weekend afternoon.
 
Stoney Street, London Bridge, SE1 1TL
 
Visit Roast-Restaurant.com
 

The Camberwell Arms, Camberwell

What you get here is an upscale Sunday roast offering – but minus yorkshire pudding. You’ve been warned. If the lack of traditional trimmings doesn’t both you, rally your mates, book a table and order one of the many sharing options. Options include beef, ale and marrow pie with potato and shallot gratin and roast hispi cabbage; half a spit-roast chicken with charred gem, anchoiade, sage and lemon roast potatoes; roast pork belly with charred catalogna chicory, datterini tomatoes and aioli; and rump steak with horseradish butter, watercress, sage and lemon potatoes. All of those are designed to be shared between two.
 
65 Camberwell Church Street, Camberwell, SE5 8TR
 
Visit TheCamberwellArms.co.uk

NORTH

Drapers Arms, Islington

Islington’s Drapers Arms is a popular neighbourhood pub. When it comes to Sunday lunches, punters can choose hearty fare such as partridge with celeriac, bacon, cavolo nero and cider sauce; or sharing options of whole roast chicken with bread sauce; slow-cooked shoulder of lamb; and roast forerib of beef with yorkshire puddings. If you’re dead set on a sharing roast, let the kitchen know in advance, as they almost always sell out. Whatever you opt for, leave room for pudding: think poached quince with meringue and whipped cream; and chocolate fondant with honeycomb and whipped cream.
 
44 Barnsbury Street, Islington, N1 1ER

Visit TheDrapersArms.com
 

The Jolly Butchers, Stoke Newington

This pub is not just about the multitude of British and European real ales on offer. Its Sunday lunch is just as impressive. Choose between traditional and Indian-inspired feasts: deliberate over tandoori half-chicken or pudhina leg of lamb, both with seasonal veg and garam masala duck-fat roasted potatoes; or stay classic with the ribeye or pork, served with rich, plentiful gravy, crisp potatoes and tasty yorkshires.
 
204 Stoke Newington High Street, Stoke Newington, N16 7HU
 
Visit JollyButchers.co.uk
 

The Pig & Butcher, Islington

This popular pub is run by the same team as The Princess of Shoreditch and Smokehouse. The Pig & Butcher’s pulled Paddock Farm Tamworth pork shoulder is delicious, just like the braised Elwy Valley lamb shoulder, roasted dry-aged grass-fed Hereford beef sirloin and Label Anglais chicken crown cooked in lemon and thyme butter. All roasts are served with seasonal greens, creamed leeks, yorkshires and properly roasted, crispy beef-dripping roast potatoes – and three-day aged gravy.
 
80 Liverpool Road, Islington, N1 0QD
 
Visit ThePigAndButcher.co.uk
 

Bull & Gate, Kentish Town

The Bull & Gate pub might be most famous for its live music heritage (Nirvana, Blur, Oasis and the Manic Street Preachers have all performed here) but it’s also become known for superlative Sunday lunches. The highlight of the menu has to be cider-braised pork belly, served with caramelised pork and bacon stuffing, bread sauce, goose-fat roasties, roasted baby carrots and parsnips, buttered greens, braised red cabbage and yorkshire pudding. Make sure to leave room for the blackberry crumble with clotted cream.
 
389 Kentish Town Road, Kentish Town, NW5 2TJ

Visit BullAndGateNW5.co.uk