After returning to London (via an unanticipated extra night’s layover in Madrid, courtesy of Iberia Airlines), my brother and his wife decidd to celebrate our return to the UK by taking took us out to Roast.
Nestled nicely above Burough Market in what used to be the portico of the Flower Market, it’s a really pleasant and open dining space, and a restaurant known for high quality roasted meats, including game meats (“warning, may contain shot”). Their motto is “Deliciously British,” and they pursue this with classical British cooking (think roasts, games, and classic British desserts) using the seasonal produce and locally-procured meats.
To start things off, I ordered a salad corn fed duck breast with blackberries and sour cream. While generally not a great fan of sour cream, this was a surprisingly nice combination: the duck was perfectly cooked (neither over- nor under-cooked) and tender, sporting a nice sear, and complemented with some nice plumb blackberries (in season, we saw them everywhere in England this trip), and a very mild sour cream that tied it all together without being heavy.
Then there was the main course, and the reason we came. In addition to their standard menu, Roast always has a special roast on the menu, ranging from catch of the day, to a roast, to beef Wellington). After perusing the menu, we all got the special, which was roast rib eye of Shorthorn beef with creamed baked potatoes. The beef itself came from North Yorkshire. Being served up at a absolutely perfect medium rare, this was a most excellent cut of beef, one of the finest rib eyes I’ve ever enjoyed (in the same league, but slightly below, that I had at St John Bread and Wine). Served up with some nicely done potatoes and mushrooms, and this was indeed a nice, near-perfect example of the cornerstone of British cuisine: the roast.
Following up, I opted for a dessert of English custard tart with Marsala plums. Aside from the plum pits, this was a most excellent English-style dessert, not too sweet, and having just enough tartness that it was a pleasant counterpoint to the starter and roast course.
While definitely on the expensive end of the spectrum, I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Roast, and have to rank it as a close second to St John Bread and Wine for the “best roasted meat” I’ve ever enjoyed. I’m interesting in coming back here to try their celebrated breakfast as well.
