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‘It’s roast season and it’s time for everyone to get over their hatred of the best lunch ever’
I am sorry to say that I have come across a great number of people who hate roast dinners throughout my life. Perhaps this is my punishment for abandoning the gravy-filled gullet of the north in favour of the sunnier south, but I shall stand for it no more. I cannot sit through another slating of one of the greatest gastronomical inventions of our time.
The hatred of the roast dinner seems to get more pronounced the more one identifies as a ‘foodie’; a term that I detest but remains useful for encapsulating those who have aligned themselves closely with all aspects of sustenance.
Perhaps roasts are too mainstream for my negroni-sipping, small-plate-stripping food writing friends. Maybe the humble roast dinner is not refined enough for such preened palettes.
is needed now More than ever
On a good roast – and it is only good roasts I refer to here – there are so many elements. How can one possibly disregard them all?
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What is it about perfectly crisp roast potatoes and layers of rare roast beef that has offended you so? Why can you not stand to douse a gigantic Yorkshire pudding in vast streams of viscous gravy and allow yourself a small smile of anticipation? Is it about appearing sophisticated? Is it a signifier of pretension to not like something so pervasively working class?
There is certainly a north-south divide at play. Utter such insults north of Birmingham and you will be shoved straight back on the train you stumbled off of. A friend from Yorkshire worked in a pub where they started making Sunday’s gravy the Tuesday before – an Oscar-worthy performance if ever I saw one. To my knowledge nowhere in Bristol can claim such dedication.
The roast at the Bank Tavern is supposedly one of the best in the country – photo: Meg Houghton-Gilmour
I have made it my mission to try as many Bristol roast dinners as possible. If you can get a table, then the Bank Tavern in the Old City is exceptional and worthy of the hype. Pasture in Redcliffe would be my next best spot, though I also have a soft spot for the Star & Dove in Totterdown and the Shakespeare in Redland.
The Yorkshires at the Star and Dove defy gravity – photo: Meg Houghton-Gilmour
Next on my personal roast agenda is Caper & Cure on Stokes Croft and the Kensington Arms in Redland where I have it on good authority that cauliflower cheese comes with every plate as standard.
If you’re looking for a twist on your classic roast, then I have heard good things about chorizo-lined Yorkshires at Bar 44 in Clifton Village and the Italian-inspired edition at Bianchis in Montpelier.
All of the above will welcome you in from the chilly days ahead and envelope you in a cauliflower-cheese cuddle. If you’re a hater, I hope you will give roast dinners another chance. And for the rest of you, go forth and ask for extra gravy. You deserve it.
Meg Houghton-Gilmour is Bristol24/7’s Head of Audience. Subscribe to her weekly food and drink newsletter here.
Main photo: The Shakespeare in Redland’s roast dinner, by Neil Greenwood
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