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(Photo Credit: The Bottle & Glass Inn)

In case you’re not familiar with what a Sunday roast is, I’ll give you a little introduction. The Sunday roast is a meal traditionally eaten on a Sunday and usually at lunchtime. It can include roast beef — which is the most traditional meat for a roast in the UK — or a roast chicken, lamb, and even a veggie or vegan meat substitute. This is a large plate of food and also includes roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, vegetables such as carrots, peas, cauliflower, or cabbage, stuffing, and most importantly, Yorkshire puddings. 

If you’ve never been introduced to Yorkshire puddings, they are made with batter, like pancakes, and poured into small bun-sized trays. The mixture rises in the oven to create individual “puddings.” The puddings are especially useful for pouring the gravy into! Your roast will also come with various sauces depending on where you’re eating. It could be cranberry sauce, mint sauce if you’re having lamb, bread sauce, or a white sauce.

While the Sunday roast was traditionally cooked at home every Sunday without fail, these days it’s more likely to be something people go out to enjoy. Just about every pub and restaurant in the UK offers a Sunday roast of some sort, but here are fantastic places where you can enjoy this most authentic of British dishes.

An award-winning pub and restaurant with rooms just outside Henley-on-Thames, the Bottle & Glass Inn is a grade II listed thatched pub. It appears very traditional, and although it does still retain some of the traditional Sunday roast features, the kitchen here also offers some exciting modernizations.

Begin your roast dinner with a classic prawn cocktail or original Scotch egg, then move onto the compact roasts. A regular entry on the menu is the Peasemore poll dorset lamb shoulder cooked overnight so that it falls apart on the plate. It comes with all the trimmings and roasties you can imagine, plus cauliflower cheese and Mother’s mint jelly. 

Other non-sharing roasts are available, too, including a roast rump of 35-day aged belted Galloway beef served with Yorkshire pudding, horseradish, and all the trimmings. But it’s their roast lamb sharing boards that have become a bit of a staple and are very popular with their guests. 

End with the sticky toffee pudding with honeycomb, toffee sauce, and vanilla ice cream, or for something lighter, opt for the Binfield berry pavlova with orange and elderflower curds, and vanilla whipped cream.

You can’t get more traditionally British than a castle, so to eat your Sunday roast inside of one is pretty special. The Castle at Edgehill is renowned for two things locally — its views and the “proper” gravy it uses for its hearty Sunday lunches. 

The restaurant offers locally-sourced beef and pork, fresh produce from the local allotments, the “proper” gravy it has become well known for, and stunning historic surroundings. If you’re wondering what “proper” gravy is, it is traditionally made from the juices of the roast, rather than any pre-made gravy mix.

The Castle tower, which now also houses a new micro-distillery, also known as the “Radway” or “Round tower,” was intended to replicate Guy’s Tower at nearby Warwick Castle. The Castle first became a pub in 1822, then it was sold by Sanderson Miller and acquired by the Hook Norton Brewery in 1922, with Mark Higgs, the current tenant, taking over the lease in 2013. 

Pro Tip: The distillery on-site runs a gin school where you can have a go at making your own.

Lewinnick Lodge is a family-owned restaurant and bar with rooms that really place you on the edge — where the land and sea meet. Perched among the rocks of the headland, Lewinnick offers panoramic views of the rolling Atlantic Ocean and beyond, and is perfectly placed for seaview dining, or to stay a little longer in one of its 17 bedrooms. 

With the ocean as the backdrop, Lewinnick’s restaurant is the perfect location for sunset suppers, long lunches, or a coffee by the fire. Expect brasserie favorites such as king prawn laksa and pork belly with apple cabbage. Created with locally-sourced produce, the seasonal menus include seafood specials from the shores below the restaurant and signature dishes that highlight the best of the Cornish suppliers. 

The Sunday lunch here is a choice of beef, pork belly, or lamb shoulder. Though, if you are dining right by the sea, they do also offer the option of a beer battered catch of the day.

Pro Tip: Dog-friendly rooms are available on request, and upon arrival, four-legged friends can expect a dog bed, bowl, treats left in their room, and advice on the best dog-friendly walks in the area.

Sunday lunch is served in the destination rooftop restaurant, 18 at Rusacks, which has unrivaled panoramic views over the famous Old Course Golf Links and West Sands Beach. The 18 offers a Sunday lunch menu served between noon and 3 p.m. 

Celebrate a great weekend with a choice of Palmer & Co. champagne, virgin or alcoholic bloody marys, or a Bellini cocktail. There’s also the option to pair a half dozen or dozen Loch Fyne oysters with dill, apple, and fermented cucumber or shallot, tabasco, and lemon. The menu is compact and full of flavor.

After a walk along North Berwick Beach, the whole family can sit down for a Sunday lunch prepared by Chris Niven and his team at The Lawn. The Lawn restaurant offers a Sunday lunch menu that is full of Scottish favorites, with some added modern twists. 

The sea bream is amazing, but to keep things traditional, the Tweed Valley sirloin is the pick for most guests. The restaurant is cozy and intimate, with comfy snugs and the most incredible views of the sea.

Heft is the first inn and restaurant project by former Michelin-starred Chef Kevin Tickle. Kevin’s irreverent take on Sunday lunch, which he calls “Sunday Service,” starts at noon and runs through the early evening, with the last service at 6 p.m. every Sunday. This is a most unusual way of doing Sunday lunch, and for that alone, I love it! 

Positioned in Grange-over-Sands, Heft is run by people who have a true passion for food and keeping things simple but making them shine. It all starts with a little bread, but then again, any good gathering does.

Pro Tip: The accommodation side of Heft is currently being renovated, but five double bedrooms will be available soon. I can’t wait to go and stay!

For all of your food and drink necessities in the UK, check out these articles:

Travel writer, author, and playwright, Samantha loves historic buildings, quirky hotels, woodland walks and literary trails, specializing in food and drink, luxury travel, retreats, spas, and anything arts based. Samantha is based in Yorkshire, the UK, where she lives with her artist partner. Learn more on her website.