Ju Shardlow: No Sunday in Britain is complete
without a full, gravy-covered roast.
Mm. Oh, wow, it's so good.
Harry Kersh: Hey guys, it's Harry and Ju.
Ju: And today we are on the hunt
for the best roast dinner in London.
So, as usual, we've trolled through
local recommendations, TripAdvisor,
and social media to try and find the best of the best.
Harry: So, we've narrowed it down to four places,
all of which put their own unique spin on the roast dinner.
And we're going to go and order the most popular thing
on the menu and pick our favorite.
Ready to eat? Ju: Yeah, I am.
Harry: Let's go.
For those of you who don't know,
the Sunday roast is a traditional British meal
served on a Sunday.
Ju: What we will be looking for on our plate
is some succulent roast meat,
well-seasoned roasted potatoes,
thick, tasty gravy, and fluffy Yorkshire puddings,
which are a savory batter cooked in a cupcake-style mold.
Harry: Our first stop is The Jugged Hare,
a restaurant which specializes in game.
Rob Els: Our roast is the best because it's freshly made
and the meat is very high quality.
Beef is put on, we slow-rotisserie it
for three to four hours.
Potatoes are then roasted in the oven
along with the Yorkshire puddings,
and then that all comes together on the plate,
which is carved by,
with the meat, which is carved by our saucier
who is on sauce at the time.
Customer: Yeah, yeah, it's delicious, yeah.
You're not getting, like, a huge, big plate of veggies,
but everything that's on the plate
is, like, perfectly cooked and worth coming for.
Harry: So I think, just in terms of, like, presentation,
the way it's plated up, it's kind of like a
more of a fine-dining feel than maybe you're used to
from, like, a classic pub roast dinner.
But hopefully they've found a way to kind of, like,
elevate things, and it will taste really good.
Ju: Time to tuck in?
Harry: Time to tuck in.
I think we go for the meat first.
I'm not sure I've ever had beef that tender.
Ju: No. That's so juicy.
Like, it's very succulent.
It's just, I think the way that it's been presliced
as well, like that, it's not, you know,
a big, hearty slab of beef.
It's, like, it's very fine, it's very thin,
but it's just the right texture
and just the right thickness.
Harry: All right, so I think we should try it with some of
this horseradish cream.
Ju: Yeah.
Harry: Ooh.
Ju: It's so smooth.
Harry: It's not overpowering, either.
It's quite, like, a fairly gentle horseradish taste.
It's not that kind of, like, burn that you're used to
from like, a wasabi or something.
Try some potato?
So, if I'm being honest, it's probably not
the best roast potato I've had.
I think it's like...could be crispier on the outside.
They've gone for quite a light, golden-brown coloring
as opposed to maybe the darker coloring
that you're used to from roast potato.
But credit to them in that the inside is really good.
It's very, very light and fluffy on the inside.
Go for the Yorkshire? Ju: Should we go for this
Yorkshire, yeah.
Harry: Sounds crispy.
Ju: That is a crunch right there.
The top is slightly chewy, but not too much.
It's just crispy enough.
I think it's extremely light.
Harry: I want a bit of chew in a Yorkshire.
I don't want it to just kind of crack and crumble.
A bit of chew is good.
Ju: Yeah, it's just the right amount, I would say.
Overall, this whole plate has a slight sweetness to it.
And very light, very delicate balance of flavors.
On to our second stop, Blacklock.
It can take up to two months to get a reservation
at this popular restaurant.
Gordon Ker: The best-selling roast dinner that we do
is the All In.
It's an opportunity to try all the different
roast meats that we sell.
So, beef, pork, and lamb all on one plate
to share for the whole table with lots of trimmings.
Unlimited gravy, a real feast.
We start about a week beforehand making the gravy.
The Yorkshire pudding mix gets put together on a Thursday.
We then take large joints of beef, pork, and lamb
and cook them whole over the open charcoal grill,
and so the meat, we feel, gets more flavor
cooked as a large piece.
Yorkshire puddings are, and roast potatoes are
roasted in the oven in duck fat.
The meat will all get presented on the plate
with a few little bits of crackling on top
and away it goes.
Ju: You've got to be kidding me.
(laughing)
Harry: Look at that.
Ju: Oh, my God.
Harry: Oh, my goodness. Wow.
Ju: This is certainly the most monster roast
I've ever seen.
Harry: Yeah, I've got to agree with you.
The size of this thing is enormous.
I think it's 20 pounds per person?
But you get so much food. That's incredible.
Ju: It's like a giant's feast.
Harry: Right, I'm getting some of this beef.
Ju: The first thing that hits you
is the flavor of that gravy,
and it's just a really sexy gravy. (laughs)
Oh, my God, it's just so luxurious
and such a strong flavor.
Harry: This is a very picture-perfect roast potato.
You've got that golden-brown exterior,
interior is looking nice and soft and fluffy.
I'm going to give this one a try.
Mm.
Oh, yeah.
Ju: It's really well seasoned.
Harry: Yeah. You've got a really good crisp
on that roast potato.
I think the duck fat, they cook it in duck fat,
which is, like, notorious for producing
a really, really good roast potato,
and it really does show.
That's a proper Yorkshire.
Ju: It's really good.
It's not too soggy at the bottom.
Like, it really retains its structure.
And it's wonderfully, like, wonderfully crispy.
The batter's risen just perfectly.
Harry: Really airy. Yeah, very light.
Ju: This is actually the sexiest roast I've ever had.
I'm going to continue to say the word sexy.
It's d--- sexy.
Harry: Next, we head to Oblix in the Shard skyscraper,
which offers a fine-dining alternative to the Sunday roast.
Marcus Eaves: For me, the best thing about Sunday roast
is the beef.
And of course, being an Englishman,
Yorkshire puddings as well.
The beef we're cooking today is a rib of beef,
and it'll be cooked in the Josper oven,
which is kind of like a big,
it's an indoor barbecue, basically.
Filled with charcoal. It gets up to around 350 degrees.
So you get a really kind of amazing caramelization,
a real, sort of, full-on sort of smoky flavor.
So the roast potatoes we're cooking today
have been boiled till they're just cooked,
in salted water, and then they have been
sort of roasted in the oven with some thyme,
some rosemary, some garlic, some rock salt,
and we use half duck fat and half beef fat as well.
We tend to do slightly larger
Yorkshire puddings than normal.
Side dishes we serve with the Sunday roast
is a mashed potato with garlic crisps
and broccoli with, like, a chili dressing,
with some preserved lemon on top as well.
Just helps keep that side dish, that vegetable
nice, light, and fresh as opposed to being heavy.
Ju: Wow, well talk about fine dining.
This looks exquisite.
Everything looks so beautifully put together.
Harry: The color on that beef is incredible.
It's so, so dark.
Even the fat is, like, really darkly colored.
Mm.
D---, that's good.
Ju: We both just, like, sat back,
we just said, "Oh, wow," at the same time.
It's just, like, juicy enough.
It's got flakes of salt over top as well;
I feel like it's just salty enough as well.
Harry: It's kind of, taste-wise and almost texture-wise,
closer to a steak than to, like, the classic roast maybe.
Also, just because of the way it's cooked on those coals,
you do get that kind of, like, char flavor on the outside.
Which is really, really good.
Ju: Yorky time.
Harry: Yorky time.
That's really good.
Ju: It's not very crispy.
And I wouldn't say that...it almost has a sweet taste to it.
And it just reminds you quite a lot of it being a batter.
It's almost, like, a little bit cakey in a way.
Harry: I get that a little bit. Yeah, I get that from it.
Ju: Mm. Oh, wow, it's so good.
That has just got the right amount of salt on it.
And the right amount of oil.
The garlic, you can really taste the garlic.
Our last stop takes us to northwest London
for a rather unique and portable take
on the traditional Sunday roast.
Henry Preen: I was doing some work with a friend of mine
in street food before, so I was doing that part time
for a few months and kind of realized,
from all the events we were doing,
there was nothing British, really.
And then the roast dinner was a thing that I thought was,
that we do better as a country than anything else.
And then just the whole
Yorkshire pudding, wrapping-up thing
just seemed like the best way to do it.
You don't want a knife and fork for taking stuff.
Customer: Checking out the menu in the Uber
on the way over here,
and this was the one thing that drew my eye.
I actually tried to make a Yorkshire pudding at home,
failed miserably. But this one, absolutely incredible.
Henry: So, the beef wrap
starts with a giant Yorkshire pudding.
So we get that toasting off on the grill
so it's all nice and crispy.
And then, as that happens we start to build it.
So, there's a sage and onion stuffing, goes on the bottom,
followed by garlic and rosemary roast potatoes.
Then today we've got a bit of spinach that will go onto it.
Then the braised beef.
A bit of red-wine gravy.
Horseradish, and then all wrapped up.
And then there is your beef Yorkshire burrito.
Ju: Thank you.
Harry: Mm.
Ju: Wow, that is a mouth full.
I just bit into some lovely, really soft beef,
and then straight through a crispy roast potato.
And those are the kind of textures that you really want
in a great Sunday lunch.
Harry: Horseradish is a classic pairing with beef
in the UK with your roast dinners
'cause it just kind of gives you a bit of, like,
it's kind of a heat, isn't it? Like a bit of a heat,
but it just kind of really cuts through
what can be quite rich meat, especially when, like this,
it kind of had that braising effect in the red wine.
Ju: Yeah, I was worried, actually,
about the roast potatoes because they're deep-fried
instead of being, like, classically roasted.
I was a little bit worried about them.
Harry: So, I mean, just to talk about the Yorkshire itself,
it's not like a normal Yorkshire I've had,
it's not hugely kind of fluffy.
I think the way they've kind of made it,
obviously because it has to have a bit more structure
and integrity to hold all this liquid in,
so it's a little bit, sort of,
chewier than I was expecting,
but I think in kind of the grand scheme
of the whole dish, it's kind of necessary.
Ju: Yeah, it's not a classic Yorkshire pudding.
But I'm really enjoying it.
Harry: Now it's time to decide
which is the best of the best.
Ju: So, we've had four roast dinners in London,
and now it is time to reveal what we thought
was the best of the best.
Now, I really, honestly don't know what you picked, Harry.
Harry: No, I don't know what you've picked,
but I'm excited to find out.
Should we reveal on one?
Ju: OK. Harry: Countdown?
Ju: OK. Harry: Let's go at it.
Both: Three, two, one.
Ooh!
Ju: Division!
Harry: We've got a disagreement, OK.
Ju: OK, I'm actually, you know what?
I was about to write Oblix.
I was about to write Oblix, I mean,
why did you pick Oblix?
Harry: So, for me it was kind of a two-horse race
between Oblix and Blacklock.
I went for Oblix because it was more of an experience.
Maybe for someone who's coming from outside of the UK
and wants to try a roast dinner,
I think the fact that you get to go up the Shard,
and just the quality of the food,
and the atmosphere in there was fantastic.
And I just really, really enjoyed it.
Ju: Actually, for exactly the same reasons
I would have picked Oblix.
The reason why I picked Blacklock is because for me,
it redefines what the idea of a classic Sunday roast is,
which is a little bit more messy,
you kind of get in there, it's very meaty,
very hearty, and just the portion sizes,
I thought it was a fantastic value for money.
And there's just something a little bit more,
kind of, like, charmingly rough-and-ready about it.
It's like, it's just getting stuck in there
and with gravy everywhere,
and with the amount of meat you get.
I think that Oblix was fantastic for fine dining,
but for me, the idea of a Sunday roast
is a little bit more rough, I think.
Harry: You know what, Ju, pass me the pen.
Ju: (gasps)
Harry: I'm gonna back down.
I'm gonna agree with you.
Like I said, it was a two-horse race.
There wasn't a lot between it, and I think maybe
for the more, sort of, authentic roast-dinner experience
in terms of, like, the quantity and getting
your hands a bit dirty,
I think Blacklock maybe just edged it.
So, sorry, Oblix, Blacklock's the winner.
So, there you have it.
We've crowned Blacklock as the best roast dinner in London.
Did we miss anywhere that you like?
Let us know in the comments below.
Harry: Hey guys, it's Harry and Ju.
Ju: And my phone's ringing, sorry.
Harry: Blooper reel.
Ju: Sorry, I'm switching it off.
Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
There we go, sorry, sorry, sorry, OK.