Roast, Borough Market

When the lovely guys at Zomato asked if I’d like a voucher for Roast, Borough Market I instantly said yes. It has been on the ‘Must Eat’ list for a while, I’ve walked past it so many times and the menu always look delicious!

Taking the lift up from the centre of Borough Market, you walk out onto the reception desk already hearing the buzz from the restaurant. Walking through the bar area and past the kitchen we are led to our table next to one of the windows. It so lovely and bright in here even on a grey day.

On Sundays they serve a set menu, but don’t be put off by that because there are a number of great dishes to pick from and it’s pretty good value too (more on that later). There is also live jazz on a Sunday! Roast have a great philosophy on food, their menu is “a tribute to the farmers, fishermen, growers and wine makers who inspire us to do their produce justice”. They use British ingredients where they can and try to execute simple food extremely well. Which I’m very happy to say they achieve.

Whilst we were deciding what to eat – seriously it all sounded so good – we ordered a couple of the ‘Market Tipples’. They have a great range of cocktails on the menu. D ordered the SE1 spICED tea (Roast gin with Buffalo Trace bourbon, citrus infused vodka, rum, cointreau, sugar, topped with ginger ale) and I went for the Brambleberry (Roast gin, fresh blackberries, blueberries and lime, finished with a dash of Chambord). Mine was lovely and fresh and very fruity, as expected. But the SE1 spICED tea was our favourite; it was well balanced and the ginger ale adding just a touch of spice.

The Food

We knew we were going to go big for our main course – we couldn’t go to Roast on a sunday and not order a roast! So we decided to keep it light for our first course. We both ordered the scallops with Jerusalem artichoke puree, cobnut and maple bacon dressing. What a great start to the meal! The scallops were perfectly cooked and paired well with the smooth artichoke and crispy, salty bacon.

For our main course we decided to order two different dishes so we could try a little of each others. We ordered the slow-roasted pork belly and the rosemary and garlic studded leg of lamb. All the mains on a Sunday at Roast come with roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables. The lamb came beautifully pink and a generous portion too. The lamb was very good, but for me the pork belly stole the show!

I mean just look at that crackling. The pork was so juicy and the flavour unbelievable and a lovely rich gravy to go with it too. It’s potentially the best pork belly I’ve ever had.

My only comment on the mains? The roast potatoes. Some were a little hard and not nice and fluffy how I like them. They were a little tough on the outside and a little hard on the inside. But then you have a mouthful of the pork and forget all about it.

Also I just have to mention the service at Roast. The importance of good staff is so apparent here – they are wonderful, not overly fussy but seemed to always be around when you needed to ask something and were great at answering any questions on the menu.

We had a little break before dessert and just people watched out of the window, it’s such a great little spot. When it did come to dessert I couldn’t choose between the apple crumble or the sticky date pudding with toffee sauce and then I saw one come out past me and I instantly knew I had to order the sticky date pudding. And, IT WAS AMAZING. Firstly they managed to not make it sickly sweet and it is so moreish. Secondly just look at how much sauce there was!

I hate it when a restaurant is stingy with sauce, and at Roast they definitely deliver on the sauce front – and I mean, great sheen too. Coming back just for this. Loved it.

At £37.50 for three courses Roast is not cheap but the food here is excellent and brilliant quality too, the service is fantastic and the atmosphere alight, so all-in-all I think it actually is pretty good value. The drinks are quite pricey but I will most definitely be returning to try more of the wicked cocktails and work my way through more of the menu. Just need to find a special occasion I think – I’m rather looking forward to it!

*Thank you to Zomato for my voucher. I received a voucher to use towards the final bill. All views remain my own.

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