I had booked the table online which was quick and simple. On the day I received a call from the restaurant to confirm the booking.
As it was a Thursday the market was open and buzzing with activity when we arrived at about 11.50pm. For those who don't know Borough Market is a fantastic food market full of really great stalls selling everything from artisan cheeses, breads, meats, fantastic and interesting fruits & vegetables to seafood and shell-fish. Its open on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On the other days some of the permanent shops are open but the stalls with the exception of one or two remain closed. There are a number of restaurants and cafes around the market with tastes to suit everyone, however today was all about Roast.
The restaurant itself was far bigger than I expected and some of the tables were on a raised area. This is where our table was located and it gave us a great view of the rest of the place. The kitchen is open plan and you can watch the chefs hard at work.
We were given menus and our drinks order was taken. Beer for the boys and wine for the girls (just the one). We decided to have the market menu with 3 courses for £28. This menu had a choice of four starters, four main courses, and four puddings. Plenty for us to choose from. We discovered main courses came without any vegetables and potatoes so you need to order these as well if you want them.
To start with me and one of my colleagues had the Selection of cured British meats with toast and piccalilli. A beautiful arrangement of different meats on a long platter came with a nicely spicy piccalilli. The dish was garnished with young pea shoots which I really enjoyed as you don't see them very often. I felt the toast was unnecessary as the meat was good on its own. I have not been a fan of cured meats in the past however I enjoyed every mouthful of this and I am now converted.
Connie had the Laverstoke Park buffalo mozzarella with baked figs and mint. Three thick slices of very good looking mozzarella were interleaved with bright purple figs and fresh mint leaves. The figs had cooked to a jammy consistency and all in all Connie enjoyed the dish.
The final starter for the boss was Cornish Pilchards on toast with a caper and lemon salad. The pilchards were a decent size sitting atop a piece of toast. The onions in the salad were sliced very thinly and had taken on the lemon flavour Stu enjoyed this dish and declared it "Superdonic"!
Now onto the main course. Three of us had the Roast Goosnargh Chicken with bacon and bread sauce. A quarter chicken topped with two crispy slices of bacon and lots of rich gravy arrived. The chicken was extremely moist and very plump. We had side orders of mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, carrots and red cabbage. The mash was a little cold but delicious none the less. The roast potatoes were cooked well and very crispy. The carrots were, well.....carrots. The red cabbage was a surprise. Its was raw, thinly sliced in a horseradish dressing. I only had a taste at the end but I loved it. I wished I had more. One to remember for next time.
Connie went for the Roast Sausage of the day with chips and grain mustard (except she asked for it without the mustard). I must mention that the waitress returned to our table after the order had been taken to check if Connie was allergic to mustard or just disliked it. I thought that was very on the ball of them.
A large coil of sausage arrived on a wooden board along with a little basket of chips. The inside of the sausage was stuffed with black pudding. I don't think I would have liked it but Connie loved it.
Only three of us had pudding as Stuart was full by this point so he just had a coffee. I don't often have one but I was enjoying the meal so much I didn't want to miss out.
Both Connie and Antony had the Apple & Blackberry Crumble with custard. It arrived in a ramekin with the custard in a jug on the side to pour over. Both really liked the dish.
I had the Plum and Almond Tart. It comes with a jug of pouring cream which I passed over to Antony who wanted to mix it with his custard. The tart was light and had a decent amount of fruit. I couldn't finish the whole piece though as I had also had enough by now.
During the meal the service that we received was excellent. On one occasion we noticed the waiter trying to give our puddings to the next table but they very quickly realised their mistake. Bread and butter were served to us at the beginning of the meal and when we emptied the basket we were offered more (which we accepted). Iced water was topped up throughout the meal. We did notice that once the restaurant became busier the service did slow down.
Overall this was a fantastic meal and if I could I would return to it time and time again. There were many dishes on the menu that I would love to try especially the roast suckling pig which was the roast of the day.
I highly recommend Roast if you are in London and are looking for somewhere special to have lunch or dinner. I must give a mention to the breakfast menu which you can find here. They sometimes do a 2 for 1 offer.
Boss, if you are reading this thanks for a lovely leaving lunch x
ROAST
Sharon x
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