Five of the best: Places for a Sunday roast

Herald on Sunday

1 Aug, 2015 08:00 PM3 mins to read

Roast beef and potatoes with a Yorkshire pudding, prepared by chef Sean Connolly at The Grill. Photo / Michael Craig

Happy Roast Day! Do you prefer roast pork with crackling or a leg of lamb with mint sauce? Maybe you just like to eat beautifully seasoned roast vegetables. However you fancy it, Sunday roast is a family fave. To celebrate this special day and save you the cooking, we’ve found five eateries dishing up a tasty roast meal during the cooler months.

Ostro

Seafarers Building, Tyler St, Britomart

Josh Emett's inner-city brasserie and bar, Ostro, boasts one of the best views in Auckland. On Sunday afternoon, from noon until 5pm, it serves a selection of roast meats accompanied with root veges, seasonal greens and Yorkshire pudding. Pick from a slow-roasted Wakanui scotch, free-range half chicken with bacon and sage stuffing and free-range pork belly - all $38 a person. Or, if you're a group of four, treat yourselves to a whole Canterbury beef fillet aged for 28 days teamed with truffled mushroom duxelle, foie gras butter and a madeira sauce for $48 a person (pre-ordering is essential).

The Grill

90 Federal St, Auckland

We're not surprised English-born executive chef Sean Connolly knows how to put on a Sunday roast with all the trimmings. For $40 you will be served a Wakanui scotch fillet, fluffy Yorkshire pud, duck-fat roasties and Grandma's carrots. Your mouth-watering roast meal is served with herbed bearnaise sauce and red wine jus. The Grill prides itself on sourcing local ingredients and pasture-fed meat and has some of the best service in town. Make sure you book.

The Grill by Sean Connolly. Photo / Michelle Hyslop

Galbraith's Alehouse

2 Mt Eden Rd, Grafton

This old English pub comes into its own during the winter months. The ceilings are high, dark carpet keeps the place warm and the fire is always crackling. The kitchen mixes up the roast each week (you could get beef, pork or this week it's lamb - check alehouse.co.nz if you want to know what's on the menu) and for your $19.90 you'll get a generous portion with a side of veges - usually duck-fat potatoes, broccoli, minted peas, gravy and maybe a Yorkshire pud. We recommend getting in there at lunchtime or for an early dinner sitting - it saves a few serves for the evening meal but has been known to sell out on a Sunday if you're too late.

Galbraith's Alehouse in Mt Eden. Photo / Babiche Martens

Molten

422 Mt Eden Rd, Mt Eden

If you have a group of four or more we suggest setting aside some space for a roast in the courtyard of this Mt Eden bistro. Molten's feasting menu is a treat for meat-eaters and the brick roasting pit out the back is bound to get the primal juices flowing. Get organised and call ahead to book a suckling pig or roast lamb, rubbed with oil and its skin massaged with salt, pepper and thyme. Pick a bunch of rustic sides to share and let co-owner and award-winning sommelier Sven Nielsen select some drinks. Two courses will cost $55 or three for $65 - we promise you won't go hungry.

Molten restaurant in Mt Eden. Photo / Getty Images

Bird on a wire

234 Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby

We admit, it's not your traditional Sunday roast, but this is an easy (and healthy) way to satisfy the family. Plus, who can say no to the smell of a free-range bird fresh from the rotisserie? A full cooked chook will cost you $25 and add one of the tasty bastes for $2 - Jamaican Jerk is the most popular. You'll want a sample of fresh salads (from $5) and roast taties cooked in chicken fat and soaked in gravy ($8) to complete your hip take on a Sunday roast.