Is there anything more British than tucking into a majestic Roast Dinner on a Sunday? Probably not.
And as the nights draw in and we jump headlong into what looks to be a dark, cold and depressing winter, there’s not much that can brighten up your spirits like a great Sunday Dinner, and the establishments of Manchester and its suburbs have you well and truly covered.
Recent years have seen a huge improvement in the sheer quality of roasts across the city, as fierce Sunday competition has forced places to think outside the box, and offer up something that others don’t.
As a result, the choice on offer nowadays is outstanding, meaning this list of the Best Roast Dinners in Manchester is massive. Best crack on then…
Elnecot
Famed throughout the land for their Sunday roasts, there are many people out there proclaiming it to be the best you can get in Ancoats, which is a very bold claim – considering the amount of competition in the area. But with their recent introduction of Wagyu beef from Ifor Humphries Farm in Wales, the bar has been set as high as it can go. The cattle are given daily massages and are fed beer from local award-winning brewery Monty’s – all to ensure that this meat is of the very highest quality and tastes phenomenal. Undoubtedly one of the highest standards of roasts in the city.
Firehouse
Home to an incredible incredible Sunday roast that sits pretty amongst a packed programme of DJs, live music and entertainment – all coming together to create a must-visit destination spot every single weekend. Their ‘slow fire’ cooking is perfect for roast dinners where you can choose from either Lemon, Garlic and Thyme Roast Chicken, Roast Rump of Cheshire Beef or the Oyster Mushroom Wellington. Each one comes with all the trimmings, including massive Yorkies, roast potatoes, honey-roasted carrots and parsnips and lashings of gravy.
Hawksmoor
Favourite of many a meat lover, Hawksmoor inevitably does a fantastic roast dinner every Sunday, served up with only the very best meats that money can buy. There’s their succulent Slow-roasted Rump served with beef dripping potatoes, Yorkies and and an outstanding rich bone marrow and onion gravy. If you’re feeling particularly extravagant (and hungry), they also do a massive sharer of Slow-roasted Prime Rib for between 2 and 3 people for £80. Don’t forget the sides either – of which Hawksmoor can boast some of the very best in the city. Their cheesy Tunworth Mash is a must.
Carnival at Escape to Freight Island
A new collaboration between Richard Turners (Hawksmoor, Pitt Cue) and the team behind iconic Liverpool bistro, Belzan, Carnival celebrates open fire cooking – which lends itself perfectly to a truly majestic roast dinner. Cooked every week from 12pm, the roast can be enjoyed as either two courses (£25) or three (£29) and there’s the Slow-roasted 34-day Aged Rump of Beef, Roasted Porchetta stuffed with peach, sage and pancetta or Mrs Kirkham’s Cheese & Onion Pie to choose from. Or, you can share ‘The Beast, a 1kg Porterhouse Steak with cauliflower cheese, which serves two for an added surcharge.
The Black Friar
Available every Sunday from 12pm, until it runs out, The Black Friar’s roast dinner is every bit as sumptuous and impressive as you’d imagine coming from the kitchen and mind of Chef Ben Chaplin. You can go for two courses for £29 or three for £35 and their ‘Sunday Feast’ offering is extensive, to say the least. Pride and place though is the roast, and there’s the choice of Beef, Chicken or Beetroot Tart Tatin, all served with trimmings galore. This historic boozer is the perfect setting for a cracking roast dinner, even better when paired with a few pints of Boddingtons.
Three Little Words
Three Little Words have created ‘Feed the Soul Sunday’, combining excellent roast dinners with cocktails and an afternoon of live music. Served with all of the trimmings, there’s Roast Topside of Beef, Pork Belly with sage and apricot stuffing, Chicken Supreme or a Crispy Veggie Patty, and you’d be mad not to add the Cauliflower Cheese on there too for an extra fiver. With a gin distillery literally two metres away from your table, this is the perfect opportunity to sink a couple of G&Ts with your dinner too.
The Refuge
Finding yourself holed up in the stunning Refuge on a cold, windy, wet Sunday afternoon, it would be criminal to not give their famous Roast Dinner Platter a try, mainly because it’s one of the best roasts in the city. It comes in at £44 but for that you get a huge pile of Grass-fed Rump of Lancashire Beef, Half a Roast Cumbrian Chicken and Rare Breed Pork Loin accompanied with all the usual mod-cons including perfectly crunchy-fluffy roasties, Yorkshires and their fantastic Vimto-braised red cabbage.
Libertine
Easily the newest addition to the roast dinner game in Manchester, Withington’s old bank has been transformed into Libertine – a stunning eatery from the minds behind Edinburgh Castle and Cottonopolis. They’ve launched straight off the bat with a dedicated Sunday menu, one that features Hereford Sirloin of Beef, Tamworth Pork Belly, Brined Half of Chicken and Roasted Harissa Cauliflower – all served with beef dripping roasties (except the veggies obviously) honey-glazed carrots, Yorkies and gravy. They also do a Whole Roasted Chicken that’s perfect for 4 people to share – great value too at just £45.
Zouk
An Indian restaurant that does a Sunday roast!? Yes, and they do it exceptionally well here too, with highly unique roast dinners, with an Indian twist. There’s plenty on offer, from a Mini Lamb Roast to Whole Roast Raan Chicken, Roast Dinner Platters and even a Whole Roast Leg of Lamb. If you give them 48 hours’ notice they can do a whole stuffed lamb for you too. On Sundays Zouk also offer a couple of special lobster dishes, including Lobster Thermidor and a Lobster Gwadri Khas – a masala lobster from the Baluchistan province of Pakistan.
Jane Eyre
One of Ancoats’ best kept roast secrets, neighbourhood bar and small plates specialists, Jane Eyre, put on a weekly roast that people in know come from far and wide to try – and they’re never disappointed. Their Sunday Menu kicks in from 12pm and includes Roast Sirloin of Beef, or their regularly changing ‘Roast of the Day’ served with some stunning duck fat roast potatoes, greens, pork stuffing, Yorkies and gravy. For the vegans out there, an excellent Vegan Nut Roast awaits.
The Bay Horse Tavern
A well-trodden favourite in the Northern Quarter, you can always be assured of a top quality roast dinner in the Bay Horse – a place that whose foundations are built on rotisserie meats, potatoes and gallons of thick gravy. Choose from Chicken or Beef Sirloin with all the trimmings with a Mushroom Wellington for veggies. Be sure to order their outstanding Sticky Toffee Pudding for your afters too – rounding off the perfect Sunday Dinner experience.
Edinburgh Castle
Now a well-trodden veteran on the Ancoats food and boozer scene, Edinburgh Castle have continued their high food standards throughout, and manage to truly shine every Sunday with their massive roast dinners. The choices are many, with Roasted Rump of Beef, Rolled Packington Pork Belly, Roasted Lamb Shoulder or Roasted Poussin, all served with dripping roasted potatoes, roasted root veg and Yorkshires. For veggies there’s a Parsnip & Potato Gratin too.
TNQ
A roast dinner that’s won more awards than Marlon Brando and one that will have feeling as fat as him by the end of it. TNQ serve up their wonderful roasts as part of a set menu on Sunday, where you can get 3 courses for just £24.95. The roast itself has been named runner-up for the ‘Best Sunday Lunch’ in the Observer Food Monthly Awards in 2018 & 2019, and if you’re struggling to decide what you’re having – go for the Gloucester Old Spot Pork Belly – it’s amazing.
The Eagle & Child
One of the best boozers in the whole of Greater Manchester and a jewel in the crown of Ramsbottom, The Eagle & Child is one of those pubs that anytime you’re in the town, it warrants a visit, and you’ll probably end up staying for hours. It’s won countless accolades over the years, and the sheer excellence of their roasts is a testament to their achievements. Even better is their new outside terrace, complete with massive tipi, the perfect spot to enjoy a Sunday lunch with a few pints.
Pot Kettle Black (Angel Gardens)
Who’d have thought that cafe, brunch and baking specialists at PKB could also put their skills to creating a truly outstanding roast dinner? Well, us. And pretty much everyone else really. Owners Mark Flanagan and Jon Wilkin set about making Sundays a true destination at the Angel Gardens site, with their roast dinners at the forefront of this. Add in a dedicated cocktail menu, top tunes and a nice chilled-out vibe – and you’ll see that they’ve totally cracked it.
Albert Schloss
Cruise on down to Albert Schloss on a Sunday and you’ll experience their fantastic Sunday Service, featuring more roast dinners than Aunt Bessie’s front room as well as some cracking tunes right into the early hours. Not only can you tuck into some succulent roast meats, potatoes and lashings of veg, but they also have a gospel choir singing between 2 pm and 4 pm, before DJs take to the decks, and singers and dancers take to the stage.
Ducie Street Warehouse
One of the most interesting roasts that we’ve seen in the city for a while, Ducie Street Warehouse’s ‘Sunday with Sides’ features (probably) the world’s first Cauliflower Cheese menu – complete with eight different options available for your roast. The ‘Just Cauli-Cheese‘ menu has been created by renowned Head Chef and Sunday Lunch impresario – Andrew Green and sits alongside a selection of mains including Dry-aged Shorthorn Beef Sirloin, Roast Supreme of Corn-fed Chicken, Rosemary Roasted Leg of Lamb, Free-range Gammon and a weekly changing vegan roast.
The White Hart Inn at Lydgate
Located right in the sticks in the poshest part of Oldham, the White Hart Inn at Lydgate is renowned for its phenomenal food and rustic countryside setting. Sitting in here on a cold Sunday afternoon, the Pennines stretching away into the distance through the window while you chomp down on a juicy roast dinner is probably one of life’s greatest pleasures – made even better with the prospect of a dessert and a few crisp ales to wash it all down with. Well worth the trip!
Coal & Cotton
Once called the Greyhound but refurbished and renamed Coal & Cotton in 2019, this place has become a big favourite amongst locals in Boothstown, with many of them flocking there on a Sunday to tuck into their amazing roast dinners. There’s the choice of Roast Chicken, Roast Leg of Lamb and Roast Beef Sirloin, all served with big fat Yorkies, duck fat potatoes and the trimmings. Vegans and Veggies are well served too. Also of note is their massive Roast Platter, a combo of three roast meats and all the veggies, potatoes and gravy.
Trof
Trof has been around for 11 years now so they’ve got their Sunday Roasts down to an art. And I mean the good art. Each week they provide the hungry, (often hungover) Northern Quarter punters with a selection of meats or veggie options in which to smother in thick gravy and enjoy. There’s always a great atmosphere in here, and the tunes are always top too.
The Gherkin
The Gherkin in Levenshulme is a concept born from owner Jamie Whittaker’s vision of bringing healthy, sustainable, vegetarian and vegan food to the suburb, in a space that would bring people together for events that cater for all members of the community. They also do a banging roast too, called the ‘Sunday Feast’ you can choose either Mushroom Wellington, Spiced Butternut Squash & Spinach Bake or Superior Sausages and they come with broccoli florets, red onion and garlic beetroots, roast potatoes, thyme carrots, parsnips, ‘Leve’ pudding and lashings of their speciality gravy.
The Bull & Bear
Tom Kerridge’s Bull & Bear offer a Sunday Set Menu where you can get two courses for £39 or three for £46.50, and featuring, as you should expect – a phenomenal Sunday roast. There’s the Dry Aged Hereford Rib of Beef, Roasted Lamb Shoulder, Roasted Herb Fed Chicken or Ratatouille Tart on offer, or if you’re not a fan of Sunday roasts (who?!) then there’s the Deep-Fried Market Fish & Chips. The roasts here, as with all of the dishes, are elevated to a couple of notches above most other options in the city, thanks to Kerridge’s creativity and his team’s startosphere-high standards.
The Lowry Hotel
I’m sure that this gets said all the time but I’m going to say it anyway; a five-star Sunday lunch at a five-star hotel. Traditional but “crafted to perfection”, the Lowry’s River Restuarant offers up a truly excellent roast, either Sirloin of Cheshire Farm Beef or Crispy Gloucester Old Spot Pork Belly. The sides also shine here, with a cauliflower cheese that’s packed with the gorgeous Lancashire Bomb cheese, duck fat potatoes, and Warm Sourdough Bread which is served with probably the nicest smoked butter you’ll ever taste in your life.
The Church Inn of Mobberley
A traditional 18th-century country inn located opposite the 12th-century St. Wilfrid’s Church in the leafy village of Mobberley, people flock from far and wide to experience the Sunday roast at The Church Inn. Made using local ingredients, and supporting local farmers, suppliers and even brewers – the roast menu at this ancient pub features 28 Day Aged Roast Sirloin of Rose County Beef, alongside a regularly changing ‘Roast of the Day’. Once you’ve finished your roast, and had some dessert, Mobberley is a lovely little village to walk it all off around – not forgetting a little visit to the nearby Mobberley Brewhouse.
Ate Days A Week
A recent addition to the city centre and a restaurant that’s jam-packed with an abundance of innovation and creativity from owner and chef Andy James. If his imaginative pies aren’t enough to get you in here, his Sunday roasts definitely will be. Featuring a Beef Short Rib, Pork Belly, Rosemary & Mint Lamb Shank, and a Spinach and Owd Yoner Pithivier, the roasts are served with roast potatoes, seasonal greens, root vegetable mash, Yorkshire pudding and gravy to complement each main ingredient. The gravy is made up of the juices from each meat, making it unique to each roast.
Asha’s
Recently re-opened, Asha’s are once again getting back into the swing of things with their legendary Indian-style roast dinners. It’s the perfect blend of Indian and English, with a choice of Roasted Tandoori Chicken, Slow-Roasted Leg of Lamb or Tandoori Masala Roasted Cauliflower, all served with coconut beans, masala-roasted heritage carrots, cumin potatoes, and a healthy jug of Asha’s special gravy.
Herd NQ
Northern Quarter steak house Herd offer up some of the very best steaks in the entire city, a mix of organic Aberdeen Angus & Hereford crosses, aged by their butchers so that they’re mega juicy and packed full of flavour. As you’d expect – their Sunday roasts are something special too – with Roast Dry-Aged Topside of Beef or Miso-Roasted Cauliflower on offer. A special shout-out should go to their red wine gravy – it’s phenomenal.
Dakota Grill
Dakota Hotel burst on the scene last year with a grand opening to one of the plushest hotels in town. Dakota Grill serve up a classic and delectable Sunday Roast Dinner with a choice of Beef, Chicken or Nut Roast and a plate full of all the extra trimmings. That includes Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, honey roast parsnips, carrot and swede mash, green beans and cauliflower cheese for the table.
The Wharf
Always packed out on a Sunday, The Wharf is a huge roast favourite down in Castlefield Basin, and the quintessential afternoon in the pub experience. There’ll be a roaring fire on, pints aplenty, the odd dog knocking about, and wonderful meats and veg flying out of the kitchen, smothered in rich gravy and just gagging to be eaten. Their Duck Fat Roast Potatoes are amazing, and make sure you have the Sticky Toffee Pudding for afters.
Smithfield Social
A buzzing eatery in the heart of NQ, Smithfield Social serves up a banging Sunday menu featuring some excellent options of beef, pork, lamb and a vegan nut roast, all served with garlic and rosemary potatoes, seasonal veg in herb butter, Yorkshire puddings and LASHINGS of gravy – just how we like it. The restaurant also has a Sunday sourdough butty menu packed with either beef, lamb or porchetta and a side of potatoes and gravy. So good.
Firefly
If you’re looking for a free spirited Sunday Roast, you MUST visit Firefly. Choose from beef, chicken or lamb, all served with buttery carrot and swede mash, a GIANT Yorkshire pudding, crispy roast potatoes, mixed greens, spring cabbage and a red wine gravy.
