Roast

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Restaurants and cafés

London Bridge

Expensive

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Time Out says

Tue Jun 26 2012

Perched like a glass birdcage above Borough Market, Roast’s window-lined first-floor dining room – all high ceilings, white table linen, fine glassware, piano player at the bar, attentive waiters – makes a serene contrast to the mêlée of the market below, an oasis of leisurely dining above London’s temple of haute street food. The grand space has in the past slightly outclassed the occasionally stodgy food.

But a new chef, New Zealander Marcus Verberne, has started to adapt the menu to its surroundings while staying true to British roots. It won’t win awards for innovation, but a starter of sautéed mushrooms on brioche was perfectly prepared and came with a dainty poached quail’s egg balanced on top. Take a hint from the restaurant’s name and go for a traditional roast for main course.

Pork belly was meltingly tender and rich, nicely offset by apple sauce. Satisfying roast beef with yorkshire pudding and all the trimmings was a mile away from the grey mess sometimes found at old boozers. Puddings are equally time-honoured. In such a spectacular space, some diners might long for a bit of pzazz in the food, but traditionalists won’t be disappointed.

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Address:
Roast The Floral Hall, Borough Market, Stoney Street
London
SE1 1TL

Venue phone:
020 36417958
Venue website:
www.roast-restaurant.com
Opening hours:
Breakfast served 7-10.45am Mon-Fri; 8-11.30am Sat. Lunch served noon-2.45pm Mon, Tue; noon-3.45pm Wed-Sat; 11.30am-4pm Sun. Dinner served 6-10.30pm Mon-Sat; 4-8.45pm Sun
Transport:
Tube: London Bridge tube/rail
Price:
Main courses £16.50-£35. Set meal (Sun) £32 3 courses
Map
1. Roast
  - The Floral Hall, Borough Market, Stoney Street
    London
    SE1 1TL
  - 020 36417958
  - www.roast-restaurant.com
  - 51.505028,-0.090064

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Comments & ratings

(8 ratings)

overrated food!!! this is roast dinner but half the qu

elodie Sun Feb 17
Rated as: 2/5
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We arrived in the borough area hoping to go to black and blue. The empty restaurant had a 40 min wait for a table of 2. We stumbled instead on Roast. What a fabulous find! Lovely restaurant, delicious food and attentive service. Our main of porterhouse steak took a little longer than expected and we were served some smoked trout on the house to wet our appetites. A little expensive but lovely location. Will definitely be back!

Kim Sat Sep 29 2012
Rated as: 4/5
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Overpriced. The food was good, in style and quality comparable to a good gastropub, but does not live up to it's price. The wine list was original and extensive. The location overviewing borough market is amazing, although not much action outside in the evening. The interior itself was a bit bland, cheap lighting, hotel style run of the mill furniture. Live music was enjoyable (except when he started to sing). if it was half price it would have my recommendation.

filip Mon May 14 2012
Rated as: 3/5
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Amazing atmosphere, great service, good drinks list. Only qualm I have would be that I ordered a vego dish as I'd had a really big meaty lunch. Everyone else's meat dishes came out looking delicious and were polished off with gusto. the vegetarian option was boring and not very tasty. To be fair, with a name like Roast, you wouldn't necessarily expect good vego options but it's frustrating trying to find good vegetarian dishes!

Jess Thu Feb 9 2012
Rated as: 4/5
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Roast continuously delivers excellent food and drinks. I personally find the service to be the best I have come across in London to date, possibly even in Europe. I started working in Southwark this year, and have since been to Roast on many occassions with friends from all over the world - New Zealand, Belgium etc. who all enjoyed the setting and the food. I would give 5 stars if it weren't so easy to rack up a bill that almost turns your stomach, but I wouldn't keep coming back if I wouldn't think it was worth it. One of my favorite places in London, and I would recommend it for business and for a special treat.

-M Wed Oct 5 2011
Rated as: 4/5
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I visited the restaurant sometime in September 2010 based on the positive feedback from Time Out among others. My initial impressions were positive thanks to the atmostphere and the live music, but I was utterly disappointed by the food: the pork belly was chewy and seemed to have been reheated (the Harvey Nichols at the OXO tower was lightyears better). I'd like to hope that a exceptional faux-pas but I am not sure I will return.

Ghislain Fri Feb 18 2011
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Lovely setting; food average and wildly over-priced. Service is a big issue: rather than being ignored, we find the waiters incredibly intrusive, constantly interrupting conversations and not coordinating their service - on our first visit we had three waiters assigned to our table, interrupting us at 30 second intervals. On return visits they were busier, so not so attentive(!) but equally irritating in their ability to disrupt the flow of conversation for trivial questions. Additionally, if you visit on a Sunday there is huge pressure to turn tables and their constant reminders that "you only have 2 hours" are somewhat unwelcoming.

fjm30 Sun Nov 21 2010
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Went for the breakfast recently on a Saturday morning. It's a bit on the expensive side (we just missed the 2 for 1 time) but the service was good and the food (omelettes) cooked to order and very tasty. Don't bother with the tiny overpriced coffee though.

Matthew S Thu Aug 19 2010
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Went to Roast on Sunday 15 August; table was ready early, service very efficient and roast beef tasty plus served with crisp roast potatoes. One real complaint is that the Maitre d' went to such incredible trouble to tell us that they had a 2 hour dining policy and although we had arrived at 3pm on a Sunday for a 3.30pm booking we would have to leave again by 5.30pm. My father looked shocked and I almost hoped be could spend more than 2.5 hours there to see what they would do. Fail.

Julian P Thu Aug 19 2010
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