Ted gets roasted

… and no of course I don’t mean I personally roasted in the blistering heat of a typical English summer (small pause while I roll on the floor laughing at my own joke … hey if I don’t who will??) … and now back to today’s topic. 

Roast restaurant is housed in a spectacular building that was relocated from Covent Garden and put in pride of place in my favourite spot … Borough Market. Despite having been a trading market since the 1100’s the Government saw fit to close it in 1755. The reason for it was … yes … standby … to sell the land to developers - oh how true it is that the more things change the more they stay the same.  Southwark residents rescued Borough Market by raising £6,000 to buy The Triangle, a patch of land that was once the churchyard of St Margaret’s. They reopened the market just a year after it was closed and The Triangle is still at the heart of Borough Market.

There’s no doubt Roast has a great location, with the wonderful urbanism of trains rolling by at eye level, and its pretty much unique of position of being the only place you can have a “corporate power breakfast” on the south side of London Bridge … but does it live up to its own publicity of great food built on excellent quality British produce and the national meal … “Sunday roast”.

So … get to the point Ted … how was Roast?.  Well … Treasures … the food either side of the main event was very good. Portland crab cakes with cucumber and horseradish gazpacho, pickled radish, and apple was a very nicely executed tasty textural affair. Next the piece du resistance … the “roast” and I chose pork belly with Bramley apple sauce. I wish I’d come earlier in the day when the crackling would have still been crisp, and the roast potatoes weren’t so hard on the outside that the fluffiness inside wasn't just too much hard work to appreciate. My Kent cherry choux bun with yogurt ice cream was a perfectly balanced affair … the recommended wine choice wasn’t …

Roast will endure and for good reason – the service is good, the food is good, the location is great, and the breakfasting and lunching out of towners love it … business logic not to be sneezed at … even in hay fever season.