The Best Sunday Roasts In South East England
Published 19 November 2024

At the hub of a Sussex hilltop village, with a sunny terrace overlooking the local church, this reimagined 16th-century inn has all the nooks, crannies, inglenooks, oak beams and floral displays that you could wish for. Efficient, cheery staff keep things rolling along, bringing ‘pint milk bottles’ of water to each table as a matter of course. The place gets packed and everyone is here for the food – thanks to a confident kitchen that can deliver consistent crowd-pleasing dishes from a regular menu and a chalked-up specials board that included a tempting with a crab-topped crumpet with cucumber and almond cream.

Burgers, pies and battered fish keep the traditionalists happy, but there's room for invention too: a well-balanced goat’s cheese brûlée delivered on all fronts, with a fine lavosh cracker alongside, while cod fillet was perfectly pan-fried, with impressive accompaniments including a crayfish beurre noisette, silky-smooth celeriac purée, savoy cabbage and crispy Parmesan-crusted potatoes. Meaty choices range from Surrey ribeye steaks with peppercorn butter to haunch of local venison richly embellished with a braised shoulder tartlet, quince poached in mulled wine, potato terrine and a boozy sauce. And on Sundays, the prospect of three ultra-traditional roasts guarantees regular full houses.

The kitchen puts on a show when it comes to desserts: our deep-filled lemon tart had bags of citrus tang, with blackberry purée and blackberry sorbet on the side, while a dark chocolate terrine was lifted by a raspberry sorbet and maple-flavoured honeycomb. The well-considered wine collection offers oodles by the glass, including a range of Sussex sparklers.

Dating from the 16th century, the Merry Harriers is snuggled away in a rural Surrey enclave noted for its scenic woodland walks. Owners Alex Winch and chef Sam Fiddian-Green have given the place a gentle modern makeover (soft green colours, bentwood chairs, winter fires) and turned it into an ‘incredibly inviting’ destination for locals and visitors alike (keep an eye out for the weekly ‘meat raffle’). A menu that exhaustively lists all the kitchen's local suppliers inspires confidence, and the food is just what country-pub aficionados relish. To begin, a heritage tomato salad with goat’s curd might vie with sardines on toast, while mains could run from lamb’s liver with mash and shallots to halibut with brown shrimps, burnt butter and cucumber. Meat from the nearby family farm is a star turn, from braised short rib with polenta to sharing cuts of wagyu/Hereford cross. At the sweet end of things, there might be blackberry and tonka bean trifle or a ‘sandwich’ of Kentish cherries and chocolate ice cream. Tip-top draught beers and a carefully compiled wine list, too.

Locals and visitors heap high praise on this ‘stunning countryside pub’ on a rural stretch of road three miles from Rye. The location is glorious, a garden with ‘sheep baa-ing while you eat’ beckons in fine weather, and a ‘joyous, welcoming atmosphere’ prevails. Inside, scuffed floorboards, plain tables and wood-burners set the tone, while paintings by Sussex artist William Warden ‘bring a lovely local connection to the venue’. As for food, it's ‘modern, forward-thinking cooking’, with locally sourced, seasonal ingredients taking centre stage. The weekday lunch is ‘amazing value’, while the straightforward carte promises a mix of pub classics (chicken and ham hock pie) and more complex combinations such as nori-cured chalk stream trout with pickled kohlrabi and horseradish. Sunday roasts are singled out for special praise, and desserts could include blackberry meringue with mascarpone and puffed buckwheat. Welcoming staff ‘want you to feel comfortable’, and the good humour extends to small children and dogs. Harvey’s Sussex Best is on draught, and the compact wine list offers reasonably priced drinking across the board.

After a lengthy closure, the Plough (formerly the Plowden Arms) was rescued from its lonely furrow in 2022 when the Canadian-born owner reopened this old village hostelry following an extensive refit. The new look – parquet flooring, sofas and upholstered chairs, modern artworks, posh toilets – marries well with the dark beams and low ceilings. Readers confirm that the decor is 'stunning', as is the recently landscaped garden, complete with a firepit for summer evenings.

The food (‘exciting but accessible’) also finds favour, with menus catering for most occasions – from gentrified fish and chips to a monthly ‘flight club’ where a five-course tasting menu is combined with wine pairings, cocktails and live music. The kindly priced, no-choice set lunch is a popular option, with villagers tucking into the likes of cauliflower velouté with hazelnut and apple gremolata, sea trout fillet with a cep and eel sauce, and desserts such as tonka-bean parfait. The concise seasonal carte kicks off with snacks including beetroot and horseradish arancini, though all but the ravenous might head straight for starters.

Our winter lunch opened with a cigar-shaped rissole of tasty pulled oxtail, coated in a crunchy crust topped with a modicum of celeriac rémoulade and lovage emulsion. And though Parmesan masked the fungal flavour in a main course of wild mushroom risotto, the creamy rice, garden peas and fresh thyme made a comforting retreat from bitter January – as did the log fire. To finish, ‘set cream’ was a satisfyingly wobbly panna cotta matched with orange compôte and an intense chocolate ice.

The kitchen also delivers when it comes to providing a stylishly traditional Sunday lunch (‘simple, not overstated, and exactly what we love,’ commented one fan), while service is polite, friendly and attentive. Drinks are a forte too, with well-chosen Old World wines (including fizz from a local vineyard) augmented by cocktails and Rebellion beers.  

The pub’s name references the Derby, which has been run for centuries up on Epsom Downs racecourse, so it's no surprise that the interior of this pleasingly spruced-up, 16th-century coaching house is stuffed with memorabilia – our dining booth featured a fascinating display of race day badges. An old-school bar at the front is regularly filled with families and their dogs, while the separate restaurant area is lit by a skylight that illuminates the dark wood surfaces and eclectic furniture.

Pub classics such as sausage rolls with Dorking sauce, homemade pies, rare-breed steaks (cooked ‘nicely pink’) are balanced by a roster of more ambitious dishes. A fistful of tapas-style small plates double as starters (Dingley Dell charcuterie, burrata and roast pumpkin with crispy buckwheat drizzled with hot honey), while mains hop around the globe – from comforting slow-cooked lamb shank with chive mash and roasted heritage carrots to five-spice duck breast with cherry gel or corn-fed chicken leg presented as a confit alongside girolles, broad beans and fino sherry sauce.

On Sundays, the chef brings it all back home with a trio of traditional roasts served generously with ‘epic Yorkshires’ and plenty of trimmings – the cauliflower cheese is an outright winner. Desserts keep it homely too, with the likes of apple and blackberry crumble or sticky toffee pudding often showing up on the menu. Service gets full marks all round, as does the drinks list – whether your preference is for locally brewed ale, reasonably priced wine or a zesty cocktail.

There are newly tarted-up pubs and then there's the White Hart, which dates back to the 1400s and has been posh for centuries. ‘Baronial’ is always the first word that springs to mind when you enter the dramatic dining room with its soaring oak-beamed ceiling, flagstone floor, stone-mullioned windows and impressive inglenook fireplace. Such surroundings could easily feel starchy, but friendly, casually dressed staff, a separate and equally venerable bar (complete with real ales and local drinkers), and modern cooking courtesy of new head chef Peter Eaton (ex-The Woodspeen) leaven things admirably. The White Hart's kitchen garden and local farms supply many of the ingredients for seasonal menus that might start with a consummately rendered fig, coppa and goat's cheese salad, ahead of succulent sea bream matched with tomato and anchovy vinaigrette and saffron gnocchi. A serious wine list provides back-up, while a summer house and beer garden (including a summertime pizza kitchen) add to the allure. ‘Amazing seasonal food, creative dishes, first-class staff and a beautiful historic building’ sums it up perfectly.