Housed inside the National Gallery, Ochre has been enchanting
Londoners with its exceptional grub and opulent, peachy-hued
interiors – think marble, cane, antiques and floor lamps you’d like
to borrow for your own pad – since opening last spring. It was only
last month, though, that the restaurant unveiled its all-new Sunday
roast menu, an à la carte affair involving the likes of creamy
burrata and lemon-drenched chicken. Our order? The Cornish mackerel
tacos, followed by the aged Hereford beef, served with watercress,
pickled walnuts and horseradish cream. We also loved the apple
crumble, which is best paired with a refreshing mojito. In town on
a Thursday? Check the website for the date of the next monthly
Ochre Rocks event, offering live music and cocktails inspired by
works hanging in the gallery.

Sitting pretty in a beautiful red-brick building on Brixton’s
Coldharbour Lane, this all-day bistro is loved for its top-notch
menu and gorgeous interiors. Outside, chalkboard signs,
wrought-iron railings and enormous white parasols make for sublime
al fresco dining. Inside, a relaxed setting benefits from high
ceilings, glass pendant lights, banquette seating in duck-egg green
and floor-to-ceiling shelves stocked with an impressive selection
of independent wines – we can thank owner Mel Brown for that one.
Start with the leeks vinaigrette or potted crab, then choose
between three mains: leek and mushroom pie, roast pork belly, and a
succulent sirloin served with Yorkshire pudding. Wash it all down
with a cucumber margarita and end on a sweet note with an ice-cream
sandwich.

If you’re craving a home-cooked meal, make tracks to this
much-loved Islington local, which offers comfort in spades. Corners
are piled high with firewood, while copper pans line the walls. The
on-site butcher provides delectable cuts, Yorkshire puds are the
size of your face and wine is carefully sourced from family-run
vineyards. Book in advance and arrive hungry – an elasticated
waistband is your friend here.

Known for its strong eco-credentials, this south London pub
grows its own vegetables on a plot next door, and uses local
produce whenever possible. The current menu features English
calamari, Blythburgh pork and Elwy Valley Welsh lamb. Save room for
pudding; the baked lemon cheesecake with berry coulis is a
wonder.

Cocktails start from a very reasonable £7.50 and there’s wine on
tap at this former brothel in Soho. We recommend visiting on a
Sunday preceding a bank holiday Monday; that way, it won’t matter
as much if you end up bar-hopping, post-dining. Line your stomach
with the mammoth all-in of pork, lamb or beef, accompanied by
eclectic sides such as coal-roasted pumpkin and parmesan. The real
drawcard, though, is the creamy cauliflower with four cheeses – a
dish we would happily visit for in itself.

Butcher-turned-chef Nicholas Essex takes Sunday dinners
seriously at Smokehouse. Topside of longhorn beef has been dry-aged
for 34 days (insert dribble-face emoji) and is impossibly tender,
oozing meaty juices over fluffy Yorkshire puddings and potatoes
lovingly roasted in duck fat. Get ready to feel the Sunday blues
evaporate in an instant.

If you’re naming your restaurant “Roast”, you’ve got to be
pretty damn confident your Sunday lunch is up to scratch, and this
Borough Market joint doesn’t disappoint. Swallow higher prices
along with exemplary beef sirloin and expertly paired wines, with
sweeping city views making it well worth it – particularly if
you’ve got visitors to London in tow.

A roaring open fire, well-dressed locals and some of the
crunchiest crackling in town make this gastropub a timeless winter
favourite. The Yorkshires are huge, there’s marmalade bread pudding
for dessert and the staff don’t mind when you ask for extra gravy –
on more than one occasion.

This waterside hangout is the ideal place to fend off hangovers
over a roast and bloody marys among east London cool cats. The
gravy is homemade, the carrots are honey-glazed and there’s a
beetroot, mushroom and spinach wellington for vegetarians. Be sure
to head down early, as it’s known to get busier than Piccadilly
Circus at rush hour.

London’s favourite grande dame puts on quite the Sunday spread
in its copper-hued dining room, The Grill. Peruse the menu over the
Dorchester’s take on a bloody mary, which is made with beef
consommé instead of your bog-standard Worcestershire sauce. To
start, opt for the Scotch egg stuffed with tender chunks of premium
lobster and a golden yolk that oozes at the first prick. After the
drinks trolley – manned by expert mixologist Federico – has whizzed
round to provide your fix of made-to-taste sours, it’s time for the
showstopper: patience-thin cuts of blushing beef, molten
cauliflower cheese, mint-spiked broccoli and moon crater-sized
Yorkshire puds. Mop up the gravy with hunks of freshly baked brown
bread smothered in chicken butter.

If only a Michelin-starred roast will do, book a table at this
west London lovely. With a focus on wild game, don’t be surprised
to find venison headlining, with support acts including Galloway
beef, Cornish monkfish and Cumbrian pork. To round lunch off
nicely, order the blood orange trifle, or the selection of cheeses
served with water crackers and homemade chutney.