Friday Feed hunts out Sydney’s best roasts

Chefs are reinventing the Sunday roast, turning mum’s staple into something even more delicious.

The Sunday roast, at the Unicorn Hotel, Paddington.

• RAISING THE YUM CHA
• BIG BURGERS WITH THE LOT
• IT’S LOVE ON THE ROCKS
• MOTHERS OF REINVENTION

Gone are the days of lumpy gravy, overcooked beef and stringy chicken as restaurants reinvent the classic winter comfort food.

At Glass Brasserie in the Hilton, Luke Mangan has one-upped mum’s roast. On Sundays, a three-course meal includes dishes such as wood-roasted split prawns followed by slow-roasted Ranger Valley black onyx rump with berbere spice rub and fig tarte tatin.

While roasts have nostalgic appeal, Mangan believes they’re ripe for reinvention.

“I remember growing up as a kid, Mum would do a Sunday roast and that’s why I’ve gone down that road,”
he says. “Don’t think you’ll just get roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, it’s traditional food modernised.

“We’re not just throwing a bit of beef in the oven, we’re changing the cut every week. With a fillet of beef, we use a Japanese technique where it’s seared, roasted until rare and then we throw it into ice water to stop it cooking. We then put it in a cryovac bag with olive oil and fresh herbs, lightly poaching that beef so it comes to medium/medium rare so we create a whole different taste sensation.”

The sunday roast at Glass Brasserie, include wood raosted prawns, Ranger Valley black Onyx Rump and truffle mash.

Mangan believes there’s nothing that can’t be improved by roasting.

“I think you can roast anything It’s been drummed into us to associate it with meat, but a whole fish or bit of salmon is lovely roasted,” he says.

“Winter fruits are lovely roasted; quinces, apples, pears and rhubarb are great when you get all the natural juices and spice them up. Pears with olive oil, cinnamon and star anise can be served with a beautiful chocolate ice cream.”

As you’d expect of a pub, The Unicorn in Paddington serves a glazed roast chook. But vegetarians are also catered for.

Head chef Jimmy Garside has created a dish in its own right rather than just plating up a selection of sides, which can leave vegetarians feeling like an afterthought.

“We roast the cauliflower first with our local extra virgin olive oil and Murray River salt flakes,” Garside says.

“Then we split the cauli and top it with a cheese sauce, bake it again, gratinated with cheese and then we cover it in a herb and garlic breadcrumb mix,” he says.

“Roasting a whole cauliflower is one of the best ways to cook one. As it cooks you get the delicious blackened leaves and top of the cauliflower while the middle is getting steamed. And who doesn’t love a cauliflower cheese?”

SYDNEY’S BEST ROASTS

The Morrison, Giant Yorkshire pudding with pulled duck, mushy peas & red wine jus.

The Morrison Bar and Oyster Room, CBD

Executive chef Sean Connolly’s Yorkshire roots come through on his winter menu. The Duck Yorkie is a giant Yorkshire pudding filled with confit-style, pulled duck served on a bed of mushy peas and covered in a beef and red wine jus.

Chiswick, Woollahra's whiole roast duck for its winter Sunday roast series.

Chiswick, Woollahra

Matt Moran’s winter Sunday roast series in June changes every week. This Sunday it’ll be whole roast duck with parsnip and thyme, followed by cottage pie and baby carrots, and roast pork knuckle with braised cabbage and mash at the end of the month.

The yorkshire pudding from The Local Taphouse

The Local Taphouse, Darlinghurst

The meat may change every Sunday, but whatever else is on the plate you can rest assured there’ll be the kind of fluffy, oversized Yorkshire pudding that a northern English lad’s dreams are made of.

Alpha's spit roasted suckling pig with roast parsnip and parsley walnut tabbouleh.

Alpha, CBD

Greek-style roasts offer diners something a little different. Think a dish of slow-roasted lamb spare ribs with biseli pea puree, kefalotyri and mint salad or a spit-roasted suckling pig with roast parsnip and parsley, walnut tabbouleh.

Mercado’s suckling pig.

Mercado, CBD

The suckling pig special really is special, with co-owner Steve Anastasiou breeding pasture-fed rare breed pigs on his farm, Clover Hill, in Oberon, for the farm-to-table experience.

Burwood Hotel’s roasted salmon fillet finished with fresh grapefruit and ginger juice.

Burwood Hotel, Burwood

You can get a roasted lamb rump served with a chickpea and vegetable tagine and pomegranate pearls or roasted salmon fillet finished with fresh grapefruit and ginger juice.

Howard’s Cantina whole whey braised lamb shoulder.

Howard’s Cantina, Erskineville

Shared roasts include a whole whey-braised lamb shoulder, smoked pumpkin wedge with whipped garlic and mint plus potato mash and gravy which uses three kinds of chicken fat.

The Tilbury’s beef roast

The Tilbury, Woolloomooloo

Yorkshire-raised chef Mark Holland marries English sensibility and Aussie barbecue when it comes to the pub’s Sunday roasts, such as whole marinated lamb on the spit paired with his grandmother’s classic mint sauce recipe.