Best Sunday Roasts in Manchester

The Sunday roast has been a fixture of British households for generations. Entire weekends have been built around it, family traditions have formed around it, and more than a few pub arguments have started around what condiment should really accompany your roast.

Manchester has certainly embraced the tradition. Ask enough people where the city’s best Sunday roast lives and you’ll quickly realise nobody is changing their mind. Every recommendation comes with a story attached to it, a family tradition, a memorable lunch or somebody insisting they’ve found gravy thick enough to plaster your walls… the proper way.

These are ten of our favourites.

Hawksmoor

Ask somebody where to go for a really good Sunday roast in Manchester and there’s almost a certainty that Hawksmoor gets answered before you can even close out your question.

There’s a reason for that. They’ve been one of the city’s best recommendations for years. The beef is excellent, the Yorkshire puddings arrive looking like they mean business, and every part of the experience feels like it has had some serious consideration for their guests. Not overthought it. Just got it absolutely spot on.

The best thing about Hawksmoor is that it works for pretty much any Sunday. Birthday lunch, family catch-up, visitors in town or simply because you’ve had a long week and fancy treating yourself. Nobody’s ever looked disappointed to be there.

You’ll leave full, craving that post-Sunday dinner nap, and already thinking about the next excuse to book a table.

The Angel

Some Sunday roasts feel like they’ve been designed for open fires and cold afternoons. The Angel is one of them.

The city centre favourite is as pubby as backstreet pubs do come, which has left it to build a loyal following over the years, becoming a favourite among those looking for a traditional Sunday lunch without any unnecessary fuss. Dark wood panelling, framed pictures and decades of character feel a world away from many of the city’s newer openings.

The food follows a similar philosophy. Generous cuts of meat. Beef served pink, braised lamb shoulder, piled high with the perfect roasties, and quite possibly the greatest gravy in town.

A lot of places can serve a good roast. Very few manage to create the feeling that comes with it too. The Angel gets both right.

Blacklock

Everybody thinks their mum does the best roast. Blacklock is one of the few places in Manchester with a genuine argument.

While the restaurant is best known for its chops, Sundays are a completely different story. The grills are packed away, whole joints of meat are hung over open coals, and the team spend the day focusing on one thing only: delivering a proper roast.

You won’t find them trying to reinvent Sunday lunch. They’re far too busy getting it right. The roast potatoes do exactly what they’re supposed to, the gravy is worth making room for, and the meat is given the time and attention it deserves.

If your benchmark for a roast is still the one you grew up eating at home, this is about as close as Manchester gets.

The Trof

Everybody seems to have a Trof story tucked away somewhere.

For years, it has been one of those Manchester venues people keep finding reasons to come back to. The Sunday roast is simply the latest one.

Now operating as The Trof Pub & Dining Room, the venue remains under the masterful eye of Matt Nellany and Jamie Pickles, who you may know from one of Manchester’s standout restaurants, Stow. Safe to say, they know their way around a memorable meal.

Thankfully, they’re bringing that same approach to Sunday lunch. This isn’t the sort of roast you’ll forget about by Monday morning. You’ll spend most of lunch discussing what to order next, then the following week wondering when you can justify coming back.

Manchester already cared about Trof. This new version gives people a new reason to fall in love with it all over again.

The Black Friar

The Black Friar has all the charm and appeal of a countryside pub, with the luxury of it being right on Manchester’s doorstep.

Over the last few years, the beautifully restored pub has become one of Greater Manchester’s stalwart Sunday spots, attracting people from well beyond the M60 ring road. Thankfully, it still feels warm, welcoming and completely unpretentious despite its popularity.

The menu changes with the seasons, giving people plenty of reasons to come back throughout the year, but some things remain non-negotiable. Great British cooking, generous portions and Yorkshire puddings that arrive at the table deserve their own postcode.

If you’ve somehow left room for dessert, you’ll quickly see why people travel well beyond Greater Manchester for a table here.

The Wharf

Somewhere between the canals, the barges, the first pint of the afternoon and the occasional runner wishing they were at The Wharf, Castlefield has a habit of making time move a little slower.

Set alongside the canal, The Wharf has become a popular destination for those brave enough to suggest “just one” on a Sunday afternoon. Thankfully, the recent refurbishment has resisted the temptation to fix what wasn’t broken, while the huge waterside beer garden remains one of the most sought-after spots in the city whenever the Manchester sun decides to make an appearance for 20 minutes.

Then there’s the Sunday side board. Pigs in blankets, cauliflower cheese, buttery mash and duck fat roast potatoes all arrive demanding equal billing, which feels entirely fair enough.

The best thing about The Wharf is that it never feels rushed. Find a table by the water, order a roast and let Castlefield do the rest.

Winsome

Sometimes the restaurants receiving the most praise can be the hardest places to relax in. Winsome has the opposite problem.

Headed by Chef Patron Shaun Moffat, formerly of Edinburgh Castle, the restaurant has unsurprisingly become one of Manchester’s most talked-about dining destinations. The Michelin Guide and National Restaurant Awards have already come calling. But the team seems far more interested in what’s happening on your plate than what people are saying about it.

The Sunday roast is no exception. This is a proper feast built around exceptional seasonal produce, generous portions and the level of skill that reminds you why British food can be so bloody good when it’s done properly.

One final piece of advice: save room for pudding. The sticky toffee pudding and treacle tart deserve every bit as much attention as the roast itself.

Elnecot

Ancoats isn’t short of restaurants. In fact, choosing where to eat is probably one of the most impossible tasks when exploring the regenerated industrial area.

That’s exactly why Elnecot deserves a place on this list. Their roasts have developed such a loyal following over the years. Most people judge a Sunday roast by the meat. Elnecot is one of the few places that might have you talking about the vegetables instead.

The roast potatoes deserve a mention too. As does the Yorkshire pudding. While we’re at it, so does the gravy. Before you know it, you’re halfway through lunch talking about everything except the thing you originally ordered it for.

Which, when you think about it, is probably the highest compliment a Sunday roast can get.

Refuge

There are plenty of restaurants in Manchester with great food. There are far fewer where people are still talking about the room once they’ve got home. I’ve been guilty of that on numerous occasions.

Refuge has been turning heads ever since it opened inside the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, and somehow it still manages to do it. The huge windows, soaring ceilings and beautiful interiors make every visit feel like a bit of an occasion.

But enough about their gorgeous interior, their Sunday menu isn’t relying on the surroundings to do all the hard work, it’s a knockout in its own right. The roast has all the classics done exactly as you’d hope, while the Vimto-braised cabbage is a match made in Manc heaven.

Then there’s the matter of the giant sharing platter… The only real question is whether your eyes are bigger than your stomach.

If you’ve got visitors coming to Manchester, Refuge is one of those places that tends to leave a lasting impression. Not just because of the food, but because there really isn’t anywhere else quite like it.

The Badger

A country pub is probably the last thing you’d expect to find in the middle of the Northern Quarter.

Which is exactly why The Badger works so well.

The newest venue on this list is also one of the most deserving of its place. After all, when the team behind The Crown & Kettle and The Rat & Pigeon open a new pub, expectations are sky high. The Badger effortlessly clears that bar.

Then there’s the Boddingtons gravy. If Manchester ever needed an official Sunday roast accompaniment, this would make a compelling case for the job. Rich, indulgent and unmistakably Mancunian, it deserves every bit of the attention it receives. Better still, vegetarians and vegans get their own meat-free version, because denying anybody the access to what can only be described as liquid Mancunian gold would feel needlessly cruel.

It turns out a country pub in the Northern Quarter was exactly what Manchester needed. Who knew?