Roast Season at The Red Lion & Sun, Highgate
With roast season firmly here, there are few better places to put on your Sunday agenda than The Red Lion & Sun in Highgate. A destination pub in every sense, it manages to balance neighbourhood warmth with serious culinary credentials, the kind of place people happily cross the city for, booking weeks ahead in pursuit of a perfect roast.
Tucked away on North Road, The Red Lion & Sun feels instantly inviting. Inside, it’s all warm wood, low lighting and a comforting hum of conversation, while outside a generous seating area with sturdy wooden tables makes it equally appealing on crisp autumn afternoons or brighter winter days wrapped up with a glass of red. It’s cosy without being cramped, polished without losing its pub soul.
Before the main event, we started as all good Sundays should: with oysters and soup. The oysters were bracingly fresh, clean and saline – a confident opener that set the tone. Alongside them, a bowl of freshly made soup delivered exactly what you want at the start of a roast-led lunch: warmth, depth and reassurance without stealing the spotlight.
Then came the roasts, and it’s easy to see why The Red Lion & Sun has built such a formidable reputation. Ranked #6 in the UK’s Top 50 Gastropubs and recently crowned Best Pub in London at the National Pub & Bar Awards, this is a kitchen that knows how to handle tradition. They serve over 300 roasts every Sunday, and consistency at that scale is no small feat.
The porchetta is the undisputed star, beautifully cooked with crisp crackling, juicy meat and a fragrant sage and onion stuffing running through its centre. It’s indulgent but balanced, rich without tipping into excess. Alongside it, fluffy Yorkshire puddings arrive proud and golden, built to soak up gravy rather than collapse beneath it. Seasonal vegetables are treated with care rather than obligation, and the whole plate feels generous, considered and deeply satisfying.
The Christmas turkey was equally impressive: moist, well-seasoned and unapologetically festive, complete with pigs in blankets that delivered exactly the salty, savoury hit you hope for. It’s comfort food done properly – nostalgic yet precise, hearty without being heavy-handed.
Dessert was a chocolate torte with ice cream, and after such a substantial main it was surprisingly easy to say yes. Rich, dark and indulgent, it struck the right balance between decadence and restraint, with the ice cream cutting cleanly through the intensity of the chocolate.
What truly sets The Red Lion & Sun apart is its ability to combine serious cooking with the relaxed pleasure of a proper pub. There’s no pretence here – just excellent food, well poured drinks and a welcoming atmosphere that encourages long, lingering Sundays. If you’re planning your roast calendar for the months ahead, this is one address that more than earns its place at the top.
Find out more > www.theredlionandsun.com
