Sunday Lunch. It’s such a difficult thing to get right but it should be so easy. The simple instructions are…

• Get the vegetables just right, not too many – people ain’t choosing Roast Beef for the cabbage are they? Something simple that doesn’t absorb too much water. Maybe green beans and a nice carrot/swede mix. Or some roast parsnips maybe.
• Don’t fuck up the roast potatoes! They’re more often under cooked than over cooked. And hard roast potatoes are just a disaster. Correct quantity? 4 small to mediums rather than the risky big ones that never taste as nice anyway.
• The meat: with a meal that has lots of ingredients all merging on the plate you need to make sure the meat isn’t fatty. Two nice, decent sized pieces of chicken or beef, simple.
• Extra bits, don’t just offer rubbish mustard, have a selection! Mustard, Horseradish (home made), mint sauce… mmmm mint sauce, gravy and roasts! dribble
• Gravy, oh my god how to mess up a Sunday Lunch… don’t put enough gravy on! Everyone likes gravy, so give your customers an extra little jug of it!

The point of all this? Well about a month ago I thought I’d had the best Sunday Lunch in the world at West Stoke House, the staff are excellent, the building is perfect and the food was wonderful. But yesterday it was trumped by Cassons Restaurant. The roast potatoes were excellent, the yorkshire pud was lovely, the gravy was great (it had mustard in it) and the vegetables were a perfect compliment. But mainly the roast beef (which was cut from the Chateaubriand) was sublime. Mmmm cow. Now if Cassons could just get it’s normal menu and pricing right, I might just move in, make room in the bed!