Professor Green discovers his roast with the most at Peckham's Coal Rooms

Professor Green15 March 2018

Ambience: 4/5

Food: 5/5

At 2pm on most Sundays you’ll find me searching for the best roast in London. My quest this week led me to Coal Rooms, which is set in a building once used as the ticket office for Peckham Rye station. Now a coffee shop and bar takes up the front half, with an open kitchen leading to the bright, comfy restaurant, where they serve classic modern British food and play great Eighties music.

A Sunday roast is my religion of sorts. It would be my death row meal — lamb slow cooked in cider as the meat — should I ever have to choose one. On the menu, actually, is a slow roasted lamb shoulder as well as 40-day aged sirloin, a whole chicken for two and fish and vegetarian options.

I went for the beef — my girlfriend, Fae, had the lamb. The roasts came with all the trimmings: carrots cooked in lemon and parsley, cheesy leeks (although I admit, I hate cheese), huge fluffy Yorkshire puddings, seasonal greens and, most importantly, incredible spuds.

The tacos were the absolute guv’nor... I thought it best to sample all the cocktails so as to give you the most comprehensive review I could

This is a sticking point for me, as most roast potatoes made anywhere but my kitchen normally fall short. Not at Coal Rooms. Soft on the inside, crispy on the outside, they didn’t taste like they’d been cooked the day before and left slowly dying on a warm plate as they often do elsewhere — perfection was achieved here by giving them a quick blast in duck fat before they were plated.

Anyone eating with coeliacs will be glad to know they can eat the gravy here. ‘We make gravy properly here,’ said general manager James Galton, much to Fae’s delight, although she did still miss out on the Yorkie. The gravy (Barney McGrew, they call it) was an incredible concoction made from beef bones, chicken bones, smoked pork bones, smoked lamb bones and smoked goat bones, plus red wine, Madeira and brandy. Always ask for extra, if like me you love your roast swimming in the stuff.

For starters we had coal-roasted cauliflower and pumpkin mole tacos (feta moved to the side). The tacos were the absolute guv’nor. While talking about vegetables, it’s probably worth mentioning that there is plenty on the menu for those who don’t fancy that lovely pink, 40-day aged sirloin you could cut through with a butter knife.

The dessert menu is limited — they’d taken the tiramisu off and replaced it with what would be almost my all time favourite dessert (apple pie and ice cream), only this was apple and cheddar pie and ice cream. And I hate cheese, remember? So that just left the millionaire’s shortbread then. Could be worse. And Fae very much enjoyed the pie.

If you fancy a before, during or after-dinner cocktail, Polly the bartender whips up a mean Margarita, and a mean old fashioned, and a mean Espresso Martini (I thought it best to sample all the cocktails so as to give you the most comprehensive review I could...). We also had wine, a bottle of Smoking Loon Zifandel, which went bloody well with the beef.

In the search for London’s best roast, I think I’ve found the finest one in the south-east. So if for whatever reason I’ve ended up on your hit list, or I owe you money, you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding me come Sunday — unless I’ve been sat at the private dining table for 12, just round the corner from the coffee bar. I ended up in this other room when I tried to visit the Sunday after I’d first visited and posted a picture of my lunch on Instagram. Coal Rooms suddenly had an influx of calls to book tables for Sunday roasts. I’d become a victim of my own Insta-influence is what Galton told me, which I did find funny up to a point — the point where I wasn’t going to get a roast!

Different gravy: Professor Green 

Coal rooms

1 Pumpkin mole tacos £7

1 Cauliflower £6

1 Dexter sirloin £18

1 Lamb shoulder £17

1 Apple cheddar pie £5

1 Millionaire’s shortbread £6

1 Margarita £8

1 Espresso martini £9

1 Old fashioned £9

1 Smoking Loon Zinfandel £42

Total: £127

11A Station Way, Peckham, SE15, coalroomspeckham.com.

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