Month: July 2024

Out in the sticks. Or to be more precise Inn at the Sticks for one of the best Sunday roasts to be found in the UK.

There is a choice of roast chicken breast wrapped in Carmarthen ham, slow cooked shoulder of Welsh lamb or roast strip loin of Eynon’s beef and Yorkshire pudding,

All served with roast potatoes, Grandma’s stuffing, cauliflower cheese, seasonal vegetables and homemade gravy.

A short walk from the castle, it is situated in the centre of the village of Llansteffan on the Carmarthenshire coast.

Guests can also stay over with three of their rooms being dog friendly.

Well worth making a weekend of it.

The Sunday Roast is taken very seriously at the Independent. Which is why it is one of their busiest days.

There is a choice of different roasts served with potatoes and seasonal vegetables, all drenched in a deep rich gravy.

But it is always the Yorkshire pudding which is the decider. Crisp on the top, slightly soft and stodgy towards the middle. Perfect.

Closely followed by the potatoes. Neglect the spuds and you ruin the roast.

But not here.

The pub is run hands on by the owners who bought what was previously The Walmer Castle. They are fiercely independent of any brewery or pub chain and it showsin everything they do.

It has taken me a while to find. But sometimes one wants to save the best to last.

When it comes to roasts, the Chefs at the Riviera Restaurant in Selsey,  lay on a feast of tender, hand-carved meats with all the trimmings; cauliflower cheese, golden roasties and plenty of freshly prepared veg, all crowned with proper gravy. They serve five types of meat; honey roast gammon, succulent roast beef, soft turkey, juicy pork and tender Welsh lamb all cut and served from the carvery bar.

One is not spoilt for choice when looking for a traditional Sunday roast in and around Chichester. And although one carvey is much the same as another, its the Yorkshire pudding that turns an average Sunday lunch into something special. When the Chef gets it just right, light and crisp, brim full of real gravy.

I have yet to find a better carvery in Chichester Harbour.

It was the sign and mention of ‘Sussex Food’ that first caught my eye. That and the impossibly narrow and steep road down to the Royal Oak at Hooksway.

 

It’s different.

 

Not that there is anything particularly different about the menu. Standard contemporary pub food. Pedestrian rather than exotic. Nothing, bar their syrup sponge, really stands out.

But that is what makes it different.

 

Weathered wooden tables in the garden, a perfect setting for an old fashioned Sunday lunch.

 

Followed by that syrup sponge which for some obscure reason I go back for time and again. Memories I suppose.