A Sunday Roast

From the main course buffet

One British tradition that is also rather popular in Hong Kong is having a roast dinner on Sunday. In my family, if we were to have roast, that would mean roast beef. However, I have learned that a roast dinner can include roast beef, roast pork, roast chicken, roast turkey and roast lamb.

Along with the meat, most people eat roasted potatoes and vegetables, gravy and a Yorkshire pudding, which is not a pudding at all, but rather a savory baked good sort of similar to a popover. My mother prefers to serve mashed potatoes with our roast beef, which is in fact cooked in a slow cooker, not the oven.

Recently, I went to a restaurant called Harrington's in Lan Kwai Fong to try their Sunday roast set. For HK $228 (plus service charge), you get one trip to the main course buffet, plus a starter and a dessert. See the full menu here.

I chose calamari to start with, and it was nice and crisp, accompanied by a creamy dip of some sort. For my dessert, I ordered apple crumble, which was served warm with vanilla bean ice cream melting on top. However, I probably shouldn't have eaten it at all!

The main event, of course, was the roast buffet, and to be honest, I think I enjoyed some of the side dishes more than the meat itself. My favorite part was the creamy mashed sweet potatoes, and the roasted vegetables were also delicious. I was very excited to try the macaroni and cheese, but sadly the pasta to sauce ratio was a bit on the dry side.

Additionally, I ate my very first Yorkshire pudding, but I must say it was not all I had hoped. I think I had heard so much about it that I was expecting it to be amazing, when in fact it is just a type of bread covered in gravy. Give me a warm roll with butter next time, and I will be just as happy.

One final note: I highly recommend trying the Sunday roast at Harrington's because the food is very good. However, I would also warm against overindulging on the buffet, as I personally stuffed myself to bursting and then had terrible heartburn all evening.

Fried calamari

Apple crumble with ice cream