Traditional Sunday Roast @ Inn For All Seasons

Sunday Roast: A traditional British meal, quite obviously served on Sundays, usually as an afternoon meal. This practice is said to have started because a roast could be placed in the oven to cook on Sunday mornings, and would be ready when the family returns home from church. Roast dinner is typically most authentic when consumed in the premises of a British family or a pub.

I had my first proper roast dinner at the Inn for All Seasons, with K's family, as well as her maternal and paternal grandparents. As with most carveries, diners who choose to have Sunday roast here are entitled to a single serving of roasted meat and Yorkshire pudding, and free flow of accompaniments and side dishes.

From top left, clockwise:

Stuffing, roast potatoes, boiled new potatoes, boiled carrots and peas, Yorkshire pudding, cauliflower cheese, mashed swede, cabbage, roasted meat (pork, turkey, beef). I forgot to pour more gravy before taking the photo...

Components of a roast dinner:

1. Roast Meat with accompaniments

I chose to have a slice of each type of meat (beef, pork, turkey), and found them all to be decent. I thought highly of the pairing of roast beef horseradish sauce, but I didn't take to the acidity of the apple chutney that went with the roast pork. Turkey (or chicken) is usually served with cranberry sauce. Roasted meat is also eaten with stuffing.

2. Yorkshire pudding

The poofy round object in the centre of my plate is none other than Yorkshire pudding, a light and puffy pudding made by baking a batter consisting of flour, eggs and milk. With a soft and slightly chewy texture, these are meant to accompany roast beef and are best consumed drenched in the rich and meaty gravy.


3. Roast potatoes

The roast potatoes were lovely- crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. As a carvery located in Cornwall, I suppose that the flavorful roast potatoes must have been prepared in a traditional Cornish under-roast: cooked right under the meat joint and absorbing all of its juices.

4. Vegetables

The vegetable sides in Sunday roast usually comprise of simple seasonal vegetables as well as composite vegetable dishes such as cauliflower cheese. As expected, this veggie-lover loaded up her plate with greens! I particularly enjoyed the mashed swede, which somewhat reminded me of boiled daikon tastewise.

I've also started an appreciation for new potatoes after having them in England, which are usually boiled and served unpeeled. I love the combination of their thin and wispy skins match their firm and waxy insides! (Oh and they taste great with *gasp* sweet chilli sauce! Apparently sweet chilli sauce is quite expensive over there, so I'm going to get my buddy and her friends a bottle of it when they come over :D)

I couldn't resist the desserts... pity that none of the desserts were of English origin, save for strawberries and cream which I'd already had. While it is possible to find some English desserts in Singapore, such as lemon meringue pie and fruit crumbles, some are practically unheard of here, such as Queen's pudding and the Cornish Whortleberry pie.

I ended up sharing pavlova with K's mum. The delicate, crisp crust and the soft and light interior of the meringue-based dessert made a sweet ending to the meal ;)