• Home
    • About us
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact Us
      • Why Best Sunday Roast?
      • How do we score?
  • Friends of Best Sunday Roast
    • Non-Sunday lunch review sites
  • Gourmet Society Card Promotional Code

Best Sunday Roast

Looking for a Best Sunday Roast in London, Kent or in South East? Find a new favourite Sunday lunch pub here

  • Deals
    • Gourmet Society Card – Promo Code & 3 month trial
    • Whittard of Chelsea special offer, voucher codes and information
    • Twinnings Special Offers, Voucher Codes and info
  • Reviews
    • * Top Rated Reviews
    • Berkshire
      • Marlow
      • Reading
    • Buckinghamshire
      • Gerrards Cross
      • Iver
    • Coventry
      • Bulkington
    • East Sussex
      • Brighton
      • Hastings
      • Rye
    • Essex
      • South Ockendon
    • Hampshire
      • Eversley
    • Herefordshire
      • Upton Bishop
    • Kent
      • Ashford
      • Bexley
      • Bromley
      • Canterbury
      • Dartford
      • Dover
      • Hythe
      • Medway Towns & Maidstone
      • Romney Marsh
      • Royal Tunbridge Wells
      • Sevenoaks
      • Westerham
      • West Malling
    • London
      • Bethnal Green
      • Brent
      • Camberwell
      • Central London
      • Chiswick
      • Dulwich
      • Ealing
      • Greenwich
      • Hanwell
      • Holland Park
      • Islington
      • Kensal
      • Lambeth
      • Lewisham
      • Notting Hill
      • Shoreditch
      • Southwark
      • Tower Hamlets
    • Middlesex
      • Brentford
      • Greenford
      • Slough
      • Staines
    • Oxon
      • Burford
    • Surrey
      • Godstone
      • Guildford
      • Ockham
      • Redhill
    • Suffolk
      • Ipswich
    • West Berkshire
      • Newbury
  • Recipes
    • Roast Beef – Hairy Bikers Adaptation
    • Roast Chicken – Lemon & Garlic

Home > London > Southwark > Camberwell > The Recreation Ground, Camberwell, Southwark

The Recreation Ground, Camberwell, Southwark

January 8, 2012 By John

The Recreation Ground, Camberwell

65 Camberwell Church Street, Southwark, London SE5 8TR
Telephone: 020 7277 2601
Website: click here

Cost for a Sunday Lunch: Rare Roast Rump of Beef or Pork Belly – £8.95

Claire and I are always interested in a deal, I received an email from Living Social with a special offer for a Sunday Roast at The Recreation Ground in Camberwell. As we haven’t reviewed anywhere in Camberwell, I thought I’d take up the deal.

As we drove up from Bromley, I needed to find somewhere to park. It was quite disconcerting, some parts of Camberwell are very nice, where as others are not quite so much… After driving round for about 5 minutes, I managed to park directly outside the pub, on the opposite side. Outside impressions were a bit mixed, the building itself looked quite good, but a bit of spray paint graffiti on the wall outside and a painted playing card on the window advertising Wednesday Poker night was off-putting.

Going through the two sets of double doors, I was astounded with the very high ceilings. The decoration was quite sparse, with one brick wall and the rest covered with wallpaper. They had a table with various free papers and flyers. The pub / restaurant area was very open, with a couple of leather sofas, some arm chairs, 3 booths and tables dotted around. There was a large table on one side of the pub, with what looked like old school chairs. In the distance, I heard football on TV (I later found out that they have a separate area with a projector screen and a DJ booth).

Walking up to the bar, they had a nice selection of spirits behind the bar, and the usual lagers on draught. I settled on blackcurrant and soda (I was driving), Claire decided on a glass of house red wine (which was enjoyable). Unusually, The Recreation Ground had jars of liquorice allsorts, flying sauces and milk bottles next to the rest of the bar snacks! I was very tempted, but we had a roast to get started. We were given some menus (on clipboards) and told to get a table.

Looking over the menu, the Rare Roast Beef was £8.95, with “all the trimmings”. The waitress came over to take our order; Claire doesn’t like “rare” meat, the waitress was completely fine with ensuring it was “well-done”. I have no issue with rare meat so “as it comes, please”. A minute or two later, the waitress came back with dish of sea salt, cutlery and paper napkins in a cider glass.

This is a quiet pub at 1pm on Sunday, with a couple playing snakes and ladders in a booth (they also had scrabble and connect 4). There were nice hanging chandeliers, an old-fashioned clock on one wall and quaint lamps dotted around.  A large, gold framed ornate mirror hung on another wall. All in all, I liked the kitsch decor (Claire didn’t like the lamps – each to their own). In the background played some indy music.

About 10 minutes later, our Roast Beef arrived. Whilst the portion didn’t look very large, it certainly seemed sufficient (especially considering the price). A couple of slices of beef each, roasted new potatoes (with their skin on), yorkshire pudding, long carrots, white cabbage and broccoli. Over the top of all of this was a thin gravy.

The Recreation Ground, Camberwell - Roast Beef
The Recreation Ground, Camberwell – Roast Beef

Tucking in, Claire and I were both very impressed. The meat was to Claire’s liking and I was pleased to finally find a (recent) place that served Roast Beef to my taste. Claire was also very pleased with yorkshire, “best for the long time” were her words. Carrots and broccoli was nice enough (also, perhaps the broccoli was slightly overdone). Claire liked the horseradish sauce, it had a bit of a kick to it. I left the white cabbage – Claire, for once, could take something from my plate! Claire thought all the flavours worked, herbs made the meal. I personally thought it was also very good. Delicious and simple.

The waitress took our plates and asked if we were interested in dessert. I saw on the menu previously that the puddings were £3.50, so I had to try one at that price! The options were White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake or Chocolate Fudge Cake, both served with ice cream. I went for the cheesecake.

To be honest, I wasn’t holding my breath, a dessert at £3.50 in this day and age and in London too… When it was brought out though, I was very surprised. I do not think it was homemade, but it certainly looked good and was a lot larger than most desserts at £5.50. There were also two scoops of ice cream and once again, delicious.

The Recreation Ground, Camberwell - White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake
The Recreation Ground, Camberwell – White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake

So, to sum up. I haven’t tried any of the other Sunday lunches in the area, but the Roast that The Recreation Ground provide was excellent value for money. Claire would have preferred traditional roast potatoes, but the new potatoes were tasty enough. The meat was good (and they were accommodating with Claire’s request for well-done), and the yorkshire pudding was superb. I expected the gravy to be quite poor considering how thing it was – yes, I would have preferred more, but it was seasoned well. Overall, whilst it is not a classy restaurant and the food was simply, this was a good Sunday dinner and I would recommend trying The Recreation Ground out, even if you do not live locally.

John

Rating: 4 out of 5 plates

Show options Hide options Additional options
Share the love of a Sunday lunch!



About Best Sunday Roast

Welcome to Best Sunday Roast. We anonymously review roast dinners and post our findings on here. We are aiming to cover the whole of the UK at some point, currently have Sunday lunch reviews in London, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, Coventry, Essex, Hampshire and Oxon. These include Bromley, Chiswick, Ealing, Guildford, Islington, Notting Hill and West Malling. Remember to check out our deals with the Gourmet Society Card promotional code - well worth it if you dine out often!
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Twitter
Roast Beef - The Swan at Chapel Down, Tenterden in Kent

The Swan at Chapel Down, Tenterden

The Vineyard, Lamberhurst in Tunbridge Wells, Kent

The Vineyard, Lamberhurst

Chapters, Blackheath in Greenwich, London

Chapters, Blackheath

Tags

Afternoon Tea beach Birthday Carvery Celebration Central London Christmas Country Inn Dog Friendly Easter Easter Sunday East London Elite Pub Group Family Friendly Fathers Day Garden Gastropub Great Value home made cooking Hotel Hotel du Vin group Lunch With Friends Manor House Mothers Day North London North West London Pub Recommended Restaurant Restaurant review in East Sussex Restaurant Reviews in Kent Restaurant Reviews in London Review Roast Suitable for Vegetarians Romantic Silver Service South East London Special Occasion Tea Room The Gourmet Society Card accepted Top Rated top rated restaurant Unusual Location West London Youngs Brewery

Have a read…

  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • How Do We Score
  • Why Best Sunday Roast?
  • Friends of Best Sunday Roast
  • Gourmet Society Card Voucher Code
  • Twinings Special Offer
  • Whittard of Chelsea Special Offer

Recent Reviews

  • Bridge House, Penge
  • Browns, Bluewater
  • The Swan, West Malling
  • The George & Dragon, Chipstead
  • The Londesborough, Stoke Newington
  • The Oak, Bromley
  • The George and Dragon, Speldhurst
  • The Milk House, Sissinghurst
  • The Swan at Chapel Down, Tenterden
  • The Vineyard, Lamberhurst

Tags

Afternoon Tea beach Birthday Carvery Celebration Central London Christmas Country Inn Dog Friendly Easter Easter Sunday East London Elite Pub Group Family Friendly Fathers Day Garden Gastropub Great Value home made cooking Hotel Hotel du Vin group Lunch With Friends Manor House Mothers Day North London North West London Pub Recommended Restaurant Restaurant review in East Sussex Restaurant Reviews in Kent Restaurant Reviews in London Review Roast Suitable for Vegetarians Romantic Silver Service South East London Special Occasion Tea Room The Gourmet Society Card accepted Top Rated top rated restaurant Unusual Location West London Youngs Brewery

Copyright © 2019 - Best Sunday Roast