Last Updated on September 27, 2024
Asado Sunday Roast at Ember Yard, Soho
Take one of our favourite haunts in Soho and one of our favourite weekend indulgences and you surely have a recipe for success. But, Ember Yard is best known for casual fine dining, Spanish tapas-style dishes that you can enjoy with a glass or two of wine. As such, on the face of it, it seems an unlikely contender for Best Sunday Roast in London – the most traditional of British fare. Learning about their ‘Asado Domingo’ – a Spanish-inspired Sunday Roast cooked over a charcoal grill, we were curious and went along to find out more.
Nibbling on some delicious olives, we watched the table next door struggling to finish their roast. You get four different meats, roast potatoes, chargrilled hispi cabbage and seasonal greens, homemade focaccia, red wine gravy, horseradish chantilly and a vivid green apple puree. There is plenty of food for the table – and although the bar snacks and tapas on the menu look very tempting, I’d advise you to avert your eyes.
Ember Yard have suggested wine pairings for their Sunday Lunch menu and I loved the recommended red wine pairing of Tomaine Des Tourelles, Bekka Valley, Lebanon, 2021. A beautifully fruity mouthful with notes of cloves and rosemary and a long finish, it was very moreish. My companion prefers white wine and enjoyed the Gavi, Tenuta Santa Seraffa from Piedmonte I was impressed that we were both offered a taste of the wine before committing to it and that it was available by the glass, carafe or bottle. A relatively concise wine list starts at £30 for a bottle of house wine. There’s an excellent cocktail list, including some non-alcoholic options and a range of beers, fortified wines and spirits including an extensive selection of gins.
When our Sunday lunch arrived it met all our expectations. We both loved the slow-cooked feather blade from Dunluce, Northern Ireland, a superbly tender mound of beef with a delicious and rich jus. Presa is a special cut of pork, which I’ve only tried as part of a meat fest in Spain. The meat on offer at Ember Yard came from Hampshire, the product of Duroc pigs. Sweet and tender, it was an excellent addition to the Asado Domingo. There were a few pork meatballs, not noted on the menu but apparently a new addition. And, plenty of well-flavoured, tender and perfectly pink dry-aged sirloin from Hereford.
So, plenty of meat – but a Sunday Roast needs veg and gravy too. The Iberico pork fat roast potatoes were superbly flavoured and nicely crispy. Chargrilled hispi cabbage was an unusual and delicious accompaniment and the seasonal greens were beautifully cooked. There was plenty of red wine gravy and I particularly liked the horseradish cream. And, just in case you were still hungry, there were wedges of homemade focaccia with sea salt and rosemary. At the time I didn’t even notice that there was no Yorkshire pudding, but then this is an Asado Domingo (Spanish for Sunday Roast) so perhaps our uniquely British dish should have no place on this Spanish/Italian table.
A short dessert menu included obligatory and truly delicious churros with cinnamon sugar and warm chocolate sauce. That really dark chocolate makes such a great pairing with the sweet, crispy doughnut fingers. My companion meanwhile picked the far more sensible vanilla affogato al cafe (vanilla ice cream with an espresso coffee to pour over). I’d happily have indulged in either of the other desserts too – dark chocolate mousse or coffee and mascarpone mille-feuille with strawberries.
With excellent quality meats and a great selection of accompanying vegetables and sauces, the Asado Domingo is great value at £29.50 per person. You really don’t need any more than this one course and there’s something very special about the components of the meal. Service was friendly and quick and we loved watching the open kitchen. Everything was beautifully cooked with that lovely smokey note that comes from a charcoal grill – and our only issue was that we wanted larger plates!
It’s definitely a ‘Best Sunday Roast in London‘ experience albeit with a Spanish twist.
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