Victoria Inn and King Street Tavern crowned Britain’s best meat and vegetarian roast

The Victoria Inn, Penzance, has been announced as the Best Meat Roast winner, and King Street Tavern, Southsea, as the Best Vegetarian Roast winner in Knorr Professional’s 2022-23 Great British Roast Competition.

The competition seeks to recognise the very best roast dinners served across the UK and to honour the professional chefs who create them.

The Victoria Inn is a 12th Century pub in the heart of Perranuthnoe, in Cornwall. As well as award-winning food, fine wines and good local ales, the menu utilises the excellent local produce available within close proximity to the pub.

The winning roast is the pub’s Sirloin of Cornish beef, (main picture) served with the traditional Yorkshire pudding and a selection of stunning sides including buttered kale, honey glazed carrots and parsnips, swede mash, creamed leeks and cauliflower cheese, all finished with a rich gravy. To ensure that they can recreate their winning dish consistently every time, The Victoria Inn cooks the meat sous vide overnight.

Mo Johns, general manager at the Victoria Inn, said: “We are so proud and excited to have won this national title. Our head chef Olly Stains and his brilliant team cook an amazing roast. It’s the result of a lot of hard work and attention to detail. They have a passion for cooking and take care in everything they do.”

First established in 1859 (originally The Diamond), King Street Tavern prides itself on being a traditional town pub, offering great food, drinks and customer service. The current owners’ tenure began in 2016, and after completing a refurbishment, began serving Portsmouth’s community with an eclectic menu, including authentic smoked and wood-fired dishes, complemented with craft and traditional drinks.

The winning dinner was the pub’s Mediterranean roast vegetable tart, served with roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, Yorkshire pudding and a vegetarian roast gravy.

Reacting to their win, owner, Paul Mulholland, said: “We are all stunned and over the moon. This form of recognition for creative ingredients is quite simply brilliant, and something to shout about.Our vegetarian roast is adapted from our standard roast, and we let the ingredients sing for themselves. It’s a very ‘homely’ roast, and this is what our customers love.”

Among those in the judging panel, Alex Hall, executive chef for Knorr Professional and Unilever Food Solutions, commented: “This year the competition saw an exceptionally high standard of entries from establishments all across the UK. Winning the titles of Britain’s Best Meat Roast and Britain’s Best Vegetarian Roast is an incredible achievement and a testament to the work that the team at the Victoria Inn and King Street Tavern have clearly put in to serving outstanding roast dinners.”

As well as the prestigious titles of Britain’s Best Meat Roast 2022-23 and Britain’s Best Vegetarian Roast 2022-23, the Victoria Inn and King Street Tavern will both receive a prize package including a £3,000 voucher to spend on equipment for their businesses.