A bar and restaurant in Manchester has been named as the home of the UK’s best Sunday roast dinner.
The restaurant at Ducie Street Warehouse came in joint top place on the Rate Good Roasts list, which compiles together the best Sunday roasts served across the country, alongside The Hawthorn in Haworth.
Now in its fifth year, the list ranks more than 100 roast dinners based on individual categories ranging from everything from best meat and vegetables to best venue and best value for money.
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The Rate Good Roasts top ten also featured The Refuge, located in the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel on Oxford Road, in joint second place, Kong's Kitchen, on Portland Street, in joint forth, and The Bank in Delph.
10 Tib Lane came in joint sixth, while Ate Days A Week, situated near to Manchester Art Gallery on Cooper Street, came in joint eighth.
“Every roast is reviewed against ten categories that make up a special Sunday lunch,” the team at Rate Good Roasts explained. “We score each of these out of ten to work out the score and rankings. The categories are meat, vegetables, sides, venue, drinks, value, potatoes, gravy, service and, of course, Yorkshire puddings.”
Situated just yards away from Piccadilly Station, the Ducie Street restaurant is situated within an iconic red-bricked warehouse building, which also features a hotel, café, deli counter, takeaway and mini cinema.
The restaurant features dishes including locally-sourced ingredients, such as smoked salmon, bread and sausages from Manchester. Their Sunday roasts include ‘proper’ roast potatoes from Cheshire, alongside seasonal vegetables which are all sourced from local suppliers.
Speaking to the M.E.N, Scott Munro, who became Ducie Street’s Head Chef three months ago, said the top place ranking is a much welcomed surprise for himself and the restaurant staff.
“For me, we only ever really set out to do simple but really good quality food,” Scott, who has worked at Ducie Street for three and a half years, explained. “It was a bit of a surprise to get ranked first but, in the same breath, we’re not surprised because the quality of our roasts are just so good.
“In this day and age, I think you’ve really got to be focused on sustainability so using locally sourced ingredients has always been a big part of our ethos. It’s a big part to me as a chef and it’s a big part of the wider team and why they’ve come on board.
“I’ve been here since the inception of the Sunday roast menu and I’ve been able to watch it grow from a concept into this absolute machine. We’re very happy to get this kind of recognition.”
Scott said the ambience of Ducie Street also plays a huge part in the customer experience. “It is a stunning venue once you walk in,” he adds. “It’s a large, open space with a lot of greenery and the service is always very friendly. In terms of the customer’s perspective, it’s always quite stunning to walk in and see everything on offer.”
Ducie Street is also the home to Manchester’s first ever dedicated cauliflower cheese menu, which is served alongside its roast dinners. The menu features the side in a number of truffle, blue cheese, macaroni and vegan varieties.
It’s something Rate Good Roasts said helped make the restaurant's roast dinner’s stand out from the rest, adding: “Ducie Street has a side menu dedicated to cauliflower cheese which is pretty special and very unique. To get into the top ten, the roast needs to be memorable and Ducie Street’s roast certainly is.”
Head chef Scott said it made complete sense to him to have a cauliflower cheese menu on offer and he can see why it's gained such recognition since its launch.
”I’m a Mancunian born and bred so a cauliflower cheese menu instantly stands out to me,” he added. “It’s ingrained in our culture so I'm not surprised to see how well it’s gone down and how people have been drawn to it.”
Speaking about what Ducie Street has in store for next year, Scott says he will just continue to prepare good food and keep customers happy. He adds: "We’re just going to remain focused on what we’re doing and ensuring we have the best quality ingredients and the best value for money for people."
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