Sunday Roast Specialists Move in on Neighbourhood-of-the-Moment

A restaurant which specialises in one of Britain’s most well-known food customs is set to open a second site. Roast, a Sunday roast-focused site, which opened in Borough Market in 2005, has secured a property in Fitzrovia — the neighbourhood north of Oxford Street in central London, which has seen a great number of new openings in the past 12 months.

Roast Kitchen will be a more casual sister site, situated at the intersection of Great Portland Street and Langham Street — in what was a building formerly occupied by the BBC. Caravan — the Antipodean coffee and brunch chain — is due to open its fifth site in a nearby property formerly owned by the broadcaster in mid-July.

Soho’s prized central London real estate has become both unsustainable for some existing operators or completely unviable for prospective businesses. Fitzrovia, a less compact collection of streets, and hitherto less has presented more opportunities: Recent arrivals include Serge et le Phoque, Greyhound Cafe, Rovi, Passyunk Avenue, Caravan, and Kyseri.

The two-floor restaurant will feature “a utilitarian kitchen style interior” in a bid to “create a more relaxed atmosphere.” The actual kitchen will be led by ex-Bread Street Kitchen head chef, and Odette’s alumnus, Paul Shearing.

John Turner, CEO at Roast said in a statement: “We’re extremely excited to be expanding the Roast Restaurant group after a very successful 12 years in business. Roast Kitchen will epitomise everything we stand for, serving traditional British dishes made using only the finest ingredients, in a less formal take on our original Borough Market restaurant.”

The restaurant is expected to open this autumn.