Melbourne's 23 Best Hearty Winter Roasts
Warm up on a wintry weekend with juicy roast meats and plenty of gravy at these old-school Melbourne pubs and neighbourhood restaurants.
Melbourne's 23 Best Hearty Winter Roasts
Warm up on a wintry weekend with juicy roast meats and plenty of gravy at these old-school Melbourne pubs and neighbourhood restaurants.
When it comes to chill-busting winter comfort food, a classic Melbourne Sunday roast has got to be up there with the best: succulent meat, crispy potatoes, seasonal veg and lashings of rich gravy to pull it all together. But making all of this yourself can take forever. Plus, it takes years of practice to perfect each element.
Thankfully, you'll find plenty of pubs, restaurants and cafes that'll happily hook you up with that homemade roast dinner fix you've been craving. Perhaps a British-style roast beef with Yorkshire pudding? Or a classic porchetta? Here are seven Melbourne Sunday roasts to add to your dining out hit list, ASAP.
Recommended reads:
The Best Pubs in Melbourne
The Best Steak in Melbourne
Melbourne's Best Pubs and Bars with Fireplaces
The Best Restaurants in Melbourne
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You’d be an absolute git to miss out on The Northern Git’s Sunday roast special that’s known for being one of Thornbury’s best. The regularly rotating meat choices are brilliant here (lamb, chicken, beef and porchetta), but The Git is best known for its massive Yorkshire puddings.
Yorkies aren’t easy to get right, but the chefs have mastered the art here — serving the roast meat within the puddings themselves. The plate is then packed with a huge assortment of veg, plus a big glass of gravy that you pour onto the roast yourself. If you’re on the hunt for Melbourne’s best Sunday roast, you better at The Git to your hit list.
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This landmark corner pub is serving up a more modern riff on the vintage front bars of yesteryear. But it’s also slinging a mighty good Sunday roast to rival the best of the oldies.
Its version ($38) stars a mixed selection of premium cuts (yes, the plate has more than one meat on it), Yorkshire puddings, roast vegetables, salad, apple sauce and a wicked horseradish yoghurt. Those wanting just one meat on their plate can also choose the pork belly ($33) or scotch fillet ($35).
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Like many a Fitzroy pub, the Marquis of Lorne has been through a few refurbs over the years, finally settling in its current form spread across three levels. On the ground floor, you’ll find your classic public bar with a TV in the corner and all your usual suspects on draught. Head up the stairs to then find the more refined dining room. And then you’ve got the sun-drenched rooftop bar right up the top.
But it’s in the main dining room where you’ll find the Melbourne pub’s Sunday roast specials. They change most weeks, but you might find roast lamb cutlets with a vegetable cassoulet, roast duck breast with lashings of gravy or roast porchetta with honey carrots and mustard sauce. Whatever the crew has dreamt up for the Sunday roast special is going to be a sure-fire winner.
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The Sunday session of choice for many a food-loving northsider, Neighbourhood Wine’s long-running weekend roast menu promises to impress. It’ll set you back an easy $65 for three generous courses — plus a cheeky serving of naturally leavened house sourdough — with the lineup changing regularly.
You could be in for a fall-apart lamb shoulder with green beans, potatoes and preserved lemon, or perhaps some roast beef with mustard jus and Yorkshire pudding. Add-ons are also available. As a bonus, the wine bar’s cosy, timber-filled spaces make for an idyllic winter lunch setting and its wine curation features plenty of warming reds — it is easily one of the best Sunday roasts in Melbourne.
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Brighton’s Half Moon pub — run by the same group that owns Lucky Coq, Portsea Hotel and The Albert Park Hotel — is huge. Behind the building’s original historic façade lies six separate (and recently done-up) drinking and dining spaces, split across two levels. Food-wise, expect a menu of glammed-up pub classics in the main dining room.
And come Sundays, from 12pm until sold out, the chefs are serving up rotating roasts straight from the rotisserie. These are served family-style, helping it feel like you’re eating at home with some of your favourite people. It generally rotates through the classic roasts — chicken, porchetta, lamb and beef. Keep an eye on its Instagram page to see what’s coming up next.
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Historic Carlton pub The Lincoln is best known for its progressive booze offering and its produce-driven gastropub fare — oh, and its time-honoured Sunday roast situation. One weekend, you might find yourself getting acquainted with some roast porchetta starring braised leeks, apple sauce and gravy, while the next, it’s all about roast beef with spiced pumpkin and Yorkshire pudding.
And if you fancy teaming that feed up with an interesting wine or top Aussie craft beer, consider yourself totally spoilt for choice. Enjoy this feed either in the main dining room, at the front bar or out on the street-side tables.
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Melbourne’s viking-inspired eatery Mjolner is plating up its own riff on the winter roast, with a rotating selection of fire-licked roasts. And they aren’t only available on Sundays. Every night it’s open, Mjolner serves up some of the best roasts in Melbourne
These change fairly regularly, but you’ll likely find a half or full chicken, beef short ribs, porchetta, lamb cutlets, a fish and a vegetarian option. Either simply order these with some sides, or splurge on one of the set menus that’ll come with a whole host of extra eats — from $90 to $140.
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Long considered one of Melbourne’s best steak destinations, The Station Hotel sure knows how to make a great piece of meat shine. Hit this gorgeous heritage pub in Footscray from 12pm each week and enjoy one of the ten different steak options on offer, split into grass-fed or grain-fed options.
But even though its steaks are marvellous, the chefs also known how to plate up a mean Sunday roast. It’s all done pretty traditionally here, rotating between chicken, pork and lamb, each served with a bunch of roast vegetables, heaps of gravy, and a mean Yorkshire pudding.
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This Gertrude Street pub has existed in many a form over the years. But its 2018 renovation saw it become a quintessential locals’ pub with enough style to impress your mum. When it comes to both food and design, the whole pub has a contemporary British feel about it. Grab a seat in the sleek bistro-slash-dining hall, ordering UK-accented dishes from Michelin-trained chef Andy Barkham.
And while the team doesn’t do a traditional Sunday roast, you can stop by Tuesdays from 5pm for its weekly chicken nights. For $25, you can score a plate of chicken that’s been cooked over a pit of fire and served with seasonal sides. It’s a damn good — and affordable — midweek treat.
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If you prefer your Sunday roast paired with a top-notch beer or two, consider The Local Taphouse your destination of choice. The long-standing craft beer bar might be best known for its impressive tap rotation, but its kitchen is also serving up a mean roast feast each weekend.
Available for both lunch and dinner, the menu changes up each Sunday — expect combinations like stuffed roast pork belly with pumpkin and cavolo nero, and roasted free-range chicken with caramelised baby onions and tarragon jus. It comes in at $27 a pop, and you can even add that week’s dessert match for an extra $5.
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A mere 50 metres from Brunswick Street, The Rainbow Hotel is home to a massive beer garden, regular live music gigs, a fireplace that roars all day and night during winter, and one of the best Sunday roasts in Melbourne.
For $27, you get a big cut of meat (or the vegan option) served with all the usual trimmings. It’s an easy win for locals, especially those who are mad beer lovers. The 100-strong bottled beers list is mighty impressive. Tell the bartenders your preferred brew styles, and they’ll suggest something new for you to discover. Or you could just stick to your usual Carlton Draught and call it a day. Dealer’s choice.
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Beautifully restored back in 2021, the 150-year-old Orrong Hotel — an art deco gem in Armadale — is the kind of pub you keep returning to once you discover it. The interior itself is stunning, with a curved wooden bar, polished floorboards, ornate ceilings and tiled features throughout — you can tell no expense was spared on the restoration.
And come Sundays, each and every one of these rooms is packed out with Sunday roasts stans who come for its $25 deal. Unless the footy is on, then you’ll have a few there just to watch the game. The Sunday roast could include its pork belly with extra crunchy crackling, roast lamb shoulder with celeriac puree or its huge roast beef brisket with a stack of gravy. Every night of the week, The Orrong Hotel crew also serves up some of the best steak in Melbourne — if that’s your preference.
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Estelle, from acclaimed Chef Scott Pickett (Longrain, Chancery Lane and Matilda), showcases his signature modern Australian fare across both the bar and dining room. The menu easily runs from bar snacks through to larger plates — it’s primed for lengthy dining room sessions.
That’s especially true come Sunday arvos when the team pumps out one of the best Sunday roast set menus in Melbourne. For a cool $50, diners get three courses of hearty winter-warming food that changes each week. Head to the venue’s website to see what’s coming up next.
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Known for its farm-to-table food ethos and with a stack of permanent outposts across Sydney, Brisbane, Byron Bay and the Snowy Mountains, Three Blue Ducks also delivers its sustainably-focused offering to Australia’s first surf park in Tullamarine. It’s a bit of a random spot to plop down a brilliant restaurant, but if you’re up for driving there, you’ll be in store for a damn good Sunday roast.
Here, you’ll have the choice of two different meat roasts (lamb rump or porchetta) and a vegetarian option — each served with their own collection of sides and sauces. All the roasts come with Yorkies, but you can add on even more for just $3 a pop — perfect for mopping up all the leftover gravy.
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North Melbourne locals were pretty stoked when the old Courthouse Hotel reopened in 2023, following a major refurb. Four hospo pros — with plenty of experience working in UK boozers — took over the site and transformed it into a sleek and contemporary gastropub that still holds plenty of charm.
When it comes to the Sunday roast situation, you can expect classic roast meat (that changes each week) served with seasonal vegetables and next-level gravy. And when winter comes trolling in, the whole pub will smell of its delicious house-made mulled wine — the perfect accompaniment to lunch on a cold Melbourne day.
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After a bit of a spruce-up, the much-loved Rochey is back in action, with a revamped food offering to match. The Fitzroy pub’s starting lineup is a wintery, roast-focused set menu that’s primed for cosy sessions by one of its three roaring fires — with a glass of mulled wine in hand.
You can tuck into one big plate for an easy $25, choosing between slow-cooked lamb with crispy potatoes and Yorkshire pudding, or a weekly rotating pork, beef or chicken number. Even vegans can get in on the action, with the zucchini, hazelnut and lentil roast, starring seasonal veggies and plenty of house-made gravy.
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When that weekend comfort food craving hits, you’ll find yourself in very good hands at this much-loved South Melbourne pub. The Montague will warm your cockles — and save you from dreaded dishes duty — with its Sunday roast, which changes up weekly yet always clocks in at $28.
You might be in for some tender roast pork with crackling and apple sauce, or perhaps a slow-roasted lamb shoulder on minted pea puree finished with a pot of lamb jus. This one’s well worth making a regular pit stop.
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When it comes to classic pub feeds, this long-running neighbourhood favourite knows what’s what. And on Sundays, that means a generous helping of roasted meat paired with seasonal veggies and a Yorkshire pudding. The Palace Hotel’s roast offering changes up weekly, though no matter what meat’s on the roster, you can be certain of two things. One: there’ll be plenty of gravy. And, two: it’ll cost you just $30.
To match your feed, you’ll find footy on the big screens, a diverse bunch of beers on tap and probably a few friendly hounds awaiting pats out in the beer garden.
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Closer to the classic British pub than most, The Napier Hotel is a winner all year round — but it’s the warm fire that makes this an excellent choice in the winter months. Pull up a pew at one of the big communal tables and settle in for a cosy night out.
When it comes to the roast, it’s served on both Saturdays and Sundays, so you can have a proper pub roast sesh on Saturday without feeling hungover at work the day after. The menu alternates between lamb, pork and beef, but there’s no real social media presence to tell you what it’ll be. Just rock up and enjoy whatever the kitchen is slinging across the pass that arvo.
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Come down and have a taste of the Emerald Isle at The Fifth Province Irish Pub, a gastropub in the heart of St Kilda. Step inside and you’d think you’ve stepped into a pub along Shop Street in Galway or O’Connell Street in Dublin. There are framed old-school Guinness posters on the walls touting the old tagline “My Goodness, My Guinness”, plus a carefully crafted wine list, a specialised Irish cocktail menu and an array of local craft beers on tap — there are 14 taps on rotation.
There’s a stack of food on the cards here, but the local favourite is arguably the Sunday roast lunch. Every Sunday from 11am, there’s a choice of two roast lunch options with all the trimmings — we’re talking mash, beef fat roast potato, roast veggies, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. There’s no better way to end a weekend.
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At Abbotsford’s cosy old-school pub, the Sunday roast is a much-loved tradition. The weekly changing dish of roasted goodness is priced at an easy $28, while the vegan option comes to $26. And if you’d rather eat your roast on the go, the team even serves a Sunday roast roll ($15).
The main roast usually involves a hearty serve of roast pork, beef or lamb, teamed with all the classic trimmings — winter veggies and loads of thick gravy, guaranteed. Grab yourself one of these Melbourne Sunday roasts, a pint of craft beer and a spot in front of the footy, and your weekend is looking pretty enviable.
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Epocha’s Sunday roast scored legendary status long ago, so fans will be stoked to learn it’s back and ready to warm your cockles this winter. Just as always, the modern European restaurant is serving up a rotating roster of three-course roast feeds for $65.
Kick things off with some shared entrees, then it’s onto that week’s tender roast with matched sides, including the all-important crispy duck fat potatoes. Each Sunday’s offering is listed on the website in advance for you to have a peek.
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Roaring fire? Check. An expansive drinks list? Check. A proper hearty roast with a touch of modern flair, served all weekend long? Check. Yep, Albert Park’s contemporary gastropub The Bleakhouse is a sure-fire crowd-pleaser.
Pull up a seat in one of the cosy booths and enjoy a $30 rotating ‘Proper Roast’ lunch (or dinner, if it hasn’t sold out) with all the trimmings, all weekend long. It could be pork belly with buttery mash and spiced quince, slow-cooked lamb leg sided with a Spanish tomato stew, or even duck à l’orange with caramelised onions and heirloom carrots.
Top image: Half Moon.
