A proper Sunday roast isn’t something you often crave in Brisbane. With the usual heat and humidity, and the general move towards a healthier lifestyle, it’s a challenge to find to the time to tuck into a plate of old-school pub grub. But with winter setting in and the mercury dipping lower and lower (even occasionally – and horrifyingly – lower than in Sydney and Melbourne) there is no better way to close out a long week than to sit carefree in front of a classic (or not so classic) Sunday roast.

Here, arranged by price, are five of the best pub roasts in Brisbane (and surrounds).

Electric Avenue

Electric Avenue doesn’t mess around. Every Sunday from the moment they open at midday, roasts are ready to fly off the pass. It’s $25 for a Sunday roast with all the trimmings and all the Yorkshire puddings you can handle. Bear in mind, this roast sells out regularly, so the earlier you show up, the better. Make sure you pop upstairs to Mrs J Rabbits – the speakeasy boozer is the perfect spot for a post-roast tipple or just to pass the time until next Sunday.
23 Logan Road, Woolloongabba
$25

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Fox and Hounds

Leave the city hustle and bustle behind on a Sunday and head south to Fox and Hounds, an 18th-century country inn at Tamborine Mountain, where you’ll find one of the best roasts in the state. Fox and Hounds serves up classic Sunday roasts that could be straight from a favourite British country pub.

The menu is full of traditional British cuisine including a huntsman pie, half-roast chicken, beer battered fish’n’chips, roast venison and roast pork with crackling. All roasts are piled high with Yorkies, gravy and locally grown roast veggies. The roasts are on offer all day, but after 4pm you can score a giant Yorkshire pudding, the size of your plate, to go with your roast.
7 Elevation Drive, Wongawallan
From $27

The Rose & Crown

One of our favourite new openings of the year, The Rose & Crown is far from the typical Brisbane pub. It’s properly British, with a mahogany bar, traditional cask ale, pints of Guinness and an appropriately impressive Sunday roast. We’re talking slabs of roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, soaring piles of porchetta, potatoes and thick, thick gravy. They’re priced between $28 and $30. The pub’s owner, Alex Derrick, spent more than two decades working in the UK pub scene. He set up London’s The City Pub Group before returning to Brisbane to open The Rose & Crown. The pub’s atmosphere is pure Britannia – even though it’s inside an old Queenslander – making it the perfect place to while away a weekend.

275 Grey Street, South Brisbane
$28 – $30

Port Office Hotel

If, like many Brisbanites, you have memories of being turned away from the Port Office for wearing the wrong shoes (there was apparently a “no leather shoes, no entry” rule which, rumour has it, was due to a spate of dine and dashes by young crooks in non-slip sneakers) you might not have returned to the Port Office for a feed since. The rules on footwear have changed, but the restaurant remains a standout for a Sunday roast.

The city spot has a surprisingly traditional pub menu. Drop in on a Sunday and find the classics with all the trimmings: half roast chicken, crumbed veal cutlets and roasted lamb racks or pork belly. You’ll also get all the duck-fat roasted potatoes you could possibly want.
40 Edward Street, Brisbane City
From $29

Gum Bistro

While not a pub, this newly opened bistro has one of Brisbane’s most exciting menus. The West End spot serves an a la carte menu most of the week, but pulls out all the stops on Sundays for a European-style roast as part of a $78-per-person, six-plate set menu. The set menu shifts seasonally, but you can expect dishes like the duck liver parfait with mandarin jelly, Brisbane Valley quail with mushrooms or Margra lamb rump with sweetbreads, beans and pomme pave. While there may not be any Yorkies, you can still mop up your sauce with sourdough from Riser Bakery.
237 Boundary Street, West End
$78