Cracking Guiness, better beef
★★★★★Securing a last-minute table at The Devonshire for Sunday roast feels like the sort of small victory that can make a weekend. Booked only the day before, it had all the promise of a lucky find — and happily, the meal more than justified the scramble. The Devonshire clearly takes its meat seriously, and the presence of an in-house butcher gives the whole operation a reassuring sense of purpose. This is not roast beef treated as an afterthought. It arrives with the confidence of a kitchen that understands sourcing, cutting and cooking — and the result is excellent. On the Sunday roast menu, the choice was pleasingly direct: roast beef or pumpkin risotto. For vegetarians, the pumpkin risotto offers a proper alternative rather than a token gesture, which mattered in our case as my wife is veggie. This arrangement also had the unexpected advantage of leaving me with her portion of beef — a development I accepted with quiet dignity and absolutely no complaint. The beef itself was delicious: generous, deeply savoury and exactly what you hope for from a Sunday roast. There is a particular pleasure in roast beef that has been properly handled, with flavour, tenderness and confidence all working together. The Devonshire delivered that in spades. What stood out most was the sense that this was a kitchen built around care rather than gimmickry. The in-house butcher is not just a nice detail; it comes through on the plate. The roast felt traditional without being tired, polished without becoming fussy, and substantial without losing its balance. A last-minute booking, a proper Sunday roast, a strong vegetarian option and beef good enough to make an opportunist of any committed carnivore — The Devonshire is very much doing Sundays right.