Kings Street Tavern Southsea- Roast Dinner Review

 If I had to pick a last meal it would probably be a roast dinner. However,  not all roast dinners are created equal and it's wonderful to find one eating out which matches or even surpasses my own home cooked offering. Thankfully this weekend I found one so good I had to write about it, even though I booked and paid for it myself.

We were in Portsmouth with friends for a cheeky weekend away using my mate's wedding anniversary and her need to drop her son off at university as an excuse. Because of COVID-19 and my innate need to be organised and know what I am doing we had made bookings throughout the weekend for meals and even Saturday night drinks.

Saturday night's meal was at the fabulous Outside In food court where you can choose from a selection of fabulous independent street food vendors offering tasty dishes from around the globe.

Sunday lunch was booked at the Kings Street Tavern in Southsea which I discovered via our Eat Sheets Instagram feed. It has a BBQ smokehouse and is often quoted online as one of the best Sunday roasts in the area.

 I was briefly disappointed as their website says they are still closed due to coronavirus but in fact they are open but booking is very much advised.

After filling out track and trace information and getting our temperatures taken (contactless) we were given the choice as to whether we wanted to sit inside or out in the little sheltered courtyard. Always aware of trying to stay as safe as possible in this pandemic, and making the most of the last sunny days of late summer, we chose a table outside.

The Sunday roast menu is simple with a choice of meats (plus a vegan option) and a choice of sizes of meal. The biggest (£16) includes two meats, five roast potatoes and veg. When we visited there was beef with the vital Yorkshire pud, pork belly with excellent crackling and bacon wrapped chicken breast. For £14 you get one meat, four roasties and veg and so on down to a small OAP/kids portion.

There's also a menu of sides including pigs in blankets, cauliflower cheese and extra Yorkshires or roast potatoes. We ordered pigs in blankets and cauliflower cheese but even the one meat, four roasties option we all chose turned out to be so generously portioned with kale, roast carrots, bacon wrapped stuffing, a slightly spicy parsnip croquette, red cabbage and crushed peas, by the end of the meal we were all properly stuffed!

Not too stuffed to ask about dessert options obvs and I could not resist the churros even when New York cheesecake was on offer. It did take a while for them to arrive but staff were very good at chasing them up and being very apologetic about the delay.

Actually the staff deserve a mention as they were very friendly and helpful in all our dealings with them even though they were blatantly run off their feet as this not so secret gem was very busy.

My friend declared it was one of the best roast dinners she had ever had, "something really special" she said  and I have to agree. I can't believe I've been visiting my son in Portsmouth for five years now and have only just discovered Kings Street Tavern. I sense it may become a regular haunt and I'm also desperate to go back and explore their weekday menu which looks awesome.