The best Sunday roast in Dublin

You will be thinking of this food experience for quite some time after living it.

Hey there friends!

I have something to tell you about the Dublin food scene that you have to know.

There is an absolutely incredible Sunday roast experience available in the city for a relatively cheap price.

This Sunday roast is not your basic lukewarm carvery experience. It delivers above standards on every facet - flavour, texture, amount of food, and quality-price ratio. And on top of that, they manage to put the classic flavours and elements of a Sunday roast on the plate while at the same time bringing their own little touch to the plate to distinguish themselves from the rest.

Head down to one of F.X Buckley’s locations in downtown Dublin (see locations at https://www.thebuckleycollection.ie/) and make sure to reserve early, as Sundays are often fully booked - for a good reason. We managed to snatch a spot at their The Bull & Castle steakhouse.

For short context, F.X Buckley’s is a butcher in Dublin with a long history going all the way back to the 17th century. They have a reputation of delivering meat of top quality, and their steakhouses offer 100% Irish beef that has been dry-aged.

Once at the restaurant, order the Sunday roast - make sure to go before 4pm to get your dish. It will cost you in total 24,50€ (February 2025).

Photo: Menu card for F.X. Buckley’s Sunday roast

Wait for a short while while perhaps sipping on a cocktail they recommend as an aperitive, or just take a moment to appreciate your life - you are sitting in lovely ambiance, about to have an outstanding culinary experience, one to remember forever.

Photo: The bloody Buckley from The Bull & Castle Steakhouse (F.X. Buckley’s)

Once your plate arrives, take a moment to marvel at the beauty of the ensemble of delicious individual components on the plate that together form an elegant symphony of culinary excellence:

Let’s start with the main deal of the Sunday roast - the meat. You get not one, but two slices of their perfectly cooked roast rib of beef. According to their website (https://www.thebuckleycollection.ie/our-beef) they cook the steaks in a 350°C charcoal oven, season them well, and let them rest properly before serving. The slices are decently thick, nicely laden with fat, and tender to the bite. What makes this beef an exceptional experience however is the incredible crust. It is deeply flavourful, with an intense smokiness that reminds your tastebuds at an instant when you take a bite: you’re alive and well! Seriously, taking a bite of this rib is one of those moments that we’ve all had as eaters; when the flavour takes over your mouth, time stops for a millisecond. Then your brain becomes intensely present with the complex beefiness, savouriness, and smokiness. Finally, the sensational flavour and texture force you to express your satisfaction with a sound of happiness: mhmmmm.

To complement the steak, you can add salt, pepper, or grill seasoning, but I found it unnecessary - the flavour was already perfect. To some bites I added a touch of the soft to the fork roasted garlic for an additional complex sweetness unique to the universally loved garlic. It is a nice touch by the chefs at F.X Buckley’s.

Of course, there are the two sauces on the plate to add some moisture to the dish. The gravy is smooth, rich, deeply savoury, beautifully thick to bring body to your bite but still runny enough to coat everything well, glossy, and equipped with a nice undertone of stout. It’s another nice touch by the chefs of the restaurant.

With the gravy you have savoury richness - alternatively or in a complementary fashion, you have the horseradish sauce that is superbly creamy, packs just the right punch without being overwhelming, and adds a touch of zing to your bite with all the richness going on.

Now, in a nation where the potato is so emblematic, it is both expected and elating to see two potato elements on the dish.

The roast potatoes have a nice crispy crust and a fluffy inside. It is perhaps the only element of the dish that was not on par with the excellence of the rest. While good, they could have done with more crust development and colour, and were slightly too dry.

The mash was smooth, creamy, velvety, and inhabited by small slices of spring onions. They added a nice textural element and a nice Irish flair to the mash alongside the oniony flavour.

There were also some vegetables offered - namely roasted broccoli, carrot, and confit shallot. I could have eaten a Dutch oven’s worth of the broccoli alone. Roasted broccoli, when cooked well, is a remarkable flavour experience. The complex flavours of charred Broccoli are nutty, sweet, savoury, and charred. It also featured similar smoky notes to the beef. The carrot had a savoury and sweet complexity and was nicely cooked. The shallots had a slight bite with a mellow oniony flavour, pleasant fattiness, and a slight sweetness. The excellently executed vegetables would have deserved more space on the plate!

Last but most definitely not least - the quintessential Yorkshire pudding. Look, a roast isn't a roast without that blissfully satisfying moment of pouring the thick gravy to the inside of the Yorkie. The dough was fluffy from the inside and crispy from the outside, as it should. It absorbed the cocktail of gravy, meat juices and oils beautifully, and brought yet another great textural element to the plate.

I hope my descriptions have made it clear to you that this place is not to be missed. A Sunday roast at F.X. Buckley's is that kind of experience that you so look forward to and then leave from not only fully satisfied, but with an unforgettable food memory. Long live food culture!