Sunday Roast at Ludo, Bath

I’m not a fan of the Sunday Roast; why, in this day in age, would I get excited about a plate of dull meat served with sloppy, often unidentifiable veg, soggy spuds, a jug of dark brown gloop and an undercooked pancake batter iceberg? 

Oh okay, I know that I’m supposed to get all misty-eyed about one of our apparently best-loved  ‘Great British Institutions’ and claim that the very whiff of roasting beef takes me back to the Sundays of my childhood or draws me into the nearest decent pub. Fish and chips: yes! Steak and Kidney Pie: bring it on! But a Sunday Roast? Wake me up when the dishes have been done. But so it came to pass…

If SouthGate is Bath’s own little version of New York’s Columbus Circle, Ludo is our Three Monkeys — except it’s only a stroll away from the shopping/eating action but an elevator ride up to another level altogether, adjacent to Bath Spa Station at platform level towards the rear and offering panoramic cityscapes from the front, with spacious terraces that make full use of those views during the summer months (or even right now, if you wrap up very warmly) on both sides . 

The bar/diner itself, meanwhile, could be described as cavernous were it not so artfully divided into various subsections offering a well-considered collection of lounge-around chill out zones for all from couples and small groups to family get-togethers and party people. Meanwhile, in keeping with Ludo’s USP, a collection of massive HD screens bring grandstand views of all manner of live sporting action to your table wherever you choose to sit. Somehow, though, the sporty shenanigans add atmosphere rather than irritation to those who don’t know a scrum from a backline; we arrived halfway through the Leeds United vs Aston Villa Premier League showdown, and the rise and fall of the roaring crowd wafting through the speakers was, to me, soporific rather than intrusive.

The food menu at Ludo kicks along to a similarly upbeat but mellow rhythm: all-day breakfast butties give way to pizzas, nachos, picky bits, fish and chips, chicken wings, steaks, burgers and even a coupla salads as the day rolls along; if you can’t find something to eat here, you’re simply not hungry. Visit on a Sunday, though, and — despite the full selection being available — there’s really only one way to score a foodie goal. 

Roasts at Ludo go large. Having seen several hefty servings pass by our table as we quaffed our obligatory Sunday Bloody Marys, I kicked my cravings for a Green Chilli Cheeseburger to the relegation zone and went for the EPL Sunday order of choice: chicken for me (£20), beef for him (£21), with roast potatoes, savoy and red cabbage, glazed carrots and parsnips, Yorkshire puddings and gravy all coming as standard — but still the temptation of side orders of Pigs in Blankets and Cauliflower Cheese (both a mere fiver) proved impossible to resist. 

Dull meat? Sloppy unidentifiable veg? Soggy spuds? An undercooked pancake batter iceberg? Not at Ludo! As perfectly cooked as both our meat-centric centre-forwards were, they almost faded into significance against competition from the midfielders bolstering the team. I even had my deep-seated, negative Yorkshire Pudding perceptions challenged, Ludo’s being cartoonishly huge and absolutely scrumptious, laden with that frangible crisp/fluffy personality that everybody raves about and refusing to turn soggy despite being liberally doused in a deep, thick, rich, velvety gravy as far removed from dark brown gloop as Tommy Freeman is from Alan Carr.

Gosh, who’d have thought it: me, in a sports bar, keeping an eye on the footie while tucking into a Sunday roast! Stranger things have happened on a sports field. And as Lionel Messi once said, “there are more important things in life than winning or losing a game”; as it turns out, a Champion’s League-worthy Sunday roast as Ludo is one of those very important things.