The Old Queen’s Head is a great multi-purpose pub, it has amazing gig and club night line-ups, serves souped-up hot chocolate in front of the fire in winter and as I’ve now discovered, does the most incredible Sunday Lunch (a claim that shouldn’t be taken lightly).

There’s a choice of four roasts that come with seasonal veg, duck fat roast potatoes, homemade yorkshire puds and red wine gravy.  I went for the half roast Goosnargh chicken (£11) and Steven tried the roast rib of Bowland beef (£13.50).

The generously-sized lunches came piping hot within less than 15 minutes and we were offered some horseradish to go with them. The chef had obviously put some thought into the balance of the meal, with a colourful vegetable selection of carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and red cabbage stewed in red wine with sultanas.

The meats were excellent quality and well seasoned, although the chicken could have been a bit more tender – nothing that a bit of yummy red wine gravy couldn’t solve.

The highlights were the home-made Yorkshire puddings and those out-of-this-world duck fat roast potatoes, which were quite possibly the best I’ve ever tasted – extra crispy and soft on the inside.

The Old Queen’s Head have a good selection of beers, wines and interesting cocktails, but avoid the draught Diet Coke, as I had to send the first one back (not in an arsey way, mind) and even the second wasn’t much of an improvement.

The staff here are so friendly and chatty and the service is relaxed but everything seemed to run on time.  It’s best to book a table, as it can get ridiculously busy at times, and when we arrived, our table was already set with my name chalked on a black board.

The price of the Sunday Lunch is typical of most gastro pubs in the area, but the quality and ‘lazy Sunday at the lodge’ atmosphere really makes the Old Queen’s Head stand out.  So watch out Belle Vue, it seems you have some fierce competition up north!

I’m slightly embarrassed to say that I’d never been to Clapham before today and seeing as almost everyone I’ve met recently lives there, I wanted to find out what all the fuss is about.  It had much more of a village atmosphere than I expected, and obviously a very sporty village, given the flurry of different sports teams wolfing down their roasts.

Spotting Belle Vue across the road at Clapham Common, I thought I’d seen it ranked number one Urban Spoon’s top ten most popular restaurants and my eyes lit up.  Turns out I was thinking about Bellevue Rendez-vous in Tooting, but that god for the mistake!

Belle Vue has a ‘lazy Sunday’ feel and is decorated kind of like an urban lodge with an open fire place and long oak tables.  The music is a bit too middle-of-the-road with Stereophonics, Oasis and other drab guitar-based soft rock (which is odd, given the barman was wearing a Tool t-shirt), but at least it at a minimal volume.

Food wise, Belle Vue stick to a classic gastro pub menu with foodie touches and a few international dishes.  Everything sounded homely and warming  and was pretty reasonable, with most main courses priced between £7.50 and £10.  Steven and I both ordered roast dinners (£10) – I went for roast chicken with stuffing and bread sauce while Steven ordered the pork belly with savoy cabbage.

We only had to wait just over 20 minutes for our dinners and when the roasts came, they were piping hot and well presented.  The generously sized roast chicken portion was tender and well-seasoned and was accompanied by a homemade yorkshire pudding, three mountainous, crispy roast potatoes, golden parsnips and a herby, vegetarian stuffing ball.  The carrot crush was a bit bland and seemed to lack any kind of seasoning and I’m not sure if the bread sauce was a success or not, as I’ve never tried it before and it didn’t leave a lasting impression.

Steven’s pork belly had a good layer of crunchy crackling and the meat was succulent and soft.  All of the flavours worked well together and the roast potatoes were the best I’ve had in a long time.  We struggled to get through the dinner and the quality and portion sized were excellent for the price – there aren’t many decent Sunday Lunches in London under £10!

Belle Vue is well located next to Clapham Common, should you need to walk off your dinner, and looking at all the buff and toned fellow sporty diners, you may well want to!