Enjoy a top Sunday Roast with a Gallic twist at Patron Kentish Town

Well the same could be said of our famed Sunday roasts, with their generous helpings of veg and sliced meat and lashings of gravy soaked up with a Yorkshire pudding.

You might not expect an avowedly French restaurant to be aceing this very British tradition, but Patron in Kentish Town is successfully putting a Gallic spin on a laid back Sunday lunch.

The roast cote de boeuf at Le Patron (Image: Courtesy of Le Patron)

Locals love the intimacy and charm of this Kentish Town bistro. Run by an English/French couple, the menu is also a hybrid affair, with starters (£6-£12) including French comfort food such as onion soup with veal broth and cheesy crouton, Burgundy snails in garlic butter, steak tartare with quail egg, and an excellent pork terrine with cornichons.

With sittings from Noon then a break before re-starting at 5pm, the service is friendly but impeccable. As a bonus there are great cocktails including the highly recommended sweet-tart St Germain with cucumber gin, lime juice, egg white, and elderflower cordial gingered up with a dusting of Thai chili.Roasts come with complementary Yorkshire pudding and a boat of gravy (Image: Courtesy of Le Patron)

All the roasts (£18-£36) come with a complementary Yorkshire pud and generous boat of English gravy - definitely not a thin French 'jus' - to pour over your corn fed poussin, or tomahawk pork chop. There's a half portion of poussin with frites for children, and veggie options include a camembert fondu with garlic and rosemary.

We opted for the 14oz Cote de Boeuf, a 21 day aged cut which was seared to perfection, lightly charred at the edges and pink in the middle - definitely French style.

Assured that it was a single portion, we also tried bestseller the confit duck, slow cooked in a red wine reduction, it was rich and melting. The roast potatoes in duck fat were perfect, and the trimmings included more interesting versions of the usual veg; Vichy carrots (cooked in a glaze of butter salt and sugar) and gorgeous creamed leeks and peas.

Trimmings to share at Patron in Kentish Town (Image: Courtesy of Patron Restaurant)

Unlike an English pub where the wine options can be hit and miss there's another bonus of good French wines by the glass, to accompany your boeuf.

Desserts (£7-£8) are also resolutely French, a creme brulee, Le Patron's famous bowl of mousse au chocolat plopped onto your plate on a spoon, and - an alternative to apple pie - an absolute smasher of a tarte tatin, wafer thin crisp pastry and fruit caramelised to a deep brown, scooped up with vanilla ice-cream. Mon dieu!Roast poussin can be served as a half portion with frites for children (Image: Courtesy of Patron Restaurant)

Patron is at 26, Fortess Road, NW5.