A chef has come out in defence of charging £28 for the Sunday roast at his restaurant. James Allcock, who runs the Pig & Whistle in Beverley outside Hull, and previously worked for Gary Usher’s Burnt Truffle on The Wirral, tweeted at the weekend that he expected some blowback online for putting his prices up.
“I’m really looking forward to the abuse about our £28 for a roast dinner,” he said. “I wonder if Porsche get this on the regular. Like, accidentally bought a Porsche the other day, didn’t notice price tag, can’t believe it. Rip off.”
The tweet, sent on Sunday morning, scored itself nearly 60,000 views and hundreds of comments, as debate raged over whether the price is too steep.
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Many chefs came out in support of Allcock, including Luke Payne, who runs the award-winning kitchen at the Pack Horse pub in Hayfield, in Derbyshire. “We’ve just gone up to £25 for a roast, probably going to be pushing £30 come the end of April. Mad times, gets harder to meet people’s expectations,” he said.
Allcock added later on in the thread, when one follower suggested the price was too high, that it should cost £32.50, given the cost of ingredients, and that he’s already factored in the rise in the national minimum wage coming in in April. He said: “We’ve factored in the 10% wages for April. It’s a weird one Sunday. Like any meat dish on a Saturday night would be way higher - yet on a Sunday people expect it to then be £12/£18.”
The chef and owner of the small restaurant, which has only 22 covers, recently took to social media to vent about abuse he received from a group which had booked in, but arrived with one guest fewer than specified. Allcock said he was ‘sworn and screamed at’ for then not returning all of the group’s deposit for the missing diner.
Sunday roasts in Manchester vary hugely in price, but few, if any, in the city centre top £28. Hawksmoor’s slow roast rump of beef costs £23.50, though its prime rib roast, feeding two to three people, costs £80.
Hispi in Didsbury charges £29, but for three courses, though Allcock goes on to say that his £28 roast comes with a generous 250g of meat. The Edinburgh Castle in Ancoats also costs £35, but for three courses, while The Black Friar in Salford charges £30 for two courses and £37 for three.
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