Check me out and my themed restaurant choice, going to The Great Chase, in Islington, on the weekend of the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
Bravo random number generator.
There’s only one possible way to start the review this week.

The moment the world needed.

A moment to bring the world together.
To share the Olympic harmony across mankind.

To bring the dreams of liberty, equality and fraternity (whatever that is) to all of our fellow beings across the planet.

And, for an eternity. This image, forever mine, forever yours, forever etched in our memories and our souls, even more than the Blacklock cheesecake.
Chasing Dreams
Do you what else was blue this weekend?
Yep, the sky. Warm sunshine in July, in the UK. Can you believe it?
Which makes it a great day for a beer in the sunshine. And not such a good day for a Sunday roast at an alcohol free restaurant. Aha, The Great Chase is an alcohol-free bar/restaurant.
Bravo, random number generator.
Quite why I didn’t choose the 3 months a year where I eschew alcohol to go to The Great Chase is another question, but if you have followed the trivial witterings of my life, you’ll have long realised that I don’t always make the most logical decisions, especially when it comes to choose where to go for a roast dinner.
The Great Chase have an “our story” page on their website but it’s in caps lock with a shit font, so I cannot be arsed to read it. I don’t think it actually says anything about their story, and from skim-reading it, it seems like it was probably written by ChatGPT 5 years before it was released.
There is more on their “halal” (OMG scary Muslim stuff) page where they provide an explanation of the halal slaughter process and why they believe it offers animals a more dignified life – the inner vegan in me likes to think all the meat I eat is from animals that passed away from natural causes, plus I’m having tofu for dinner this week so that balances out my meat eating. Seriously I have bought some tofu. It even says on the packet, “tofu with taste”. We’ll see.
Chasing Beers
When it comes to their alcohol-free policy, their argument is pretty much, “why not”. Hmmm. Kind of why I voted Labour, I guess.
Gosh, an alcohol-free Halal restaurant in London, what would Tommeh and his minions, sorry, millions of people, sorry, billions of people in Trafalgar Square who are stupid enough to pay the coke habit of a patriot who doesn’t even live in the fucking country he’s patriotic about, think?
You likely know my thoughts – London is a global city, and I’m the roast dinner correspondent for the World Economic Forum, and I’m insisting on globalising roast dinners. Everyone is welcome, and I’m excited to sample as much cuisine and culture as possible in our wonderful global city. If you “want yer cuntreh back” because not everyone looks like a 1980’s football hooligan any more, then, whatever. If someone wants to have an alcohol-free restaurant serving a halal roast dinner, then I’m going to check it out, because…roast dinner.
Yeah, I know I said I was leaving politics out of the blog for a while, but it is just such a good source of morons. I managed a week, didn’t I?
Also:

You don’t know what he looks like yet, do you?
OK, another hint:
Fine, he didn’t actually have sex with a sofa, but I was waiting for the fireworks that never happened on Friday night, and ended up down a JD Vance has sex with sofas rabbit hole. Maybe I shouldn’t use the word, “hole”, there.
Chasing Holes
Have I started a sentence with “anyway” yet? Nope, great.
Anyway, The Great Chase. Situated on a really nice courtyard just off Upper Street in Islington – a newly re-built area, and somewhere I didn’t know existed. They had outside seating, and inside seating – inside smelt absolutely lusciously smoky, if perhaps too smoky for some (not me). I have a washing machine.
I’d barely sat down, in fact I hadn’t actually sat down when they asked to take our orders. Clearly they knew I was craving to have a beer in the sunshine. For a non-alcoholic bar/restaurant, I was a little surprised at the limits of the drinks menu, expecting perhaps a greater range of juices, or non-alcoholic cocktails – but they do have a very broad range of tea. I was hoping for something like a carrot, orange and ginger juice – something a lot of the Arabic restaurants near my work seem to serve, the more modern ones anyway. I just ended up with a plain orange juice.

© Copyright – Roast Dinners In London 2024

© Copyright – Roast Dinners In London 2024
Yeah another £30+ roast dinner, but at least I didn’t (couldn’t) order any wine. Options on the menu were a chicken leg at £27.00, slow-cooked lamb shank at £30.00, rib-eye at £32.00 and a soya wellington at £25.00.
It was a close call between lamb and beef – I do love rib-eye, but ended up going for the lamb shank as it does look rather tasty on their ‘grim.

Slightly weird presentation.
Believe it or not, it looked better when I re-arranged it:

It does look better. Right?
Chasing Greatness
So, starting with the carrots? If ever I end this blog, I’m going to get proper emotional when I write, “starting with the carrots” for the last time. The carrots were actually excellent, full of flavour, slightly smoked, softly roasted. Better than most…very much better than most.
The one thin stem of broccoli was similarly delightful, but oh it pained me to have so little.
Also tiny, was the cauliflower cheese, which was just a spoonful of mush – I felt no cauliflower and tasted no cheese.
The parsnip was more substantial, a proper chunk of parsnip, soft and sweetly nutty – pretty top really.
And then there was a bit of swede puree, which I’m a bit whatever about.
Chasing A Half Decent Roast Potato In London
Want a close up of one of my “roast potatoes”?

Roasted new potatoes that weren’t even acceptable new potatoes, let alone acceptable roast potatoes. Roasted, sure, but pretty tough and grey-ish inside. Only supplied two, but I only ate one.
You know my accomplice who often gets better (and more) roast potatoes than me?
Want to see one of hers?

Certainly crispier than mine was.
But then to confuse matters, the Yorkshire pudding was excellent. Crispy to an extent on top, and really fluffy inside. Were there enough gravy, it could have been award-winning.
The lamb fell off the bone, before I ever touched it – pretty much as soon as the waitress took our order in fact. Well, not fact, but you know. Alas, part of it was notably dry, and there really wasn’t as much flavour as I expected. It was still reasonably enjoyable, but I think I enjoyed the carrots more.
There was a stuffing ball too, proper sage and onion which was delicious. Non-traditional with lamb and I highly approve of breaking traditions.
Finally, the gravy was thick and proper homemade gravy. Alas, again lacking a bit of flavour or seasoning – there was hints of some lamb flavouring, I thought, but I struggled to discern much. It was thick though.
The Great Chase.
I’m not sure I’ve seen The Great Chase at their best – they clearly can do some things really, really well, and if everything had been to the standards of the carrots, then, well, it would be pushing the top of the league table. Imagine the bed-wetter’s reaction if I was recommending an alcohol-free halal restaurant as the best roast dinner in London. Would tickle me…almost as much as Smurf boy.
Gosh I wish I had been on drugs watching that.
So there was some excellence; carrots were delicious and the yorkie was excellent – the rest of the vegetables were good, if too tiny in quantity (maybe 5 types is too much if there is barely a spoonful of some?). Ooh and some very tasty stuffing.
Yet there was a lack of flavour in the lamb and the gravy that would have pushed this roast towards impressive, though that would have needed me to forgive some abominable roasties.

My accomplice scored her beef a 7.50 – the beef was totally gorgeous in terms of smokiness, but my accomplice wasn’t keen on how chewy it was. I preferred it to the lamb.
It’s a tricky one to score, as the constituent parts range from dreadful to excellent. I need to think. I’ll be back.
I’ve slept on it and I’m still not entirely sure of my score for The Great Chase, but there was enough excellence to be on the generous side – I think 7.59 out of 10 will suffice.
I’ll be back next week…and probably with new potatoes instead of roast potatoes.
Summary:
The Great Chase, Islington
Station: Highbury & Islington
Tube Lines: National Rail, Overground, Victoria
Fare Zone: Zone 2
Price: £30.00
Rating: 7.59
Loved & Loathed
Loved: Carrots were delicious and the yorkie was excellent. Ooh and some very tasty stuffing.
Loathed: There was a lack of flavour in the lamb and the gravy, plus fairly abominable roasted new potatoes.
Where now, sailor?
Random roast review: Hack & Hop, City
