Roast opens second restaurant at Shoreditch hotel
Borough Market's roast specialist opens a 135-cover dining room inside Virgin Hotels London-Shoreditch, its first new site in more than two decades.
Roast Shoreditch, the second restaurant from the British institution that has anchored Borough Market since 2005, opened on 21 October inside Virgin Hotels London-Shoreditch on Curtain Road. The 135-cover restaurant takes over ground-floor space that most recently held a Japanese-inspired chophouse, in a building that earlier housed Marcus Samuelsson's Red Rooster and Dani Garcia's Bibo.
The new dining room spans a main hall and bar, a glazed orangery and a chef's table, built to read as rooted in Shoreditch rather than a copy of the Borough Market original. Bookings run through Roast's own site.
Roast was founded in 2005 by Iqbal Wahhab, who co-founded the Cinnamon Club, and has been run since 2019 by chief executive Marc Bevan, who bought the business that year. "Opening our second restaurant is a hugely exciting milestone for the business," Bevan said.
Roast waited twenty-one years for a second site, then bet it on Shoreditch rather than expansion for its own sake.
A menu built around the roast
The signature stays the 42-day-aged roast beef with all the trimmings, joined on the Sunday roast list by pork belly, roast chicken supreme, a nut roast for vegetarians and Cornish sea bass. Starters include a haggis and pork Scotch egg, Cornish scallop crudo and braised lamb scrumpets.
Daily specials rotate through steak, ale and bone marrow pie, honey-glazed ham, monkfish Wellington and roast suckling pig, and a separate halal menu covers both the à la carte and the Sunday roast. Breakfast runs a full Borough spread alongside bacon butties, eggs Benedict variations, tattie scones and smoked kippers.
Virgin Hotels bets on a British name
Barry Vera, director of culinary and beverage for Virgin Hotels Collection, said the hotel chose Roast for "a strong reputation around generous British food and warm, uncomplicated hospitality." Virgin Hotels London-Shoreditch opened at 45 Curtain Road in August 2024, its first UK property.
The move continues a pattern of London kitchens growing through hotel partnerships rather than standalone leases: a new restaurant opened above Stratford's Gantry hotel this autumn, while Nonna Bakery chose Covent Garden for its second UK site.
Roast has given no timetable for a third restaurant. A brand that waited twenty-one years for its second is unlikely to rush a decision now.
