Landmark Hotel Marylebone Sunday roast and Yorkshire pudding

The five star hotel is rightly feted for the ritual of its delicate afternoon teas, which were in full swing beneath the glass atrium when we arrived for Sunday lunch.

But descend the staircase to the Great Central Pub and it's altogether less formal, with a welcoming fire, families eating at large tables, and the football on the TV (but not too loud).

The Great Central gastropub by Matt Fletcher (Image: Great Central Bar)

The pub is a nod to the Landmark's original name - The Hotel Great Central -  built in 1899 as one of London's great Victorian railway hotels, designed around a vast courtyard next to Marylebone Station.

You get all that history, and Chef Matt Fletcher's high standards, at the pub, which serves the likes of bangers and mash, fish and chips, burgers, steaks, ploughman's platters, and home made pie.

We were there for the newly introduced Sunday roast, and Fletcher's menu is short, sweet, and well executed in a way that makes you realise it's part of a five star operation.

Starters include a crispy Scotch egg with Piccalilli at The Great Central pub (Image: The Great Central Pub)

Starters were a crispy, thin-shelled Scotch egg with tangy Piccalilli (£8) and equally crispy calamari (£10) with a nicely complementary pickled cucumber salad.

The mains, though are the star of the show. My partner cooed over his vast golden-battered fish (£19) with hand cut chips and mushy peas. This gastropub staple often disappoints, but here was the requisite crunchy exterior hiding translucent perfectly-cooked fish.

My roast beef (£26) arrived in a Yorkshire pudding as big as a hat, with a side jug of rich gravy that I suspect had butter whipped into it. You may have to loosen your jeans after tucking into three slices of perfectly roasted sirloin, plus shredded cabbage, roast potatoes, and carrot inside the pudding/hat.

Pre-done Yorkshire puds can be dry and overcooked, but this was nicely doused in the calorific gravy to balance the crispy with the chewy and although full I could have managed another slice of that succulent beef.

Desserts (£8) were just what you want to round off a lazy lunch. A surprisingly light sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice-cream, and a delicious citrus twist on the crème brulée, a lemon custard in pastry, topped with caramelised sugar.

In pub style, my partner enjoyed a well pulled pint with his fish, while my glass of French Merlot was a cut above the usual pub fare.

My advice is to don a pair of elasticated trousers and order a giant Yorkshire pudding roast.