This Michelin listed Prestwich restaurant is serving the best Sunday roast around

When a neighbourhood restaurant is added to the Michelin Guide within a year of opening, you know it’s making a splash.

OSMA, which opened late September 2020 in Prestwich, takes its name from the cities the two founders are from – Oslo and Manchester.

Manchester chef Danielle Heron, who grew up in Whitefield and studied at Manchester College, honed her skills at L’Enclume in the Lake District, which was recently awarded its third Michelin star, before moving to highly-respected Oslo restaurant Maaemo, also holder of three stars.

In 2018, Maaemo was placed 35th in the World’s Top 50 Restaurants.

Danielle then moved to Kolonihagen Frogner, where she met OSMA’s co-owner Sofie Stoermann-Naess.

Their smart, modern restaurant OSMA on Bury New Road serves a relaxed, healthy lunchtime menu of open Scandinavian sandwiches and fresh salads, using seasonal ingredients from local British farms and producers, alongside fresh juices and coffee.

Wednesday-Saturday evenings, the venue operates as a ‘food-bar’, serving “tempting, well-priced small plates”, in the words of Michelin, with a frequently-changing menu plus wines and cocktails.

Seasonal dishes might include Taiwanese chicken thigh with teriyaki mayo and nori, turbot with English asparagus, kohlrabi and smoked cream, or quail breast with borlotti bean cassoulet, maitake mushroom and chive flowers.

On Saturdays, there’s a reasonably-priced brunch menu served 11am – 4pm; on Sundays, it’s all about the roast.

Served every Sunday from 12pm – 6pm, the menu offers one course (the roast) for £18, two courses for £22 or three for £26.

Starters and desserts change weekly, depending on seasonality and chef’s choice.

On our recent visit, starters included smoked haddock brandade, soft and silky in texture but packed with flavour, served with rye toast, cucumber and ramson.

More often made with salt cod, the haddock works beautifully in the rich, comforting dish.

An equally accomplished starter sees delicate cured sea bream and salmon paired with punchy radish, earthy beetroot and umami-rich kombu, or kelp.

The main event, the roast, is simply exceptional – and one of the best around, in our view.

There’s a choice of grass-fed topside of beef, native bred lamb loin, free range herb-fed chicken breast, or roast cauliflower, as well as salt aged Cumbrian beef fillet for a supplement of £5.

They’re all served with Yorkshire puddings – which are utter perfection – crisp yet meltingly light, as well as the glossiest of gravies and a generous selection of sides to help yourself.

Our lamb loin is tender and sweet with a hint of gaminess, carved into thick, juicy slices, while the Cumbrian beef fillet is well worth the extra fiver.

It’s an exemplary piece of meat, cooked perfectly pink and stunningly tender with a rich, robust, intensely beefy flavour.

And the accompaniments are no afterthought, either.

Roast potatoes are crunchy outside yet fluffy within, while mash – sometimes deemed an unnecessary addition to a roast – is addictively buttery, well-seasoned and silky smooth.

Carrot and swede mash and cabbage have also been prepared with love – and even more butter – while the homemade mint sauce is flawless.

And even if you’re already at the belt-loosening stage after all that, you won’t regret the hazelnut and chocolate cremeux, richer than mousse but still light – think a Ferrero Rocher at the top of its game – with creme chantilly and fresh raspberries cutting through the sweet creamy deliciousness.

All in, this is the kind of Sunday lunch that makes you realise that it’s a meal worth going out for, a serious treat that has you immediately WhatsApping pics to friends and trying to get another date in the diary as soon as you can.

Sundays simply don’t get better than this.

OSMA, 132 Bury New Road, Prestwich, M25 0AA. Sunday roasts served 12pm – 6pm. Find out more and book here.