Vegetarian Sunday Lunch in Leicester: An Alternative to the Traditional Roast

A Sunday roast is such a fixture of the British week that it's easy to forget it's just one option, not a requirement. If you're vegetarian, cooking for someone who is, or simply want a change, a Kerala thali makes a genuinely good substitute - not a workaround, a different tradition that happens to solve the same problem.

What a roast and a thali actually have in common

Strip away the specifics and a Sunday roast is really several separate dishes - meat, vegetables, a starch, a sauce - served together on one plate, eaten slowly, usually with people you know well. A Kerala thali does exactly the same job: rice, sambar, a couple of vegetable curries, pickle, papadum and a sweet, all served together and meant to be eaten unhurriedly.

Why it works as a Sunday lunch specifically

Sunday lunch tends to be about the sitting-together as much as the food itself - nobody's rushing back to a desk afterwards. A thali suits that pace: there's no single dish to finish before the next course arrives, just a plate you work through at your own speed, mixing and matching as you go.

What to expect

• Rice and sambar - the base of the meal, comparable in role to potatoes and gravy.
• A couple of vegetable curries - often coconut-based, standing in for the traditional vegetable sides.
• Pickle and papadum - sharp, crisp additions eaten in small amounts alongside everything else.
• A sweet to finish - playing the same role as a Sunday pudding.

Visit Herb on a Sunday

Herb Leicester is open Sundays from 12:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Booking ahead is worth doing if you're coming as a family - see the full Leicester restaurant page for details, or our thali guide if you want the fuller picture before you visit.