The Independent
“A fabulous upgrade.”
Lucy Thackray took her father to The Portrait Restaurant, the new Richard Corrigan-led dining space at the National Portrait Gallery. It’s right “at the top of the Trafalgar Square building, in a former glass-edged event space where windows are filled with a pleasing cityscape of London rooftops”, and opened earlier this month, “the final touch to a major three-year renovation of the gallery”.`
The gallery’s “glow-up” is impressive and the restaurant is “rather corporate-feeling but convivial” – the designers have clearly “kept the design light and minimal, letting the view, and the food, do the talking”.
The menu is full of “instantly intriguing things… much of it is what you’d expect from Corrigan – earthy flavours from the UK and Ireland, plenty of fish and veg present, but with a few curiosities thrown in”.
Service is “quick and efficient”, and while “there are no bargain bites”, remember that the gallery is free – and there are fixed-priced set menus – so a day out here can be pretty good value for central London.
Lucy Thackray - 2023-07-24
