The Portrait, London, restaurant review: National Portrait Gallery’s new spot is a fabulous upgrade

Sign up to IndyEat's free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases Get our food and drink newsletter for free Get our food and drink newsletter for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. open image in gallery Forget the cityscape views – at The Portrait, the food does the talking Along one sloping wall is a butter-yellow mural of the gallery’s exterior, which marketing materials tell me are bespoke linen panels by wallpaper-maker-to-the-stars de Gournay – but otherwise the Brady Williams Studio has kept the design light and minimal, letting the view, and the food, do the talking. When I thought of a gallery lunch, I pictured perfectly fine fish fillets and chicken cutlets, rather than my first snail pasta dish, my first goat’s milk ice cream and my first Asian-spiced oyster all in one sitting. And with most of the National Portrait Gallery free to view it’s a fabulous upgrade for a low-key afternoon of art. The Portrait Restaurant, The National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London WC2H 0HE | 020 3872 7610 | theportraitrestaurant.com