National Dining Rooms
National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, WC1 (Tel: 020-7747 2525)
Restaurant: daily 12noon-3.30pm (Wed to 7pm); Bakery: daily 10am-5.30pm (Wed to 8.30pm)
Oliver Peyton, the Irish restaurateur who cut his teeth in Manchester before advancing on the capital, has taken over the food concession in the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery (formerly the rather gruesome Crivelli's Garden). The menu is firmly but not irritatingly British. Gluey bone marrow dumplings look up at you forlornly as a rich oxtail broth is poured, slightly prissily, around them. A salad of goat's curd with baby spinach, fried red onions and walnuts is cohesive, if frugal. Plain, grilled Dover sole comes up just right, but curiously rectangular.
At mezzanine level, with partial views over Trafalgar Square, there is a workmanlike buzz to the restaurant and adjoining bakery (where you can eat all day), but ultimately I find the space as a whole oddly claustrophobic.
High point Selection of 13 well-chosen British cheeses
Low point Staff struggle to cope during lunchtime rush
Capacity 180
Price per head £50
Wine list £15
Vegetarian 7/10
Service 7/10
Music None
Value for money 6.5/10
Style Popular, democratic
Life Galleries Restaurant
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 (Tel: 020-7942 5000)
daily 10am-5.50pm
Like Peyton, Natural History Museum architect Alfred Waterhouse started out in Manchester before moving to London to become immortalised in stone. There are four eating outlets at the Natural History Museum (plus an indoor/outdoor picnic area) and although the Life Galleries Restaurant is the best of them, the word "dinosaur" still springs to mind. Enter another world opposite the giant plesiosaur, a world of meat pies, soggy chips and day-old rock cakes.
Vegetarian moussaka is made with some care, topped with feta, although chicken breast in a cream tarragon sauce doesn't benefit from sitting under heat lamps. Coffee, although certified by the Rainforest Alliance, does not taste good. Cheerful, helpful staff save the day.
High point Dedicated children's counter
Low point Depressing cakes and sandwiches
Capacity 70
Price per head £24
Wine list £13.50
Vegetarian 7/10
Service 8.5/10
Music None
Value for money 5/10
Style Institutional
The Court at The British Museum
Great Russell St, WC1 (Tel: 020-7323 8990)
Mon-Sat 12noon-3pm; afternoon tea Mon-Sat 3pm-5pm; Thu/Fri 5.30pm-9pm
Matchless location in the Great Court of the British Museum, the food here cannot compete with the surroundings, but that you can eat here at all seems a remarkable privilege. If the lunchtime food is too ambitious and overworked - roast salmon in pink peppercorn crust should be sent back, along with the Marbles - you do better at tea: tall cakes, scones and delicious homemade biscuits.
Dinner here, under Norman Foster's glass dome, is a London moment.
High point View into the reading room below
Low point Nothing you really want to eat on the menu
Capacity 110
Price per head £28
Wine list £14
Vegetarian 8/10
Service 9/10
Music None
Value for money 8/10
Style Commanding
