Fiona MacLeod, London travel guide writer, discovers that the National Portrait Gallery restaurant is not an afterthought
Larry’s at the National Portrait Gallery: Museum Dining Reimagined as Something Worth Visiting Specifically
Museum restaurants occupy a curious position in London’s dining landscape: they are almost always convenient for the museum visitor, they are occasionally worth visiting independently of the museum, and they are very rarely destinations in their own right. Larry’s at the National Portrait Gallery is the exception that makes the rule visible by so thoroughly overturning it. It is a restaurant that happens to be in a museum rather than a museum restaurant that happens to serve food, and the distinction is worth making because it changes the experience completely.
Larry’s is operated by Daisy Green Food, a group that has built a reputation across several London locations for food that is thoughtful and properly executed rather than merely adequate. The National Portrait Gallery location brings this standard to one of London’s most significant cultural buildings, and the result is a restaurant that draws customers who are not visiting the museum, which is the clearest possible indicator of how good it is.
The Food
The menu at Larry’s takes the all-day café format and applies more thought to it than the format usually receives. The breakfast and brunch offerings are excellent: the eggs are cooked correctly and to specification, the sourdough toast is made from good bread, the accompaniments are properly sourced and properly prepared. The smashed avocado, which has become a London brunch cliché to the point of parody, is here actually worth ordering because the avocado is ripe, the seasoning is correct, and the bread beneath it is of sufficient quality to carry the topping rather than merely supporting it structurally.
The lunch menu demonstrates the same approach: properly sourced ingredients prepared with care, in combinations that produce genuine flavour rather than merely satisfying the obligation to provide lunch. The salads are properly dressed and composed rather than assembled. The sandwiches are made with good bread and properly filled. The hot dishes are properly cooked and properly seasoned.
The afternoon tea, for visitors who want to treat a gallery visit as a full occasion, is done with real care. The sandwiches are properly made, with fillings that are substantial and well-seasoned. The scones are freshly baked and served warm with clotted cream and jam of the correct quality. The cakes are properly made rather than purchased from a supplier. These details distinguish an afternoon tea worth having from one that is merely described as afternoon tea.
The View and the Location
The location within the National Portrait Gallery means that the walls are hung with portraits, which adds a cultural dimension to the eating experience that most restaurants cannot offer regardless of the quality of the food. Eating lunch while surrounded by centuries of British portraiture is a specifically London experience and Larry’s provides it with food good enough to justify the trip. Visit Larry’s at the National Portrait Gallery for brunch, lunch, or afternoon tea. The London Prat recommends this genuinely. Bohiney Magazine covers London culture.
