Portrait Restaurant

I feel this restaurant was over-​rated. Our waiter only showed up twice-​once to give us the menu and once to stop by and take our drink order. I had to stop him and ask for water. By the time he came back for water, we are ready to go. I ordered the Hake. It was ok. A bit too rich for me. Hubby’s angus steak was really good and tender and juicy.
Overall, the food was ok for me but the customer service could be better.

We had a group of 24 high school students and this was one of the highlights of the trip, having the afternoon tea service. The food was delicious, the atmosphere relaxing and lovely, the service was impeccable — I cannot rave enough. Every single person we encountered, from the person checking our coats to every single member of the waitstaff was friendly and welcoming and helpful and made every single one of us feel important and valued. We had a few special dietary requests and they were handled so thoughtfully — definitely a highlight of our trip. Thank you!

Nearly perfect. Had afternoon tea there. Great views. Great food. Good tea. Only complaint is that it’s a bit noisy. Recommend reservations. East to do online.

it’s all about the view and classy ambiance!

Vous connaissez le traditionnel Afternoon Tea? Sans mon adorable et artsy couch-​surfeuse Annabelle, je serais passée à côté, la tristitude. Donc vive CouchSurfing !
Il est 17h, la foule folle d’Oxford et Trafalgar commence à vous donner mal à la tête? Montez donc vous réfugier ici: pour la volupté on repassera, mais pour ce qui est du luxe et surtout du calme, check.
Sit back, relax and enjoy the view.
Bön, c’est un peu cher par contre: 25£ par personne l’Afternoon Tea. Comme on avait déjà un resto prévu ensuite –Non, ce n’est pas bizarre de bien manger à 17h pour ensuite remanger à 19h30. On né juge pas– Nous avons «juste» pris une assiette de sandwiches et des scones plutôt que le vrai combo. Donc pas de plateau à trois étages pour nous, snif). Avec une boisson chaude, au choix, mais si vous prenez un café ou un chocolat, faudra l’assumer très fort.
Les petits sandwiches salés (concombre, saumon, poulet, bœuf-​chèvre,…) étaient pas mal, mais pas fous. Les scones étaient délicieux par contre (d’habitude ça m’étouffe), avec de la confiture et de la crème caillée. Pas du beurre. Oui, car je suis si dévouée que je me suis affichée pour vous: non, ce tas de beurre qui ressemble à du beurre et qui a un goût de beurre n’est pas du beurre. C’est de la crème caillée. «Clotted cream». Epargnez-​vous l’air inculte.
Le lieu est très classe, les serveurs sont tout de blanc vêtus, et le service est impeccable, discret, charmant, pas du tout snob.
Les baies vitrées donnent sur les toits de Londres (4ème étage) et les principaux monuments: c’est bien de venir en fin de séjour pour voir si vous avez retenu: Big Ben, London Eye, Nelson et leTrafalgar Square, Westminster,…
Ce n’était pas prévu mais en repartant on a finalement visité le musée (gratuit, viva Londres), qui possède de jolies pièces, et qui vous plaira surtout si vous êtes fan de la royauté anglaise, depuis Henri VIII, ses femmes, toute la famille jusqu’à Kate.
Voilà, l’Afternoon Tea à la National Gallery, c’est à faire une fois, pour le cadre, le calme, la vue (venir pour le coucher de soleil !), les scones et les plateaux à trois étages. Même si les dits plateaux né sont que sur la table du voisin.

lovely afternoon tea spot. Get away from the otherwise ticky-​tackiness of Trafalgar Square and enjoy expansive views of London while you sip and nosh on great afternoon tea and treats.
Relatively inexpensive at 25pounds per person — there is more food than one normal person can consume. As expected the scones and clotted cream and jam were DELICIOUS. The beet/​onion/​goat cheese sandwich was also a highlight. The desserts (macaron, chocolate dessert, éclair, fruit tart) were for the most part good.
Additionally, the National Portrait Gallery is really an enjoyable destination — a very pleasant surprise.

Book a table in time with the sunset! Great for a surprise with a loved one.
It is small, so I would definitely book ahead. There are lots of teas and fancy cakes* to be shared (or not). Don’t be in a hurry because the service is very slow for such a small space.
Double check the times when they are open. Different menu at different times.
Give yourself time to sit and relax. Service is in no rush either.
*Def not vegan

Personally, it’s all about the view (and classy ambiance).
I went with three other friends to the bar, and we all gushed over the view above the National Gallery. The view is rather magical because you don’t see the hordes of tourists & activity on Trafalgar Square below, only the classic architecture surrounding the area. It almost felt like I was in St. Petersburg or Prague.
The wine prices were reasonable and the bar service was just fine. My friends ordered queen olives as our bar snacks; I don’t even *like* olives, but these were absolutely delicious! It was like a «Sword and the Stone» experience. For that, Portrait Restaurant will always have a special place in my heart ;)
One of the best (and unique) views of London. Come during sunset!

i have been once there for a coffee, but, i really wanna go again for a meal. Its a lovely place to catch up with friends and socialize. Lovely service and view.

All the stars go to the view, everything else is as you would expect: fine, a bit pricey, worth the visit.

Five star view and tasty food, but overpriced. Still, that view. Yes, please!
Portrait Restaurant on the top of the National Portrait Gallery boasts really fantastic views of downtown London, Big Ben, the London Eye and Trafalgar Square, along with more brass cupolas than I realized London had, until you find yourself at this fantastic vantage point and see that its really a town full of ancient towers and cupolas. (Must look up more often!)
The food at Portraits is actually quite good, but pricey. Entrees ala carte are basically the same price as a fixed meal with either starer and main or main and dessert, so you may as well splurge and get something more substantial at lunch.
Not all all kid friendly, this is a fancy, traditional spot full of white suited waiters and multi course meals, which I hadn’t realized when I booked. Still, coming here with an older child of nine, there wasn’t anything on the menu kid-​appropriate. It would be nice if they might realize that not all patrons are going to want a three course lunch, or some overly gourmet main. Clearly, they could care less about a stubborn American mom who is desirous of a rooftop view of London that she drags her well-​behaved child to subsist on a croissant and orange juice at lunchtime –ahem! Bad mummy.
For me, nicely cooked fish, fennel, grapefruit and spinach entrée, and a very creamy cauliflower soup along with a bread basket for 25 pounds (gasp) was a nice, satisfying and expensive experience.
Keep in mind this is a very generous lunch, and you may be sleepy while wandering about the gallery. Next time, will come for breakfast –a better value certainly, and the view is something worth repeating.

We came here as tourists. This was a pretty fun spot to grab lunch after a concert at St Martin in the Fields. The food was pretty solid, the service was decent (for London… sigh), and the best part, was the view! It’s not that high up, but London’s not filled with skyscrapers so it got all the great tourist sights in there. Pretty fun for a tourist. It’s all the way at the top floor of the museum. Just keep going up and you’ll find it.

Loved this place. The food was good — mid range but well prepared. The view — one of the best in London. Truly amazing. Not many people seem to know about this place, and we were sent downstairs to the café at first, then we asked for directions to the «Restaurant» and went up an escalator to this amazing little place. The hostess can be a little flustered, but the bar staff (we ate at the bar) were super friendly. Just stunning views of the square and London. Excellent place to grab a solid bite of food, and a view to send pictures home of.

Here’s a little secret: come in the morning. You can grab a coffee, tea, boiled egg or toast and get the same views without a major spend.
The only downside to this strategy is that the views are to the East, so the morning views come with the sun in front. This makes photos (all from indoors) a bit more tricky, but also gives you a taste of what you might experience if you come here at other times in the day.

Vistiing London for the first time? Then top off your art tour (both here and the National Gallery next door) with another great work of art. Mainly the fantastic view of Westminster. And the food’s not bad either. This was my 3^rd visit & have never been disappointed. The seats by the window are at a premium, so book a table to ensure you get a prime location.

I’ll be completely honest… if the company wasn’t paying, then I probably wouldn’t have had lunch here! I love good food, but sometimes the price can put you off.
I will say that in making a group booking for our lunch, it was fairly easy. If you go over a certain amount of people, I believe it was 8, then they have a form they send you and you have to go onto a reduced menu. The only thing about the reduced menu I did not like was that they were asking us to commit to 2 or 3 courses without knowing what would be on offer on the day we had lunch. After a bit of negotiating, they did let our group order off of the normal lunch menu since there were just 9 of us.
I was really excited about the Globe Artichoke Salad! I did order the crab cake to start with. It was delicious and I thought it was the right consistency… sometimes it is too mushy or too dry, but this was just right. The salad looked beautiful and it tasted lovely, with the exception of the potatoes. They were blue/​purple and I was expecting them to taste wonderful, but they really didn’t have any flavour… in fact the consistency wasn’t even nice… not sure if that was the potato’s fault or whoever cooked its fault.
For dessert I had the caramalized walnut tart with clotted cream. Talk about sweet! It was so good though! It reminded me a lot of Pecan Pie, but the walnuts cut a bit of the sweetness and I really enjoyed it, especially with the cream! Everyone else seemed to enjoy their food as well… no complaints at all.
We were seated next to the window and while the view was nice, I wouldn’t say it is the best view ever because a lot of it is the top of the National Gallery.

Duck Song
Before joining the achingly hip crowd gathered for the Late Shift Extra at the National Portrait Gallery, we couldn’t resist having dinner at the Portrait Gallery.
This rooftop restaurant has the most breathtaking panaromic views of London, particularly on a sunny day. We tore ourselves away from it, to order our main, the confit of duck, presented on an island of creamy mash, surrounded by a lapping sea of red onion gravy.
The duck was cooked perfectly, encased in a thin crispy skin which was golden brown. The mash was smooth and well seasoned, while the red onion gravy was a revelation.
My dessert of raspberry and apple crumble, arrived with a tiny side jug of custard, which took the edge of the fruit’s combined tartness. My other half unfortunately went for the chocolate pot which was lovely, but far too large a portion for something so rich.
Late Shift Extra
We finished dinner and headed downstairs to Room 20 — The Reform Room. A beautifully proportioned room, full of paintings of notable British historical parliamentaries and reformists.
In front of an epic execution of The House of Commons, 1833, drawfed by the sheer scale of the canvas stood Andreya Triana. This tiny, bare footed powerhouse singer songwriter, treated us to an emotive, soulful tinged delivery of six excellent songs.
Accompanied by a keyboard/​mixer and talented guitarist ‘Matt’, she ended her set with a brilliant electro choral reworking of the Eurythumics“Sweet Dreams”. Her voice soared over a deep, pounding bassline, that had the whole audience rocking.
All in all a great Friday night !

This is one of my all-​time favourites for afternoon tea and somehow it still remains a well kept secret — shhhh. You can’t beat the view across Trafalgar Square and if you opt for a pot of tea and scones only rather than going for the big deal tea, it doesn’t break the bank either.
I have yet to meet a visitor who was not impressed.

Das Restaurant heisst jetzt «Searcys at The National Portrait Gallery». Für einen moderaten Preise erhält man gute (und große) Gerichte. Der Ausblick auf verschiedene Londoner Sehenswürdigkeiten ist genial. Eine Reservierung ist in jedem Fall zu empfehlen und man sollte versuchen einen Platz am Fenster zu bekommen.

Restaurants that are well known for stunning views as well as those placed within museums and other cultural institutions and tourist attractions often have a reputation for being overpriced or for making quality and taste a secondary concern. On the contrary, I found, in addition to a gorgeous view in a fab setting, that my lunch at Portrait was deliciously good value.
With a world class collection of art below thos top floor eatery featuring stunning views of many of London’s most noted landmarks and the menu in the capable hands of head chef Katarina Todosijevic, this is a winner of a place to eat. More about the chef here:

A very good restaurant for a date or catching up with an old friend!

When we first arrived I was concerned it could be a snooty kind of place with uppity staff and tiny portions. I was so please to find I was completely wrong.
My wife, daughter and I had arrived for brunch at about 11:20am on a weekday and were greeted by very friendly maitre D who seated us immediately. We had a table at the window with an awe inspiring view of the city. We had booked earlier but were one of only three groups of diners in at that time. It did get busier at about 12:15 so I would suggest booking to prevent disappointment.
Our waitress was a stunning 6ft tall Germanic amazon who evidently spent more on manicures and shoes than I do on cars and houses. On seeing her I surreptitiously eyed the menu to see if there were any hidden surcharges such as an arm and a leg for service but apart from the usual 12% there were none. My wife was enjoying my awkwardness immensely and suggested I ask her out!
The food was beautifully prepared which was expected with a nice portion size which was not. The dishes themselves were fantastic. It was wonderful to see English food being presented in such an appealing way.
The dish I relished most was the black pudding which was on wilted spinach and topped with a poached egg and devilled sauce. This was perfect as everything seems better with a poached egg. I balanced out the meal with the smoked chicken Caesar salad which was nice but not as monumental as the black pudding which even the picky 9 year old thought was «Yummy». Our daughter had the soup of the day which was pumpkin (she’s 9!) and chips which were enormous and perfectly cooked being golden and crisp on the outside with a fluffy center. My wife had the goats cheese and red onion tart with rocket which was also delicious. I still won with the black pudding!
The amazon was attentive and professional and made a fuss over our daughter which was duly appreciated. The dining experience was a excellent from start to finish. The price is moderate to high but well worth it considering the location view, quality of food and that Heidi Klum’s younger sister works there!
The majority of the tables are along the Southern windows so you will have a perfect excuse to wear your cool Ray-​Bans during lunch as it does get very sunny.
The photo’s do not do the place justice.

You absolutely can not beat the view here. Large windows open up to a view of Nelson in Trafalgar Square and across Whitehall to the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye. The space is airy as you would expect in a museum, but the food is a bit better. Expect fancy yet typical British food, with the exception of Fish and Chips (impossible to make fancy!). Ask for a table by the window, or in one of the newer booth areas where at least one person gets to look out.
Do make a reservation, as it gets quite busy. Don’t be late for your table.