Rex Whistler Restaurant at Tate Britain

We had not reserved enough time to visit the Tate Britain. On top of that, we didn’t have lunch and were feeling rather hungry. Luckily, the current generation of art museums usually offer decent contemporary cuisine, and the Tate is one of them. We decided to dine here to absorb in the atmosphere before running to the exhibit. on hind sight, we might have spent too much time eating, too little time browsing the exhibits. Ah well, you gotta make do!
The lunch menu is scrumptious, to say the least. It is a set lunch but you can choose the number of items you want. The lamb chops with potato au gratin was excellent, especially the potatoes — everyone raved about them. The sea bass over a cream sauce with peas and leeks was seared to perfection with crispy skin. Everything is almost too fancy for lunch.
The portions were just right (not too large, not too skimpy), and the setting does make the price worth it. If only they do dinner service, then you could go round the exhibits before stuffing yourself silly!

Top of the line restaurant. Marvelous service. Had a wonderful Pimms. Truly enjoyed the fish and wine. Bit on the pricey side, but worth every penny. And yes, the have linen serviettes (something top eateries were missing)

If visiting Tate Britain make time to stop for a leisurely set lunch in their restaurant, either a one course, two or three, at very reasonable prices, accompanied with a half bottle of wine. The restaurant is famous for its mural painted by Rex Whistler hence the name, depicting an expedition in search of exotic meats, travelling on horses, carts and bicycles, on route meeting such amazing things as unicorns and truffle dogs. As the mural surrounds the whole restaurant, and columns of pillars running down the centre of the room, making it airy and light, you feel like you are in a garden eating alfresco, although there is an outdoor terrace for finer and warmer weather, which the windows from the restaurant overlooks. For once there are more fish selections on the menu than meat, so there is a chicken and lamb and then three choices of fish. The traditional British food are decent portions for fine dining, served lovely and hot, well presented and as expected tastes very good, and the sticky toffee pudding is «to die for»! The gin and homemade lemon milk soda cocktail is light and refreshing, recommended!

My better half treated me to a stunning three-​course lunch here on my birthday last week, and I was thoroughly spoilt rotten with the food, service and atmosphere.
The wall-​to-​wall Whistler mural makes this restaurant a pleasure to eat in, absolutely beautiful and definitely keeps you occupied while waiting for service although we never had to wait for service at all despite it being 2pm and a full house.
The boy had the a la carte and I went for the set menu (purely because it had every dish I wanted on it). I tucked into a lentil mulligatawny soup warming but light and full of nice little chunks; then onto a melt-​in-​the-​mouth roast chicken breast followed by a huge choc and cointreau torte (which I couldn’t finish despite really wanting to!). Hubby had a giant steak and posho onion rings and we both agreed it was the best food we’d had in a good while.
The three-​course set menu was £25 and I don’t think I’ve ever thought food should cost that much, but this is actually worth the splurge! Plus the matching wines\ports\sherries are reasonably priced with the set menu both my port and the half-​bottle of pinot noir we had were to die for. I think the a la carte three courses were nearer £50, which is the only reason we wouldn’t be regular visitors! But I couldn’t recommend treating yourself to this little gem enough.

I had a truly sumptuous and delicious English breakfast in this restaurant, one of the best ever. The cappuccino was top. I had to have two as it was the best I had outside of Italy. Top marks for this restaurant, though expect to pay for this level of service and food. Ideal for the occasional splurge though and to impress visitors.

A recent lunch was a revelation. Wild duck had more flavour than I’ve had in duck in many years. Vegetable sides are extra, but their chips are superb. Butternut squash ravioli was nice if you like that sort of thing. For dessert I had Black Forest Gâteau — not the sixties wedge, but a sundae of chocolate mousse, cherry compote, and chocolate cake. Brilliant. Great Illy coffee. Now, if only Jeffrey Archer hadn’t been dining there, it would have been perfect! Good service too. Pricey though — £60 for two, and 15% service added automatically.
The a la carte runs out at roughly £6 per starter, £15 per main, £4 per side, £6 per dessert. It’s popular none the less. Worth it for an occasional splurge.

After seeing the brilliant and beautiful Henry Moore exhibit last night, our party needed some refreshment. We headed to the café’, but it was closed. So, the friendly maitre d’ directed our attention to the restaurant and what a lovely surprise it turned out to be.
Dinner is by set menu: £20 for two courses or £25 for three, a selection of sides for £3.95 each, and a stunning wine list.
I chose the blood orange and carrot soup starter and the pasta with spinach, mushrooms and cream. The soup was spot on for a cold, rainy night chill with the tartness of the blood oranges tempering the sweetness of the carrots. The consistency of the soup was great — grainy enough so one knew it was made freshly, yet not stodgy — and they used the slightest smidge of cream as a garnish, rather than basing the soup in cream. The pasta was well cooked, but not al dente (but that’s ok with me sometimes) and the mushrooms were very tasty. My dining companions were as pleased with their meals as I was with mine.
Service was friendly, attentive and prompt. Much more so than I would have expected. Kudos! The restaurant is situated in the basement of the museum and has no windows. That is ok, actually, because the walls are decorated by a, literally, fantastic mural painted in 1927 by Rex Whistler especially for the Tate. According to the website, «in the mural Whistler presents an imaginary world in which Classical, Renaissance and Georgian architecture sit next to ancient chariots, modern bicycles, and landscapes ranging from the far east, jungles and the pastoral European countryside.»