National Dining Rooms, The

Long gone are the days when our great national institutions saw it as no part of their duty to supply their visitors with refreshment. Then came humanity and accountants, let's hope in that order, and now the National Gallery has really pushed the kitchen out. Or to be more precise Oliver Peyton has, and in conjunction with David Collins has transformed the top floor of the building into a very glitzy place, full of people many of whom have no intention of looking at the national collection. Which is fine since entry to the galleries is free, but two people having a good dinner in the dining room are unlikely to emerge with much change out of £100.

The food is indubitably British, making few demands on the intellectual cuisenaire, but full of good cheer. Think oxtail soup with marrow dumplings, crisp pork belly with pease pudding and scrumpy, followed by warm treacle tart with clotted cream. Breakfast is served in the Bakery from 10 am, through elevenses, light meals and afternoon tea. Lunch in the restaurant and dinner on Wednesday evenings (only) are incredibly popular and already the Dining Rooms have a cult following.

An increasing number of restaurants and the like are making it their business to support small-scale farmers, growers and cheese-makers, and the benefit of their devotion to their products is evident within the menu here.