Five of the best restaurants in London’s museums and galleries

It wasn’t so long ago that a visit to one of London’s many galleries or museums required, for those wishing to eat, either an encyclopedic knowledge of the neighbourhood or a willingness to put up with stale sandwiches and tea always spilt into a saucer. London’s museum cafés had their own particular brand of grey-scale gloom, of cramped, crumb-covered tables and sullen staff. No longer: London’s arts bosses have overhauled their dining offerings so that now, the food and drink stand a chance against the magnificence of the exhibits.

Somerset House has come a long way from the days when its courtyard was used as a car park. Joining its artworks and exhibitions — found variously in the different wings, as well as the Courtauld Gallery, Terrace Rooms, and even outside — is now a first-rate line-up of restaurants. Joining Skye Gyngell’s decorated Spring (low wastage seasonal plates) and Rishim Sachdeva’s mostly-vegan Café Petiole is Aram, the new Syrian restaurant from Imad Alarnab. Alarnab, best known for his Syrian kitchen in Kingly Court, is promising a follow-up in a similar vein — wraps, salads, za’atar croissants and maarouk donuts — but notably, uses Syrian produce imported directly for the first time since the war broke out in 2011 (the revolution ceased last December). But perhaps the headline act is Poon’s, the first permanent opening for Amy Poon (pictured above), daughter of the pioneering Bill Poon. Like her father, Poon will serve claypot rice, magic soup — described by the chef “as fundamental to a traditional Chinese meal as Yorkshire pudding to a Sunday roast” — and other dishes Chinese families typically cook at home. Look out for Setlist, too, which opened in May: it’s a bar and live music spot backing onto the river, that boasts a monthly-changing residency of female chefs. It’s food, which is very good, is pictured at the top of this page.

When Locanda Locatelli closed in December of last year, after almost a quarter of a century trading, expectations were high for what might be next (it was, after all, the first restaurant AA Gill ever awarded the full five stars). Said expectations rather lowered on hearing his name was to be used in the Sainsbury Wing at the National. It looked like a cash grab before his ride into retirement. And yet Locatelli’s has proven to be anything but. Sure, the space is big and echoey and not like his old haunt, but the food — fritto misto, fresh pasta, rib eyes and pot roast chicken — delivers on the promise of his reputation. Elsewhere in the building is the handsome Ochre — you can guess the colour scheme — an all-day brasserie with a respectable martini trolley. Standard brasserie fare with international touches is well executed: schnitzels, burgers, pasta, a vegetarian madras. Most will find something to like. Good set menu, too, with two courses for £28.

Clever, that Richard Corrigan: he’s named his place here The Portrait. How did he think of it? Corrigan’s story in this building is an interesting one, him returning to open The Portrait some 20 years after he first walked in to consult on the food. What he did then has been lost to time, but what is here now is his elegant but unpretentious Irish cooking, with ingredients from across Ireland and Britain. Dishes might include a globe artichoke slathered in crab mayonnaise, or Dover sole, steamed and plated with wild mushrooms and samphire. It is not cheap, though a £35 for two-course set menu may lessen the sting somewhat. Sat on the gallery’s top floor, at least it proves the rule that the higher up a restaurant is, the more vertiginous the bill. Still, the view — which includes the Houses of Parliament, Nelson’s Column, Big Ben and the London Eye — gives it all a sense of occasion that feels worth the price of admission.

Spain’s most famous culinary export, José Pizarro, above, was something of a pioneer in gallery dining. He was among the first of this wave of big name chefs to make the move into one. As such, anticipation was high: would José Pizarro at the Royal Academy (JP at the RA to those in the know) be a dud? Happily, not in the slightest. It helps that evidently both chef and gallery put their all into making it work: the gallery installed him in the Senate Room, an extraordinary lit place thanks to windows that make a Rothko canvas look titchy, and one decorated mostly just with its paint — terracotta, cream, gilt — but also installations the colour of index tabs. Pizarro has brought his A-game too, offering three set menus (£45, £55 and £85) which each promise his food at its finest; it has not been compromised for its surrounds. Expect prawn fritters, lots of heavenly olives, octopus and things to make you shiver with pleasure, like slow-cooked chorizo in red wine with quince.

Proof it’s not just the grandees at it. 180 Studios — the creative heart of the 180 Strand complex, the one with all the exhibitions — has a food offering to make the old boys wince. The big name is two-Michelin-star Ikoyi, a modern British fine dining restaurant making informed use of west African spices to great effect. How great an effect? It’s the sort of place that, were it not prohibitively expensive, might easily be named London’s best restaurant. Unfortunately, the menu is £350-a-head. So it goes. Much more approachable is the understated Toklas, a simple Mediterranean spot with its own bakery. Its chic, Scandi looks and unwound vibe have quietly drawn it a reputation, and now it is very much the place to be; the sort of room where every face is half-recognisable. Was it school or on the telly you saw them last?