Whenever you find yourself standing in the middle of Trafalgar Square, HUNGRY, don’t panic. At first glance you can’t see any places to head to for lunch, apart from a few fast food chains… but what you may not know, is hidden in the magnificent National Gallery (that massive building on the square), is The National Café, which serves up scrumptious British and modern European dishes, from brekky through to dinner…

I headed there for lunch today, to meet a chum, chat about all things chummy and indulge in some very special food indeed.

When your nails match your menu. Thank you Rimmel.

The National Café is a Peyton and Byrne eatery, whose head chef is truly passionate about quality British ingredients and sources all their meat, fish, dairy and veg directly from artisan producers. (Love).

Norfolk asparagus with hollandaise sauce

Devonshire crab ravioli with shrimp butter and cockles

The restaurant has recently been redesigned by the Belgian interiors designer Ramy Fischler, who has transformed the space and delivered a much more contemporary aesthetic. I actually adored the space as it was, but it certainly is a big hit with folk – the cafe was buzzing and everyone was enjoying the huge amount of daylight that was streaming in – something that really was lacking before Ramy worked his magic.

Miso baked aubergine with pickled girolle salad

Rose veal burger with lemon, parmesan, sage and radicchio salad

We couldn’t resist dessert, and I would head back there tomorrow to have the doughnuts alone. They were absolutely heavenly – cinnamony and sugary, with a sweet salted caramel oozy filling and a warm gooey dipping toffee sauce on the side. Absolutely gorgeous. we took one mouthful and had naughty looks on our faces for the rest of the meal – we were gonners.

Salted caramel and cinnamon doughnuts with toffee sauce

OMG

We also shared this – Roasted pineapple with maple syrup and coconut sorbet

We finished lunch with mochas and more chit chat, before heading out into Trafalgar Square to assess the weather situation…

Dark grey clouds loomed above us, so rather than head to Mayfair to take some photos, I hopped on the tube at Charing Cross and trundled home, listening to Gillian Welch all the way.

I was asleep by the time the train pulled into Walthamstow, and again, this is another reason why I’m so pleased that our stop is at the end of the line.

I’ll never miss my stop again.

Now, about those doughnuts – meet me back there tomorrow?

The National Café
The National Gallery,
Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 4DN

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