The “beautiful” Whistler-muralled dining room of this Westminster gallery offers rather “old-fashioned” British food that’s “always good”; even so, the scoff’s “beside the point”, compared to the “out-of-this-world” wine list (which is “fairly-priced” too).
Keep your own review of Tate Britain, Rex Whistler using our diary service.
“Food is probably the least important thing about this restaurant. Less important than the artist whose extraordinary spirit imbues the room, less important than the fabulous wine, and certainly less self-important than the intriguing assortment of politicos and spooks who meet here to break bread and confidences”, says the critic. Whistler, we discover, was only a 22-year-old student (“the most remarkable the Slade has ever seen”, according to his tutor) when he won the contract to mural the Tate’s dining room, which he completed in 1927. We even discover that “some claim he was the inspiration for Charles Ryder in Brideshead Revisited”. Whatever. The critic enjoyed his time here a lot.
Jasper Gerard (23rd March 2009)
Follow hardensbites
Become a Harden's fan
