Picture, 110 Great Portland Street, London W1W 6PQ

Picture, 110 Great Portland Street, London W1W 6PQ

24/08/2013

www.picturerestaurant.co.uk

She said: He returned from a business trip early so I picked Picture for a lunchtime catch up. It was a lovely contrast to step in out of the grey, rainy London day into a bright, long, modern space with wooden floors and a glass roof at the rear of the room, which is where we were seated. The set lunchtime menu at £15 was fantastic value and each dish perfectly delicious. My tomato salad starter was full of flavour bursting from the different coloured tomatoes which mixed perfectly with cucumber and goats cheese. The haddock risotto was not what I expected (a piece of nicely cooked haddock placed a top some delicious risotto instead of the fish being mixed in which was my misgiving) and a chocolate mousse of the highest quality with summer berries to finish. At the end of the meal I felt comfortably satisfied as opposed to stuffed which suited me but I guess the dishes could each have been a bit bigger but I really shouldn’t complain as Picture offers a lovely smart yet relaxed space, good service and inventive food at great prices. More reason why it was sad we were the only diners – London, stop jumping on the same-ole-same-ole restaurant bandwagon and get wise to restaurants like Picture which should easily be a Fitzrovia favourite.

He said: I’m so glad that she somehow got Picture on her radar – no easy feat, I tell you: we’d walked past this place a few times, and never really noticed it. The shop-front is narrow and done-up very soberly – on previous walk-bys I thought that it was some hip Antipodean coffee bar and dismissed it. How quickly things can change. I liked everything about Picture: the lo-fi décor, the very seasonal ingredients, the incredibly cheap set menu; and I especially liked that it’s close to our place, not in Soho, and feels like your own little secret gem. This is definitely the kind of restaurant that I want in my ‘hood. Take people here if you want to seem like the clever clog that floats above all the trends. My only gripe is that the portions were small, but who can complain at £15 for 3 courses, and they didn’t mind us stretching it out for a couple of hours. If anyone is reading this, please go: we were practically the only people there on the day. God bless Picture. Amen.