In fairness to The National Dining Rooms, the food is of a fairly high standard.
The menu reflects the all-pervasive influence of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, even going to the lengths of including a mission statement that boasts of "fresh and seasonal ingredients" that are "sourced from producers from all over the British Isles".
Nevertheless, I'm quite partial to modern British fare and my meal - I started with smoked mackerel pate and followed with grilled Old Spot pork chop - didn't disappoint.
My companion was slightly underwhelmed by his starter - pork terrine with nettles and fried capers - but he had no complaints about his main course of roast Norfolk lamb.
Overall, my only quibble was that our rather dimwitted waiter forgot to bring our side orders of mashed potatoes and buttered cabbage.
Oliver Peyton has already launched one successful museum-based restaurant - the Admiralty at Somerset House - and, later this year, he's opening another at The Wallace Collection.
His ambition, he says, is to improve the reputation of British cuisine overseas - and what better place to start than in London's great museums, given that they receive coach-loads of foreign visitors every day.
That's a laudable aim for any restaurateur to have - particularly if he's an Irishman - but Peyton doesn't seem to have taken on board the fact that most of these visitors are quite elderly.
Even the two-course set lunch, which is pretty reasonably priced at £23.50, may be too rich for their blood.
My advice is to increase the number of soups on offer each day and take mineral water off the menu.
The National Dining Rooms Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5DN
