Richard Corrigan chuckles as he lauds the electric carving knife, a relic of a kitchen implement that will be reborn at his newest restaurant, which opens today in the National Portrait Gallery.
“It’s back to basics for me here,” he says, explaining that a normal knife would shatter the jelly of his rabbit compote, but not this trusty old thing. Odd as it may seem, bringing back a gadget that probably had its heyday in the Seventies is emblematic of the approach he is taking overall here. The restaurant — full name, The Portrait Restaurant by Richard Corrigan — is about comforting, classic food, served in a dining room on the top floor.
