Sketch. You know it. That one from Instagram. Space pod loos. Loud art on the walls. Sort of like eating in an immersive theatre experience. But the Conduit Street institution is more than just a place for selfies and soundtracked bowel movements. Over two decades after opening it’s still very much a serious restaurant – and one that’s just had a redesign.
An iconic dining destination
In January 2026 Sketch revealed the first major rehang of its main Gallery restaurant since 2022, with Yinka Shonibare’s masks and quilts replaced by Jonathan Baldock’s faces and cocoons. The Gallery remains sunshine yellow, with its gorgeous domed skylight, though woven cocoons now curl down from the ceiling and 84 clay masks line the walls. The loos, you’ll be glad to hear, are the same: 2001-esque egg cubicles with ambient music and convex mirrors.
Plenty might go somewhere like this with a certain wariness. Nice art doesn’t necessarily mean decent food, service and value for money. But Sketch is more than just a pretty face.
In the Gallery, the menu is of the modern European variety, though with plenty of Asian touches and – in a way that fits the surroundings – a pleasing penchant for bright colours and presentational flair.
All of which was clear from the off. We opened with the lily sing salad; creamy miso mayonnaise spun over avocado, tofu, mango, tomatoes, pomegranates and freeze-dried raspberries. Rather than just a garish splurge of colour on balmy yellow crockery, it was a masterclass of textured salad-ing – each mouthful crunchy and mushy, tangy and creamy. One for the true salad-heads.
Our other starter, Korean bouillon, with tofu dumpling life-rafts in a seaweed-green makgeolli broth lake, was only marginally less impressive, spoonfuls of earthily salty mushroom with the sweet edge of fermented turnip.
There are five restaurants within Sketch, with The Gallery being the venue’s more relaxed space (compared to the three-Michelin-starred Lecture Room & Library). That chilled-out-ness has its perks. The service was slick but not stiff or stuffy, and the atmosphere was delightful. Beyond the spectacle of the artworks and grand room – and the Gallery very much remains spectacular, an iconic dining destination – a pleasantly unintrusive jazz band played in the corner. Looking around, my fellow eaters weren’t ultra-rich, annoyingly posh or wannabe influencers. They were just… normal people. Dates, families, groups out for Sunday dinner.
The Gallery’s casualness, however, can leave it in limbo – especially when it comes to the food. Dishes weren’t pedestrian but they weren’t consistently elevated or meticulous either.
Take the mains. The best dish was tagliatelle with lemon, a proper portion of pasta with silky stracchino sauce, candied lemon and green shiso. A remarkably thin and un-oily cheese sauce had all the taste without the guilt. The creamed spinach side pulled off the same trick, indulgence without gorging, naughtiness for the vain social media era.
Our other main wasn’t so impressive. Three balls of mushroom arancini were robbed of their crunch and loaded with stodge after being drenched in mushroom sauce. An attempt to elevate the dish with raisin jam didn’t make up for the gloop.
The Gallery isn’t just a dinner place. It also does afternoon tea, meaning the desserts were flat-out extraordinary. Both the ‘sketch 057’ – a towering showstopper of choc mousse, rich ganache, salted peanut ice cream and thick pistachio cream – and the tarte tatin – with crisp puff pastry, juicy pink lady apples, a seeping caramel sauce and lithe chantilly cream – were monstrous in size but too sumptuous to leave any morsel of. After all these years, Sketch still has a kind of magic.
The vibe Dining as experience, but for the masses. The Gallery is arty, spectacular and unlike anywhere else in London.
The food Modern European – largely French – but with a dash of Asian and a lot of colour.
The drink This is very much a room for cocktails: the list is broad but leans sweet and herbal.
Time Out tip Just leave room for dessert. I’m begging you. They’re worth a visit on their own.