Tate Britain Cafe: good luck campers

To the Turner Prize at Tate Britain. Paul Nobles drawings are well worth seeing, but are probably too conventional for the judges. The Spartacus Chetwynd performance was the main reason for going, and not knowing what to expect, I feel rather foolish in not discerning what the Oracle Mandrake root was predicting for me. I wanted to go round again, but it may never happen. Lunch in the cafe. We are members of the Tate, but their members area is so small that it is often difficult to get a seat. At the moment, the main cafe of the Tate Britain is being refurbished, and they have a marquee operation in the front. It was cold today, just above freezing, and the structure is so unsubstantial, that I kept my coat on.
As we were going out in the evening, I just had a salad and coffee. The deal is £2 a dish, or £5.50 for a meal of three. This is what you may get:

So this shows tomato and basil, sweet potato and something with tuna and parmesan. The portion was just about lunch sized. My wife had the tomato replaced with beetroot. As buffet salads go, it seemed fresh enough, well seasoned, tasty and with no nasty bits. Quite a lot of onion. So two salads, and two coffees came to £15.30. It confirms in my mind that London contains at the moment a cadre of people who are struggling to make ends meet (or not bothering), and those that are weathering the economic storm, and have decided that the best thing to do is spend their money. The Tate is full of the latter, as the cafe was mostly full, and the cheapest thing there was (soup) was about £5. The variety of food in this abbreviated cafe is quite good, and there was still options of hot dishes, but not a sandwich to be found at 1.30pm on a busy Saturday. There are not a lot of eating options near Tate Britain (unlike the modern), and I guess they have a captive audience.

I have eaten/snacked many times at the Tate, and I just grit my teeth, and recognize that because we are members, at least we are not paying extra to get into the special exhibitions. A ticket to the Turner Prize and the current Pre-Raphaelite exhibition will set you back £17, so it is worth being a member, as it pays for itself in a couple of visits a year. The main galleries are still free, as are some exhibitions. We went on the guided tour and I have to say the chap that took us this time was excellent, knowledgeable and engaging with his audience.