Medicine and health are topics that fascinate quite as much as food. And they are inextricably linked. The Wellcome Trust, the second largest medical research charity in the world, is the owner of The Wellcome Collection housed in a handsome newly revamped building standing alongside University College Hospital on Euston Road.

Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853-1936), an American-British pharmaceutical entrepreneur, amassed a collection of more than a million objects from around the world with direct and glancing connections to medicine. Napoleon Bonaparte's toothbrush is one item. It gave me a thrill.

No cultural venue is complete these days without reckonable catering. Oliver Peyton - whose comeback-kid move after the demise of Atlantic Bar & Grill, Coast and Isola was into catering in St James's Park, The National Gallery and The Wallace Collection - is the chap behind Peyton and Byrne, also to be found in Heal's. Byrne is Oliver's mother's maiden name. Her homely cooking, from the days when tea was a proper meal, is the inspiration.

We ate sensibly at first, starting with a grainy chilled tomato soup and moving on to a fine salad with egg and bacon and a grilled sandwich based on the components of Coronation chicken. Chicken with mango chutney happily has the longevity of Her Majesty. We then succumbed to squillionaire's shortbread - a layer of caramel lies under dark chocolate icing - and a chocolate chip cookie. Savoury pies and terrines also looked tempting. Service was a bit ditsy but well-meaning.

Peyton's places are always distinctive in terms of design. Here, firm slabs of foam in a well-chosen colour spectrum make up the seating and sofas. It is playful and comfortable and somewhere to sit and think, having been round the current special exhibition devoted to the heart.

• Price above estimates a light meal with a glass of wine for one.