Hide

Nearly five years in the making, this three-storey Mayfair restaurant was one of the biggest restaurant launches of 2018. The name is oxymoronic – for this is a place to see, and to be seen in.

The chef is Ollie Dabbous, who made his name at a rather lower-budget enterprise that was celebrated for its lack of cheffy frippery not too far away in Fitzrovia. Hide is far grander, an enormous building with a magnificent spiral staircase and a rustic but reassuringly expensive aesthetic. It is in fact three venues in one – two restaurants and a bar – and employs no less than 200 people.

Ground is pitched as Hide’s more informal, all-day offer but the food is rather more ambitious than that description might suggest. Upstairs is occupied by Dabbous’ flagship Above, a light-filled dining room with near uninterrupted views of Green Park. The £110 tasting menu includes the likes of glazed sweetbreads served with a broth of fennel and coffee beans; and scallops with crushed swede, wood sage honey and spiced saffron buttermilk.

The restaurant has been bankrolled by the people at the world’s most exclusive wine shop (it’s just down the road). Customers at Hide can peruse the entirety of Hedonism Wine’s stock by iPad. While it’s not all blow-the-budget stuff, the selection does include some of the world’s rarest and most expensive wines (bottles priced into the 10s of thousands are not unusual). Given the length and breadth of the list and the flawless wine service, Hide wins Wine List of the Year for 2019.