Just three weeks after enjoying an 8/10 meal at Hide (Above) on London’s Piccadilly Mr A and I came back to try their more casual all-day dining room Hide (Ground), on the ground floor of this 3-storied food and drink palace funded by Russian millions.

We arrived on time for our 13:30 lunch reservation and found the place full and buzzing, and as we were shown right through the large dining room to our table every single member of the front of house team smiled and nodded to me, which made me feel so welcome.  From our street-window-side table we could smell the aroma of newly milled oak from the beautiful grand handmade staircase going up to Hide (Above), and we had a view up to the glass-walled kitchen upstairs too.  Tables were the same bespoke ones we had in Above and once again I made use of the phone charging tools in the table drawer.  The tables were close enough together for us to realise that this restaurant really is very popular with Russians, and even some of the staff, including the Sommelier, were fluent Russian speakers.

I came with a big appetite so I ordered more than just three courses for our lunch, as Ground doesn’t do multi-course tasting menus.

First up, from the “grazing” section of the menu, we had Wild Salmon Tartare.  A large bowl containing crushed ice can along with four sorrel leaves (two each) folded and held together by a little wooden peg so they resembled tacos. They contained the salmon tartare, fresh dill and some pretty yellow flowers.  And they tasted great – really fresh and ‘green’ from the sorrel and then multiple layers of other flavours from the tartare and its garnishes.  I thought the presentation was exciting and very novel.  9.5/10

Our starter was a very thin pastry case of sweet white crab meat with an avocado and kefir puree below, topped with very thin slices of gooseberry and some tarragon leaves.  Goodness me it was deliciously light, fresh and zinging with flavour. 9/10

Main course was a long and fat barbecued octopus arm served with a muscatel grape, samphire, bean and herb salad and a miso mayo which took me back to Japan. The octopus was so tender and undoubtedly the best octopus I’ve ever eaten, but it wasn’t as warm as I would have liked. 9/10

I couldn’t resist a cheese course of 36 month aged Comte served with some honey and its comb, and a rye bread roll.  The cheese was as good as I had hoped it would be, I wasn’t keen on the roll which was quite doughy, but the highlight was the delicious, light honey.  8/10 To accompany this dish the Sommelier proposed a 39 year old Crimean wine.  Worries about supporting Russia’s annexation of Crimea flashed through my head, but it was too much for me to work out the appropriate ethical or moral stance and I ordered a glass! Very nice it was too!

Dessert was the only course Mr A and I chose differently. I had “Honey custard” which was a plate of thinly sliced red gooseberries on top of a sublime custard made with honey and pollen, and a pollen beignet on the side. Delicious and not too much sugar 9/10. Mr A had an acorn cake drenched in dark rum which he adored.

I came to realise that I was scoring higher in Hide Ground than I did in the more expensive ‘fine dining’ Hide Above.  But as I noted at the time, I ate at Above the day after eating a 10/10 meal at Roganic. They both serve modern, innovative vegetable-focussed food, but I just felt more effort had gone into the food at Roganic, so I marked Above down a bit.  I came to Hide (Ground) expecting it to be much more casual and approachable than Hide (Above), but it turned out to be pretty fine and fancy food indeed, much better than the label “all day casual dining” might imply. So my overall score is 9/10, a little better than its sister upstairs.

My bill for two people, with water, coffee, a £50 bottle of wine, £25 for the Crimean provocateur, service and five courses was £288.  I’ll definitely return because the menu looked so enticing.

BTW an indicator that Hide (Ground) is more fine than casual dining is the fact that they provide ‘handbag’ stools, which I just love, so that my Prada bag doesn’t get dusty!