One of London’s largest luxury restaurants HIDE will close their Above restaurant and amalgamate the two floors into a single offering.

In an effort to maximise the business’s busiest periods of the day and to streamline overall operation, HIDE Above will no longer function as a separate dining space. Instead the ground floor a la carte and former Above tasting menu will be offered across both levels.

HIDE told Harden’s:

“Around 80% of guests we speak to don’t fully grasp the difference between Above and HIDE. Joining the two restaurants together just makes sense”.

This mixed messaging is perhaps a casualty of one of the initial goals at HIDE, which was to have the two spaces recognised as separate, individual restaurants. The aim was to be for the ground floor ‘HIDE Below’ to operate a high end a la carte and the ‘HIDE Above’ area to achieve renown for one of London’s best tasting menus. But it appears that in the five years since opening, this hasn’t quite resonated with either the inspectors from Clermont-Ferrand, nor indeed much of their customer base.

The move will allow the popular Piccadilly restaurant to fully capitalise on the busy breakfast service. HIDE told Harden’s:

“When we do less than 100 or 110 for breakfast, it’s a quiet day. We sometimes have to turn people away and this will just allow us to cater for more of our guests.”

“The plan is to fill the upstairs dining room first, with those gorgeous views over the park, then work back downstairs.”

It also appears that even with the restaurants streamlining, there will be no job losses in either kitchen or dining room.

Ollie Dabbous commented on the move:

“We’re simply blending the finesse from upstairs with the barefoot luxury of the ground floor.”