Restaurant open Mon—Sat 6pm—11pm; bar open Mon—Sat 4pm—midnight
The style:
Appropriately hidden, set off the Upper Richmond Road in Putney, Hide & Seed is a new offering in the boutique Lodge Hotel targeted at discerning, stylish locals and guests. With a modern menu that fuses Head Chef Ricardo Soares’ Portuguese roots with seasonal British ingredients — many grown at the hotel’s own farm in Essex — the neat restaurant and bar aim to provide the sort of creative, cutting-edge cuisine and cocktail landscape that is lacking in the suburbia of their surroundings.
Going in via the hotel reception door, as the restaurant’s own entrance is not entirely obvious, we are ushered into the bar side of Hide & Seed first for an extended aperitif. Our eager bartender opined on cocktail recipes with a familiarity and charm that belied how young he looked, as we settled into relaxed seats in a room that was tasteful in a somewhat clinical way — apart, that is, from the cowhide accents dotted around, a nod to the name that felt oddly brash in an otherwise coolly sophisticated room.
The drinks:
The cocktail menu is imaginative and feels surprisingly wholesome for what it is; ‘Bloom’, a beetroot-based concoction, was exactly what I was looking for, an almost meaty drink that still had a sweet edge (I unashamedly prefer my booze flavour one I actually want to linger, rather than gulp out of the way as quickly as possible!). My friend Annalisa’s whisky mix was also good, with the smoky frisson well-balanced by other ingredients.
We chatted away until I began to wonder whether we had been forgotten, just at the moment the waitress re-emerged to move us to our table in the neighbouring room, the Library. Lined with stacks and shelves of pleasingly jumbled books on one side and an array of sporting pictures on the other, this area felt more visually coherent and comfortable to me — even more so once the maitre d’ delivered a spicily smooth Malbec to the table!
The food:
The menu is not long but is obviously carefully considered and has enough variety for most customers, and the attention to small details is impressive: an unexpected crispy kale amuse bouche was a revelation, and the subsequent lime/lemon and herb butters to go with our bread lifted a mundane element of the meal into a near-sublime one. Starters arrived as a feast for the eyes, though my slow cooked pig’s head verged on disappointing the mouth by comparison: perhaps its ’22 hour’ cooking boasts had left my expectations too high, but it tasted blander than I expected, just rather salty, with spots of relief offered by the buzzier smoked pepper jam. Annalisa’s exactly cooked scallops, however, showed what the kitchen was capable of, with a pitch-perfect complement of asparagus, tomato and pea puree.
After another slightly too-relaxed gap between courses, sirloin — perfectly timed — arrived alongside deliciously sweet pearl onions and roasted salsify, and halibut on purple potatoes and smoked cauliflower. Both were enjoyable, and although the halibut flavours seemed almost too subtle at points, they and that wonderful fishy contrast of soft flesh and crisped skin were more than enough to leave one wanting more. Puddings were equally enticing, with Annalisa pronouncing her rosemary and almond cake with beetroot sorbet ‘stunning’, and the butternut squash brulee a fascinating experimental combination of flavours, though consistency-wise it was a bit runny for a traditional creme brulee, which made it harder to eat.
Hide & Seed is somewhere that feels like it’s straining for greatness, and in many respects achieves it: the little touches at the start of dinner were some of the most pleasantly memorable surprises in a meal that I’ve experienced for a long time, and there was nothing to actually complain about at all in terms of the standard of cooking or presentation. Service was occasionally haphazard, but the staff were charming once engaged, and the atmosphere relaxed and unhurried.
I think perhaps all that holds me back is the sheer quality of many of the best moments of the meal, which set a standard next to which other dishes could not help but occasionally feel a little ‘safe’ in terms of seasoning and intensity, if still above average. Since we visited, the restaurant has gained its own signage on the hotel, and a growing local clientele will no doubt soon follow, alongside, hopefully, visitors from further afield, as the kitchen deserves: the fruits of this Seed are worth going off the beaten track to seek out.
