A curved staircase descends to Hubert’s sweeping dining room like a passage to another dimension where gracious hospitality, French flavours and a gentle live jazz soundtrack reign. If you don’t have a booking, just pray the ringmaster behind the reception desk can seat you at the dining bar. Stained-wood panelling, a gallery’s worth of vintage prints and a row of intimate booths overlooking the tables and bentwood chairs on the main floor add to the timeless, grown-up vibe here.

Chef Alexis Besseau serves skilful French dishes with the odd dash of caprice. The escargots come with XO butter, the expert pommes Anna with miso beurre blanc. The gnocchi Parisienne, however, is classic: perfect little pillows of fried choux pastry tossed with bright peas and zucchini and topped with a potent parmesan crisp. The bavette steak comes sliced comme il faut and made extra juicy by a melting disc of bone marrow butter.

The weighty drinks list is strongly Gallic and includes a good range of Armagnacs and Calvados – pluck one to go with the apple millefeuille, layered with tonka-bean cream and Calvados caramel. C’est magnifique.

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