Kāio has been named among London's best restaurants for enjoying Decanter World Wine Award-winning bottles, in a roundup by Hot Dinners. The list is built specifically to sit next to live-fire food — smoke, char and fat all change what a wine needs to do at the table, and Kāio's selection is chosen with that specifically in mind.
Why does live-fire cooking change what wine you'd pick?
Charcoal and clay-oven heat don't just cook food faster or hotter than a standard kitchen — they add char, smoke and a level of fat rendering that a gentler cooking method doesn't produce. A wine that reads as balanced against a pan-seared dish can taste thin or flat next to something that's spent time over charcoal. Structure and acidity matter more here than they would elsewhere on a menu; a wine has to hold its own against char, not just complement a sauce.
What did Hot Dinners recognise Kāio for?
Hot Dinners included Kāio in a feature on London restaurants and wine merchants where diners can drink this year's Decanter World Wine Award winners, positioning it as one of the better places in the city to pair an award-winning bottle with food rather than drink it on its own. The recognition sits alongside Kāio's own approach to the list: fewer bottles chosen with more intent, rather than a page designed to overwhelm.
How is Kāio's wine list actually built?
The list runs alongside the kitchen's four core registers — raw and cured starters, flame-grilled seafood, slow-glazed meats and seasonal vegetables — rather than sitting apart from them. Lighter, higher-acid bottles are positioned against the raw and cured dishes, where a wine's job is mostly to cut through and refresh. Further into the meal, next to flame-grilled seafood and slow-glazed meats, the list leans toward wines with more weight and structure, built to stand up to char and smoke instead of disappearing next to them.
What should you order if you're not sure?
Kāio's floor team builds pairings dish by dish rather than sending out a fixed flight, so the most reliable move is to ask directly once you've ordered — what's on the list changes with the season and the wine merchants' own stock, including whichever Decanter winners are currently pouring. The wine list is there to be used as a tool against the menu, not read as a separate exercise before you decide what to eat.
Kāio's dining room, bar and terrace are open now during the restaurant's soft opening at The Whiteley, Bayswater, ahead of its grand opening on 5 August 2026.
