Tipped

Best of British

July 06, 2009

After a first year, during which things have been a tad hectic at times, this part of the new Mark Hix empire has, along with its sister venue in Dorset, settled down to be a jolly good place to relax and enjoy the Best of British.

The Hix Oyster & Fish House in Lyme Regis naturally leads with seafood and offers choice meat as an alternative. Here, in the heart of London's old Smithfield, it's meat first and very good fish if you're not in the mood for flesh!

This is not a cheap venue, it's a pretty up-market outfit; customers should take care over the menu and note that main courses are exactly as stated so any choice of side-dish must be specifically requested [often the portions are generous enough to erase any need for chips, although they are very good].

When I recently dined there with two companions the oysters and the Gurnard were fabulous [if they were any fresher, you'd have to give them a slap!]. The Galloway Rib of Beef and the Skewer of mixed Pork were both greatly appreciated and succulent throughout.

A good starter if one's not really hungry is the tasty Tomato and Lovage salad. The gimmick of a freshly-baked loaf of bread per table is always fun.

Hix has put together a great basic menu which is actually changed [or adjusted] twice a day. The [generally] 'fairly-prioed' wine list needs to be viewed with care as there are some superb buys tucked away in this very attractive compilation.

I offer you the 'TIP' that it would be wise to phone ahead and book if you plan a visit. It's a popular place to lunch or dine. Cheers

Keywords: Britrish Food, British Meat, Fresh Fish.

Things must've changed...

March 29, 2009

We decided to come here for Dad's birthday. When we got there, we were greeted by a busy and buzzy atmosphere. I was somewhat dismayed to find we were sat near a table of 6 suits, but they stayed relatively well behaved, with only a roar here or there. Immediately we were greeted with a loaf of warm bread with butter. I had to stop myself from wolfing it all down.

It took us a long time to decide what to order. The menu was very interesting; duck hearts, ox cheeks, rabbit, and laverbread all featured, as well as steaks as you might imagine. We decided to go for a dozen Hereford no.3s to share as a pre-starter, as is only right when you go to a place with 'Oyster' in it's name. The oysters were gorgeous - meaty and minerally and were a delight to slurp down. They didn't really need the shallot vinegar or the tabasco - just a light squeeze of lemon brought the flavour out beautifully.
For the mains, Dad and I shared the 1kg Aberdeen Angus Porterhouse steak, aged for 28 days - not a cheap dish, coming in at £63, but very impressive. This beast was brought to the table and deftly carved by our waiter. Ordered medium rare, the fillet side was meltingly tender and beautifully pink, with a great charring on the outside. The sirloin side had a fantastic flavour and was enrobed with extremely tasty fat. It is served au naturel, so we ordered chips and purple sprouting broccoli. I was a touch disappointed that the broccoli was merely lukewarm, but the chips more than made up for it - piping hot, with a beautifully crisp exterior and fluffy innards. It was commented on, however, that they were a touch over-salted.Throughout the dinner, the waiting staff were inobtrusive, but also slightly apologetic. I think our waiter was a bit scared of us. Nevertheless, service was sweet and efficient. We were suitably stuffed after this meat binge, but seeing the blood orange and gin jelly with ice cream, I couldn't resist ordering it myself.

All in all, a fantastic meal. We all loved the atmosphere of the restaurant which was loud, busy and bustling. The bill was an absolute shocker though - it's rather expensive. Still, excellent food and quality ingredients don't come cheaply, and Hix covered all those areas.

Keywords: British food

Total crap

June 16, 2008

Uniformly dreadful across the board. A chop house that overcooked all three orders of lamb chop. Ran out of steak knives. Didn't serve any sauce, gravy, dressing at all with meals. Failed to alert diners to lack of veg accompaniments. Water is apparently by request only, and you'd better keep up the requests throughout the night. Wrong orders. Crap services. Total shocker.

I did like the mirror imagine neon sign up the back though.

Flop House

June 14, 2008

I was really excited about going here for dinner on Friday evening, as the restaurant sounded very promising. Hidden away down a small side street, just off Smithfield’s meat market, Hix looks a bit New York bistro style with its luminous red signage outside. Inside the decor is sleek and minimalist. The place was certainly packed and this gave it a buzzy atmosphere.
We were a group of eight, so we able to try out a wide range of the dishes from the menu. Some lovely crunchy pork crackling started things off well. Starter-wise the soft boiled duck egg with asparagus soldiers was an cute take on the retro breakfast dish, and some deep fried elvers were an unusual and very tasty option. However, this is where things began to go downhill.
The mains were a bit of a mixed bag - I'm not much of a red meat eater, and the fish options weren't exciting me, so I opted for the Welsh onion cake with sautéed St. George's mushrooms. I'm assuming they had cooked the mushrooms in a cauldron of butter as the whole dish was extremely over salted and I was only able to eat half of it. On the other side of the table, my husband and a friend opted for a beef steak which was perfectly cooked and "absolutely delicious". Further down the table, the lamb option however was overcooked and very inedible. Unfortunately the service is really where this place was let down badly - we had to continually ask for tap water, steak knives, condiments, more cutlery, and when the order was taken no one told us that the meat dishes would be served with no accompaniments at all, meaning that some of us had to reorder some side dishes after the mains had arrived. Desserts were also a bit shambolic - the pear and lemon sorbet was distinctly lemony and after being assured by the waiter that it definitely included pear sorbet, he came back later and told us that actually the kitchen had run out of pear sorbet earlier and perhaps we’d like some chocolate ice cream instead. We did voice our concerns to the manager who listened and took our feedback, giving us a free bottle of wine and taking the service charge off the bill, but they really need to sort themselves out. For these kinds of prices, there are many better options in London offering consistently good food and great service.

Keywords: british, steaks