HIX RESTAURANT - SOHO, LONDON

Hix Restaurant, Soho London

I'd been meaning to visit Hix for a while now, since dining out at one of Soho's most suave steakhouses, Mash (who happen to have the biggest selection of USA wine in the country) its just a short trek across the road on Brewer St, from Hix. You will need to book if you don't want to sit at the bar and eat but to be honest, bar eating is more entertaining and staff are usually very chatty. We opted to eat bar side. I was pleasantly surprised how the barstaff knew a lot about food, and I mean a lot - these guys weren't regurgitating a script, they were food fans themselves(?).

Fish with Cockles, Oysters - Hix Restaurant, Soho, London

Inside its a bubbling atmosphere, neon lighting with purple, crimson overtones and interesting displays of sea life with a pink flamingo in full flight overhead. I have been on a oyster hunt lately after indulging in some of the best oysters I've had in Whitstable (you can't beat NZ Bluff oysters though) so I continued in that vein and got a half dozen. Hix incidentally have an oyster bar and this batch from the south coast were ok, presented well, white clean shell, unfortunately no liquor but I enjoyed them. PS. I visited recently a 'highly rated' oyster restaurant in London. I won't mention names but J Sheekey comes to mind, where the 'chef' butchered the oysters, nice chap very friendly but, come on - you had that one job. Nevertheless, Hix was much better and our other starter a black pudding called heaven and earth, was a hit.

Barside - Slab of Himalayan Salt - Hix Restaurant, Soho, London

If you arrive early or enjoy it at Hix be sure to venture downstairs to their bar lounge, its a great place even just to have a drink, in fact most the folk in their were not dining. You may need to reserve a seat but there was plenty of room at 9pm on a Friday but it filled up very quickly pushing 10pm.

Rateable beer, Fresh Isle of Wight tomato's - Hix Restaurant, Soho

For mains I had a lovely steamed fish and cockles that was served with samphire and a side of fresh Isle of Wight tomatoes. My partner in crime had a curry laksa served on top of a copper ornamental burner. The fish was robust, oodles of flavour almost smoky and cockles were terrific. The dessert menu is a selection of mini puds - great idea, and who wants a whole dessert anyway? I highly recommend the rhubarb pudding and hope its on the menu permanently, the cheese cake (pictured top) is more than adequate. They have their own beer, well its partnered with a micro brewer, and it is very nice. Much like a true amber ale and definitely easy on the palate.

Curry, Black Pudding on mash - Hix Restaurant, Soho

The menu is great for all budgets. To be honest, damn, I really loved it at Hix, the food goes without saying, greatly priced menus, vibrant atmosphere, friendly restaurant staff and modern with non of the pop-up fatigued theme were've been getting hammered with lately. These guys are veterans who keep it fresh, have been around a while and will be for a long time yet.

ps. Hix also now own (and refurbished) the downstairs bar at The Old Vic theatre - probably serving some of the best bar snacks in town.

pss. pictures are rather noisy in quality - a lot of places now are quite dark inside. But alas, I am updating my hardware soon so it performs better in lowlight so next time I hope to have brighter pics. :)