The Traditional English Restaurants of London

In a world where there is a perpetual potential conflict between quality, ideas and financial constraints how refreshing to see someone of the calibre of Mark Hix thinking well outside the box, assisted by a financial expert such as Ratnesh Bagdai and a food entrepreneur of the quality and experience of Julian Biggs. Between them they can amass enough clout to make a new project something to be observed with awe.

Mark was formerly the Executive Chef of both the Caprice and The Ivy for some sixteen years, a pedigree that anyone would be proud to boast of and ample proof of his undoubted ability; he is also the well established author of some excellent ccokbooks.

Oyster and Chop Houses were an essential part of the old London, so when Hix Oyster and Chop House opened its doors in the spring of 2008 conveniently close to Smithfield Meat Market, they were picking up where others had left off. The formula could hardly be more straightforward.

There is always an assortment of the very best of the season’s oysters on the menu, together with a range of chops, cutlets and steaks on the bone - Porterhouse and Hanger steak with baked bone marrow spring to mind. Nor does the sea end with oysters and whole grilled fish are amongst the fish dishes. Beef flank and oyster pie, Herdwick mutton chop curry, a truly splendid use for this much underrated cut, compete with roast thornback ray, braised Harforth Estate squirrel, and a 300g fillet on the bone.

This is eating as it should be done and with desserts of Welsh rabbit, steamed treacle sponge with custard, or absinthe jelly with vanilla ice cream, rounded off by some of Julian Temperley’s apple brandy and Venezuelan black truffles it’s merely a question of making a reservation for the next time.

A punchy and fully supportive wine list is drawn mainly from traditional sources, one or two antipodean interlopers, an intriguing entry from Santorini in Greece, and some very creditable numbers by the glass. Many of the fixtures and fittings from previous incarnations have wisely been retained, contributing greatly to the atmospherics of this fine addition to the London scene.