Bloomberg
Diners who are unable to snag a table at the Chop House or who prefer to get out of London now have the option of trying the new venue, which quietly opened a few weeks ago. It serves mainly fish dishes as well as Hix favorites such as fruit jelly with vanilla ice cream.
Hix, 45, is best known as the former chef-director of Caprice Holdings Ltd., which owns fashionable London restaurants including the Ivy, the Caprice, Scott's and J. Sheekey, as well as for books such as ``British Regional Food.'' He's also known for developing friendships with suppliers and getting the best British produce. He produces a plate of pan-fried sand eels in the lightest of batters. They have an intense taste of the sea.
He then produces a plate of oysters the size of your fist. He has Devon Yealms and Portland Royals on the menu at 1.75 pounds ($3.48) apiece. Starters include fat pilchards on toast with tomatoes and wild marjoram; seashore salad with mussels, scallops, clams, crab and an oyster with sea greens; and pan- fried Dean Barton duck's egg with summer girolles mushrooms.
The food is wonderful, thanks to Hix's connections and his focus on provenance. There's Dorset blue lobster grilled with chips or cold with salad; dived Dartmouth scallops with garlic and parsley butter, or pollack fish fingers with mushy peas and chips. Desserts include fantastic New Forest berries and a mousse with more chocolate than Willy Wonka.
The restaurant itself is surprisingly modest in appearance, like a B&Q pine conservatory with large windows looking out onto a mini-golf course and two table-tennis tables if you peep down. Cast your gaze toward the horizon and you'll enjoy the majestic sweep of the bay. You might feel you're in the south of France after a few bottles of Chateau de Fonscolombe 2007 rose.
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