The Independent
Making waves: Hix Oyster & Fish House
Reviewed by John Walsh Saturday, 9 August 2008
After months of reviewing London restaurants, I found it a vision of Paradise.
Duchy oysters were unusually creamy, offsetting their briny tang with slithery richness. Yealms were larger, bordering on the colossal, and tasted slightly sweet. Sweet oysters? An oyster shell offered chopped shallots in vinegar, but the bivalves needed absolutely no accompaniment. Apart, perhaps, from the plate of tempura samphire – battered, salty and slightly greasy – which the chef was offering gratis, to see if anyone liked it. Yes one certainly did, chef.
"Lyme Bay Fish fish soup with Julian Temperley's cider brandy" was a variant of Hix's sublime fish soup at Brown's Hotel; densely textured from an unimaginably complicated stock, it was magical and deeply satisfying (though I could have done with an extra slug of the cider brandy).
My companion's lemon sole, by contrast, was a thing of utter beauty, cooked to perfection, a light ochre glow over the supple white flesh suggesting the presence, in the kitchen, of a flour duster and a very superior griddle pan.
Mr Hix has returned to his Dorset roots with great style. Describing his approach to cooking as "no frills" is a little disingenuous for the south-coast Escoffier, but sourcing such excellent ingredients from his own backyard has clearly put a spring in his step. Will there be a headline in the Dorset Echo saying: Local Boy Makes Good?
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