Dining Out - The Diary

Lyme can now boast a new venue to potentially rival the dining experiences of Padstow, Dartmouth’s Carved Angel and Portland’s Crab Shack. Small, but airily formed with the ultimate sea views, Hix’s Oyster and Fish House restaurant is a place to celebrate with the family.

Indeed, you could pay no higher complement to compare proprietor-chef Mark Hix’s establishment with the best Italian seafood places – spanking fresh seafood treated with veneration in the kitchen to be worshipped and devoured with gusto on the plate. And no nonsense trying to create over energetic ‘sides’. The service, like the food, was fresh and confident – none weeks in at the time of our visit, the staff had clearly found their groove and were enjoying their role.

The complementary bowl of whitebait that appeared as we sat down was plump and tasty, if a tad over-salted. I followed this with a Portland Royal oyster – a taste sensation to remember and well worth £1.75.

And so to the meal proper. My partner chose a starter dish of squid with tomatoes and broad beans (£9.25) that was simple perfection, allowing the taste of each ingredient to shine alone and together in harmony. My dish of Cobb smoked salmon (£8.75) can only be described as home-made heaven on a plate – it was as is a side of salmon has been cured over my open log fire at home!

For mains it was a tough choice. You immediately sensed a core healthy freshness in all the ingredients – mackerel fillets with green tomatoes (£10.75) exuded this – while the Lulworth Cove dived scallops with black pudding and girolle mushrooms (£10.75) were more the fishy equivalent of the full English. We washed it all down with a bottle of rose, reasonable at £17.50.

The desserts were no mean end to the meal after that freshness, best reflected in the signature dish of Perry jelly (£6.25) – a sort of fruit aquarium on a plate. The full-on sin of buttermilk drop scone with cherries and honeycomb ice cream (£6) was to die for. Both dishes created the right crescendo to a fabulous meal in a near perfect setting. We left with the feeling that the £93 tab, including service, had left us as refreshed and blessed as a week on the Amalfi coast.
Would we go again? Yes, definitely!
Would we recommend Hix’s? Yes, highly.