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My first impression of the recently opened Hix Soho, the latest offering from celebrity chef Mark Hix on Brewer St, was that it didn’t have a door. If you’ve been to the restaurant you’ll probably understand what I mean. But it obviously does as there were people inside – I could see them - but how they got in was a bit of a mystery to me. Inquiries made of the smokers standing outside the restaurant revealed that the door was in fact the colossal piece of wood (very tall and very wide) with no door handle anchored near the Hix sign.  But no amount of pushing would budge it. “You need to push harder” the smokers advised. Obviously all those body pump classes at the gym hadn’t helped. I duly pushed harder and finally the behemoth gave. Clearly, you need some muscles to eat at Hix Soho.   

But once I got in, I discovered to my delight that the place looked absolutely fab. Glamorous mirrors with an art deco touch line the length of the elegant bar which stands along one side of the room. The restaurant is finished in black and white, the tables are made from a warm walnut, and the lighting is fantastic. It’s soft, cozy and sexy, all at the same time.  Only the various bits of ‘art’ hanging from the ceilings seem a bit odd. I couldn’t work out what they are meant to represent, although I am sure they are very expensive. This place dazzled and no doubt it’s been designed to cater to the well-heeled clientele.

We started with a dish of devilled lamb kidneys on boxty bread (a type of pancake) (£8.50) which was gorgeous. The kidneys, still pink, were firm and succulent with lots of flavour. The sauce, a beautifully reduced concoction of beef stock, red wine and cayenne pepper had lots of kick. It was finished with parsley and butter, which added further aroma and richness to it. The boxty bread also gave the dish a touch of sweetness. This was an excellent starter and highly enjoyable.

Herring milts (soft roe) on toast with capers and parsley (£6.75) were dressed with a hint of lemon juice and olive oil. The milts, pan-fried, were meltingly tender and worked well with the lemon, capers and parsley. The dish was well balanced and light, and the toast, which had been delicately charred, provided a rustic touch.

Webster’s fish fingers with chips and mushy peas (£14.50) were very tasty. (The dish is named after Stephen Webster, the jewellery designer, who created the flashing neon fingers at the top of the stairs which lead to the equally glam basement bar). The fish was perfectly cooked, moist, and coated with a fine layer of crispy breadcrumbs. But while it was delicious, it was a little under seasoned. The peas, finished with mint, were fantastically fragrant and the chips were morish. This might have been fish fingers, but they were very good fish fingers other than for the under seasoning. 

Flat iron steak (from the shoulder) with baked bone marrow (£16.50), served pink, was extremely tender and flavoursome. The steak had been browned beautifully to give it a crispy outer layer. However it was again a little under seasoned. The bone marrow mixture of marrow, crumbs and herbs was pleasant, but the flavour of the marrow itself was overpowered by too many bread crumbs.

Breast of veal with celeriac mash (£18.75) came from Bocaddon Farm in Cornwall. Given the recent hoo-ha surrounding Hélène Darroze and how she was using Dutch veal - despite the fact that her waiters claimed that the veal was British - I was impressed that Hix was sourcing his veal from British suppliers.

This was a mixed dish for me. The veal had been rolled and braised slowly for about three hours and then sliced. The first few bites gave way to an incredible taste sensation - one of moist, soft, tender meat flavoured with thyme and married with a rich red wine reduction. But while the first few bites were wondrous (no doubt helped by the layer of fat that wrapped itself around the meat), as you neared the centre of the roll, the meat became slightly drier. I still considered this to be a very good dish, but the texture of the meat changed overtime and it became slightly less enjoyable. The celeriac mash was well made. It was creamy with lots of celeriac flavour, but personally, celeriac is not my favourite ingredient for mash.

We had no room for dessert which was very unusual for me, and I suspect that the recent excesses of the silly season was the reason for this. But I am sure the dessert would have been every bit as excellent as the rest of the food that we had. This was classy, skilful and refined British cooking. There was a great display of finesse, and from memory, the food was tastier than Hix’s Oyster and Chop House in Farringdon.  The service was pleasant and reasonably efficient, but on occasions we were disappointingly kept waiting while some of the staff congregated in the back corner of the restaurant to chat.

Nevertheless this restaurant is a winner (in both design and food). It’s not necessarily cheap (a fillet steak will set you back about £35), but Hix Soho is well worth trying - if you can find your way through the front door.

And finally, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Happy eating!

Summary information:
Food Rating: 8/10
Service rating: 6/10
Price range: £28 to £53 for 3 courses.

I first heard about the concept of a ‘bed bar’ from watching Sex & the City years ago. (If you’re a serious fan like me and have watched every episode over and over again, then you’ll know the episode that I mean).  It inspired me to visit The Bed Bar in New York which didn’t look nearly as glamorous as the staged version on the TV show, and co-incidentally is now closed.
 
The Supperclub London recently opened in Notting Hill and incorporates the use of ‘beds’ as well. The iconic original is the one in Amsterdam, and from its origins there it has spawned a number of branches around the world. A ‘supper’ venue, there are also two bars to choose from, a string of eccentric performances for your entertainment pleasure, and a live DJ. The theme is outlandishness, and no better way to reinforce this fact than the staff who are all dolled out in kooky electric dress. I have never been to the one in Amsterdam but I thought it might be fun to try out the London venue so that I could test out its ‘supper’ element.
 
Situated in a former nightclub, the Supperclub is located in a grungier part of Notting Hill, right under the A40 on Aklam Road. The entrance first leads you into the greeting area, after which you are ushered into the main bar where there are lounge seats. You need to know your drink of choice because if you ask for a cocktail menu, then you might, like me, be greeted by a barman dressed in a sailor’s costume telling you that ‘he’ is the cocktail menu. At this stage the venue doesn’t have one.
 
Between 8.15pm and 8.30pm, the doors that connect the bar to the dining area swing open to reveal a very white, square-ish room, which, on the night of my visit, induced a collective gasp of awe from the clientele when the doors flung open. There are two floors, and there are beds on both levels which run along the walls. The second floor gives you a balcony view of the first floor, but this was closed when I was there. There are also ‘proper’ dining tables in the middle of the ground floor area (which I don’t think would have been any fun to eat at), and a stage located at one end of the room.
 
The beds are connected to each other and so it turned out to be handy that I requested, and got, a corner bed. This seemed to be in the best position in the house as it meant I only had diners to my left rather than to both sides of me. But it also meant my view of the performances (mainly drag) was obscured by some structural columns, which judging by the quality of the acts wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.  The beds are nice with lots of fluffy pillows. There’s ample room for lounging if there are only two of you but there seems to only be enough space for sitting upright if you’re a big group. The sheets are all white and so very easy to soil – if you happen to spill food that is!
 
All four courses in the set menu (£45) are fixed, with alternative choices being available only for specific dietary requirements. There’s just the one sitting, so all the diners (about 60 covers when I was there) are served at the same time with the advantage for the venue being that they can cook the food as if it is one big production line. We started with a broccoli soup with blue cheese foam which was pleasant but unspectacular.
 
Next was pan-fried sea bream with curried pumpkin and tofu. The fish was nicely seasoned and very fresh, but there was no discernible tasty of curry to the pumpkin and the tofu was very bland. The pumpkin and tofu was topped with some caramel, the use of which didn’t complement these sides.
 
The meat dish was steak with bok choy and black bean purée. The steak was very tender but very salty. The bok choy was over seasoned too, and when eaten with the purée which was also very salty, the dish became very unappetising. The flavours jarred.
 
Dessert was a chocolate ganache which was reasonably tasty, although it was a  little bit sugary rather than ‘chocolately rich’. It was accompanied by an Earl Grey granite which was very pleasant, and a concoction that I was told was a puff pastry, but which resembled more of an soft cookie crumble that was best left alone. 
 
Like the cocktail list, the menu doesn’t exist. We therefore had to rely on the waiting staff to tell us what each of the dishes were. But this didn’t work particularly well as they didn’t quite know – I got a lot of ‘I don’t know’ answers to my questions - and service on the whole was unremarkable.

It wasn’t unpleasant, but this wasn’t the service one would expect from one’s usual restaurant. We were occasionally given four sets of cutlery when there were only two of us. One got the sense that service here can be a little bit ad hoc.

Despite the name, food isn’t a main focus at the Supperclub, which on the whole was very average. But I did enjoy the evening hugely – the concept is entertaining, and it was fun to buy into the gimmick that is the Supperclub brand for the night. It’s great to try once, but I’m not sure I would go again for the ‘club’ experience, and I would certainly not go again for the food.
 
Summary information:
Food Rating: 5/10
Service rating: 6/10
Fun element: 7/10
Price: £45 for a 4 course meal. Excludes drinks and service.