The Hix Oyster and Chop House at Farringdon is Mark Hix’s first restaurant. In his prior life he competed in the Great British Menu in 2007 and oversaw restaurants of the Caprice group including The Ivy. I don’t know if was with the Caprice Group at the time I dined there in 2005 but I can see a similar laid back style as his Hix Oyster and Chop House.

As the name might intimate the focus of the restaurant is oysters (I’m not the hugest fan of oysters so maybe this restaurant was a bit wasted on me!) and meat. Being located near the Smithfield markets its well placed to take advantage of the good and fresh meat available.

For my started I decided to try the mussels, close but not quite oysters!, but which sounded intriguing for the sea greens that it was served with. It looked a pretty picture and I did enjoy the mussels and the sauce but the greens were very very salty – not sure if it was a lack of sufficient washing or the seasoning!

For my main I couldn’t go past the beef and oyster pie. It too was very salty but the beef was perfectly tender and I could overlook my dislike of the oysters to enjoy the whole dish – thank goodness I didn’t find too many oysters in there. ha ha. Oh and the pastry was perfectly flaky which was lovely. Alongside our meal we also had some gorgeous onion rings – mmmm.

I was so stuffed from the first two bits of our meal but Pat was keen on dessert. The best I could do was a scoop of “Credit crunch ice cream & chocolate sauce” – very rich and creamy I struggled to finish it! It’s a shame I couldn’t fully enjoy the ice cream – the bowl was uncomfortable to eat from, it almost felt like when I scooped from the bowl someone was running their nails down the black board. *shudder*

Food wasn’t the most exciting at Hix but it was tasty (though maybe over-seasoned at times) and presented very well. Service was friendly and efficient. The waiter had a good chat to me whilst Pat was in the toilet – that’s a good sign of taking care of your customers! The restaurant itself is light and airy with a good atmosphere though it was dead quite until about 7.30 on a Sunday night. A visit to the toilets is a must – if only to check out the random photos on the back of the toilet doors – who would imagine facing drawings of tens and tens of d!ldos as you sit on the lav. I’m tempted to go back just to check out whether the pictures have been updated!