Even though it’s literally just around the corner from me, it was only recently that I sat down for a dinner at Hix Oyster and Chop House. I’d heard a lot about it, and plenty of very positive reviews. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera so this is one post you’ll just have to believe me.

Clerkenwell isn’t exactly full of life on a Sunday evening, so I was surprised that the restaurant filled up quite quickly. It definitely has an amicable charm to it, and the tables had plenty of space to give us lots of privacy. A lovely Scottish waitress seated us and helped guide us through the menu as they had a number of items I wasn’t particularly familiar with. Being true to its name, they had plenty of fish and steak with a meat board full of impressive looks cuts of beef (and lamb). I felt like some seafood so I ended up ordering the “Roast Dorset gurnard with brown shrimp butter”. Our waitress described it as very sad looking but a very satisfying fish.

I decided not to have any starters, as appealing as they looked because their desserts look just as appetising and I thought I’d only have room for one of them. They brought us a small loaf of crusty bread with some creamy butter, the perfect size for the three of us. Most breads are pretty average, but I have to admit that this one was particularly remarkable.

I’d never had a gurnard before but it was certainly a very meaty fish with plenty to fill me up. Combined with the rich tasty shrimp butter, I almost thought that I wouldn’t be able to have dessert. Almost. Oh, and the waitress was right. The fish did look pretty sad looking.

On the waitress’ recommendation, I ordered the blood orange and gin jelly with ice cream for dessert. It was a lot lighter than I imagined and the gin flavour wasn’t an overwhelmingly alcoholic flavour liked I know some jellies can be. Its only let down was really the ice cream that seemed more like an ice confection the way that it crumbled, rather than the creaminess it should really have.

Hix really impressed me. The entire meal including 1 starter, 3 mains, 2 desserts, tea, coffee, still water, and a bottle of wine cost the three of us £48.54 each. I think there would have been a 12.5% service charge as well but definitely worth it with the nice, friendly service our waitress gave us.

Name: Hix Oyster and Chop House
Address: 36-37 Greenhill Rents, Cowcross Street EC1M 6BN
Website: http://www.hixoysterandchophouse.co.uk/
The good: Great menu. Tasty food. Great service worth the 12.5%.
The not so good: Nothing that I can really think of.

After the big thanksgiving feast, I met my sister for a Sunday lunch at the Kensington Rooftop Gardens restaurant, Babylon. Definitely full of chic, this rooftop restaurant perched on the seventh floor definitely has some pretty astounding views. It’s just such a shame many of it was cloud over with plenty of rain accompanying it.

The location is fabulous and service was reasonable with a very happy waiter although attentiveness dropped as it became busier and busier.

Sundays they do a reasonable three course meal for £25. I started with the warm duck salad, looking for something a bit lighter than a creamy soup or the other dishes. The mains were slightly less inspiring with a veal roast of the day, sea bream and a number of other reasonable but unexciting dishes.

I ended up ordering the fish and chips, figuring I felt a little seedy from the bight before. Admittedly it was a very good fish, covered with a light crisp batter and fairly crunchy. My only problems with the dish was that a certain section hadn’t been de boned very well and I found the dish over salted. Nevertheless it wad tasty.

Rounding off the meal with something hopefully a bit lighter, I ordered the coconut mousse, serve with a refreshingly tart passionfruit sorbet. My sister ordered the cardamom creme brûlée. I had a small taste of it, and whilst definitely flavourful I’m afraid it would have been overpowering for the entire dish considering the size of the brûlée.

It took a while for the bill to arrive, and that gave us some time to relax in the now, very busy atmosphere. After lunch we headed on down to the next floor down to look at the decadent gardens, complete with pink flamingoes preening themselves. The birds, quite seemingly used to people about, didn’t seem to have any problems with us getting too close.

I’m intrigued to see what sort of people come to a place like this, with outdoor heaters no doubt luring the chelsea-ites out from their homes. For a Sunday meal, the Babylon Rooftop Gardens is reasonable value but realise that even for a drink, you’ll be paying for the location and exclusivity more than anything else.

Name: The Roof Gardens
Found at: 99 Kensington High Street, Kensington, W8 5SA
Website: http://www.roofgardens.virgin.com/
TheKua.com Rating: 8 out of 10