Independent on Saturday
I recently heard about this talented young chef who has just left a large restaurant group to start his own fledgling venture, and ... oh all right, let's just get this over with. Mark Hix, this magazine's revered food writer, and former executive chef of the Ivy, Caprice and Scott's, has opened his own restaurant. As you'll well know, because he's been writing about it in his column for the last however many weeks. And since every other reviewer from every other non-Hix-blessed newspaper is descending on it, it seemed crazy not to give his new place a bit of a shake-down. But just because Hix is home team (See! I'm not even going to refer to him as Mark...) doesn't mean I won't bring to bear all the fearless independence that you'd expect from The Independent.
The Chop House is, in its creator's own words, "a real meaty restaurant", and many of the dishes on the menu, including the beef flank and oyster pie and various cuts of 28-day-aged Aberdeenshire beef, didn't seem that attractive on a roasting summer day. But my guest set about his substantial pork chop with gusto; glazed with molasses before grilling, it had a subtle sweetness; the accompanying grilled kidney, skewered with a sprig of rosemary, was skilfully cooked. My main course, inspired by a family recipe from Hix's Lancastrian grandmother, was a kind of fried fish sandwich, comprising a succulent piece of pollock between two slices of potato, deep-fried in cider batter. It was terrific; Grannie would be proud.
Simple presentation and trencherman portions are what you expect from a place calling itself a chop house, and only our shared pudding bore traces of a cheffier hand; in a slightly girly arrangement of honeycomb ice-cream encircled by Yorkshire rhubarb on a buttermilk drop scone. Tasted great, though.
Hix is a bit of a food hero in his low-key way; his approach has been hugely influential, and many of the ingredients and dishes he first championed in these pages are making their way into the wider restaurant repertoire, and even on to the supermarket shelves. They're certainly showcased brilliantly at the Chop House. It's enough to make any Brit who cares about food proud, whether or not they happen to reside a few pages down the way from its very clever owner.
