Mix’n with Mr. Hix’n

Okay, so I realize I haven’t written for a while…basically, there is no excuse. Work commitments, grim winter days, the proliferation of pot holes in London streets, yea, yea, yea, you’ve heard it all before. Let’s just shake now, and call it February/early March over and done with!


Bellini connoisseurs, Lou and Edith, dear friends, set me right again by organizing a night out at Hix. It had been discussed for a while, and we finally found a mutually free, but absolutely freezing evening. What has happened to London? And I thought the winters were mild here…

I’d heard so much about Hix from fellow blogites, and other media portals, and was thrilled to finally visit one of the most favored, foodie restaurants in London. It was bustling and noisy on a Wednesday night, the tables were full, and there was a fabulous bar downstairs- an American teenager’s dream of what the suburban basement party should actually look like. There was a groovy, slightly decadent vibe- everything was built low, including the bar, so that most activity was happening at or below waist level, unless you were standing.

Back upstairs with the grownups, parts of the richly varied menu read a bit like a 16th century food house: Sea Buckthorn Berry Posset, Glencoe Red Deer Haunch with Bashed Neeps- what is a Neep? Can anyone tell me? We started off with the Blythburg Pork Crackling with Apple Sauce as a vorspeiser. It was interesting… though a girl can only take so much crackling. Without going further into their glorious names, we had tasty prawn cocktails, fabulous smoked salmon on brown bread, and cod’s tongue with cauliflower mash and hazelnuts- truly delicious. And that was only the start.

In the meantime, we ordered our Bellinis, and were fascinated when they arrived, blood red, still pulsing, like some tiny fraying heart, drowning, down into the bottom of what I believe was a cross between a margarita, and a cocktail glass. The fruit had dramatically separated from the prosecco, which sat evenly atop the very red puree. The prosecco alone was lovely, but what was the fruit, was it peach? We asked the waiter. Blood peach puree, he responded.

Now, I’ve checked with Emma, my very own peach importer, and Bellini quest collaborator, and she has never heard of a blood peach. I’d like to think the waiter just got it wrong. They were nice drinks, though they were not our beloved Bellinis, and we couldn’t really taste the fruit. But they were fabulously presented, intentionally eccentric I think, and made almost as much of a statement as the food.

Eccentric Bellini made with Bellarosa, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene, NV, and mystery fruit puree           approx £10, will confirm this

Hix
66-70, Brewer St.
London W1F 9UP
Tel 020 7292 3518