So after our holiday trip to the Fortnum & Mason ice cream parlour we bade Swinders & Sons farewell and headed off to meet my lovely wife. We had an hour to kill to I took baby G to the National Gallery to improve his cultural references and also it is free. It was great to see a 6 year old react to paintings we know as great works of art. He was particularly taken with the impressionists, I think he liked the boating scenes. Afterwards we had a tour of his mum's offices which are bigger and better appointed than my own before heading into Soho for a family dinner. My Lovely wife had picked out Hix as they do a great deal whereby kids eat for free before 6. I'm a little Hix-sceptic myself. I'd been to the original outpost in Farringdon which was OK but pricey. We'd also had a Hix breakfast at Browns hotel which was very nice. The Soho outpost is always busy when I go past. It is split into 2 with the open airy restaurant on the ground floor and a dark trendy bar in the basement. We were given a nice table in the middle of the room and baby G had his own menu with activity.
After a busy afternoon with baby G I opted for a good Old Fashioned, the ice had been carved from a block so I had very cool ice ball in the glass. My lovely wife had a spritz cocktail and Baby G was very happy with an orange juice. We opted for a nibble instead of starters so we shared some cockle popcorn. Very tasty and nicely seasoned even baby G got involved but then he does always pinch my mussels at Kensington Place. For mains my lovely wife went for a very good duck curry. I tried a bit and it was very nice indeed, good bit of heat whilst maintaining the flavour of the duck. Baby G had their home made fish fingers and chips which he polished off. I went for the lamb chop which though of impeccable breeding had not been done justice in the kitchen. I know from experience that it is almost impossible to overcook a lamb chop because of it's fattiness. To get the full taste you need to cook off the fat, sadly this wasn't the case here, so though the meat was nice I had to leave the fatty bits which are my favourites. The veg it came with was very nice but overall a fairly simple dish not executed properly.
Baby G had his obligatory ice cream whist we went for a couple of their mini desserts. I had a lovely but bijou treacle tart whilst my lovely wife went for the mini bramley apple pie. We washed the meal down with a decent Rioja. Service was very good throughout the meal and as it filled up there was a nice atmosphere. Baby G enjoyed the treat of having his evening meal out with us. The bill (without Baby G's free meal) came to £110 which was toppy. For me the jury is still out on the Hix restaurants. The spaces are nicely fitted out, the attention they pay to sourcing ingredients is admirable however I'm not always confident the kitchen are up to task. It's a big group of restaurants so I imagine maintaining standards is tricky. I'd go back though especially as they have the children's deal.
