Try not to be too shocked, but I think this may be my first time in Hackney. It’s one those areas outside of central London which is ever so slightly too far north and on the cusp of the tube network – you’re completely reliant on the overground network, which is a pain. However, it turned out that the overground near me in South-West London goes direct to Hackney Central. Not such a pain to get too after all it would seem. Hackney has recently been branded as one of these up and coming areas. Both in terms of living and eating. The food scene here is exploding with the likes of Lardo, The Clove Club, Counter and Raw Duck – all restaurants which have helped create this new Hackney. The local high street has even become a high-end shopping destination with Burberry and Pringle already getting in on the action early. Buy your houses here now – while it’s still semi-affordable.
Hackney’s newest addition however is not a fashion store, but a restaurant named FIX. Inside the kitchen here is a chef named James Cochran. James has a wealth of experience behind him, having worked at countless Michelin starred restaurants – including the likes of The Ledbury and The Harwood Arms in Fulham. But does the food live up to his Michelin training and our high expectations? In fact it exceeded them. The whole menu here is fun, unusual, intriguing and the service is very personal which I love. Menu wise we went for FullFIX – consisting of eight delectable courses. To start us on our journey we practically inhaled some delicious pigs ear croquettes with a light crumb coating that was full of flavour and completely oil free. Just as good were these playful cheese fritters with sweet, home-made tomato jam and shavings of even more cheese. Describing these beauties is a hard task but I’ll never forget their soft, light and chewy texture which melted in my mouth.
Another notable highlight and one you must all order was the cured mackerel with watercress crisp, horseradish and lemon sherbet. All of the flavours were absolutely magnificent. Clean, crisp and precise. You could taste everything on its own but as a collective it quite literally blew me away. Slightly less successful (and I really do mean only slightly) was this minimalistic plated dish of crispy cauliflower with home cured bacon and black pudding crumble. Again flavour wise it was all here and the textures were good but the dish was lacking in enough sauce. It needed a little depth to wrap around everything as it felt a little too crunchy for me. Perhaps a sauce isn’t even the right path – a good purée would have done the trick without making that cauliflower turn soggy.
Picking out my star dish here at Restaurant FIX was an incredibly easy task. While all the dishes we ate here were mostly excellent one plate of food was simply astounding. Apparently the dish is something that’s moved over with James from The Ledbury and I can see why. You’d never want to leave any element of this dish behind. Treacle cured smoked salmon with whisky jelly, apple, smoked cod roe and rye crumb. That salmon was unbelievably good. The texture was perfect, the smell, the flavour, the sweetness – it was the best salmon dish I’ve ever eaten – or at least that I can recall of anyway. Delving deeper into our tasting menu and dishes such as this raw venison with earl grey tea, prunes, pickled onions and hazelnuts started to appear. The meat was gorgeous and felt like silk in the mouth. But something about those pickled onions did it for me mostly. The meat was good, yes – but the onions were something entirely different all together.
When I was saying previously about Restaurant FIX being very personal, it was mostly because of the service. James makes such an effort to get out of the kitchen and on to the floor, chatting to diners, explaining dishes to them, talking about the ingredients and how it’s all made. It takes the dining experience up another level. Out waiter was rather charming too. An incredible amount of energy and boots so funky (and really white) I may just have to come back and give him some competition with my Doc Martins (OK I may have to buy some). James introduced our smoked haddock with scallops, leeks, seaweed, and mint oil. I for whatever reason didn’t notice my scallop much but the rest of it was sublime. The whole room was starting to smell like the sea. On the flip side of things the Berkshire pheasant breast with savoy cabbage, quince and barley popcorn was my least favourite course. The pheasant was too small, thin and meant it arrived a little overcooked. The sauce felt oily in texture and the barley popcorn was also too crunchy. A nice idea but a dish I didn’t think complimented the rest of the menu well.
And then dessert arrived. FIX love to show off, I’ve noticed that – but they had to rub it in and finish us off with probably my most favourite food in history. I have an obsession with doughnuts. Mini, full size, ring, stuffed – who cares. I just love them. They were no exception here either. Every bit as light, fluffy, flavoursome and with a good coating of sugar. The real icing on the cake however was the salted caramel milkshakes. God they were good. A huge pot of apple sauce was on hand for dipping too, equally as stunning. An almost faultless dish but if they fancied making it better still they could fill each of those doughnuts with the caramel – because I strangely found myself dipping each ball into my milkshake.
Restaurant FIX in Hackney is a gem of a restaurant. It’s a little far out from central London, yes – but it’s worth every single minute travelling to on the overground. Interior wise it’s very basic and rustic but that’s all part of the charm and what I love about the place. It’s cool, without making much effort. James also has a real way with flavour and loves experimenting – which in turn creates some legendary dishes such as that salmon. The menu is a bargain and the food is probably the best you’ll find in Hackney. My advice – go now. You’ll love it.
8/10
