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You are here: Home / London food blogger events / Clarence Court eggs at Hix, Soho [CLOSED]

Clarence Court eggs at Hix, Soho [CLOSED]

by Jeanne Horak on June 8, 2011 8 Comments in London food blogger events, London restaurants, Product reviews

HixSoho © J Horak-Druiff 2011

Although I work literally around the corner from the Hix Oyster & Chophouse, I have never set foot inside – so I was rather pleased when an invitation to a dinner hosted by Clarence Court eggs at Hix Soho plopped into my inbox.  Mark Hix, formerly of Caprice Holdings (which owns The Ivy and J Sheekey), is the author of a number of seasonal British cookbooks and somewhat of a champion of excellent British produce, so it is not really surprising that Clarence court eggs, producers of “fabulous eggs from fabulous birds”, decided to team up with him to create a menu to showcase their eggs.  Clarence Court produces their eggs from rare breed hens on farms around the country.  Their hens are fed a natural non-GM vegetarian diet, including maize which produces more deeply-coloured yolks.  The birds range freely from dawn till dusk and different flocks are allowed to mix – all of which makes for much happier birds.  But does it make for tastier eggs?  We were about to find out.

Through an unholy alliance of work and Tube delays, I arrived at Hix a little late and hardly had time to clock the buzzing dining room or the modern art collection before being led to the private dining room (I did note, however, that door staff were nice and not at all snooty – a rarity in Soho!).  As all the other invited bloggers (including Their Royal Lovelinesses Gail, Cara, Sarah, MiMi and Kavey) were already seated, I plonked myself down in the only available chair – which happened to be next to Mark Hix who was explaining why he uses only Clarence Court eggs in his restaurants.  The first part of the evening was all about comparing Clarence Court Brown Burford eggs; Happy Eggs; and regular free-range barn eggs – I had already missed the plain boiled egg taste test but did enjoy the scrambled egg taste test, where the Clarence Court scramble immediately announced itself by its far deeper orange colour and superior creaminess – hands down the winner.

HixStarter

And then it was on to our meal proper – although the menu had been put together especially for our dinner, all items were available on the regular Hix menu.  We started with torn pieces of smoked haddock and soft-boiled quail eggs with a scattering of chickweed (£8.75).  I was not sure about the chickweed.  It tasted… well, kind of earthy to me, which is not a taste I like much.  But the little quail eggs were just heavenly and a wonderful match for the salty haddock.  All it perhaps needed was a hint of creaminess – maybe a blob of homemade aioli or similar. But all in all a lovely dish.

HixMain

The mains were probably my favourite as we were treated to a hefty escalope of breaded Blytheburgh pork topped with capers, anchovies and a fried egg (£18.75). This was a take on the classic Veal Holstein and is a combination of flavours that I find irresistible.  Although breaded escalopes can often be dry, the perfectly runny yolk prevented that from happening here, and I absolutely loved the little salt-bomb capers and anchovies.  (I seem to recall that there was a brisk trade in capers and anchovies at our end of the table as anchovy-haters palmed theirs off on anchovy-lovers!)

 

HixPudding

The surprise of the evening for me was the dessert. Possets are so very English, starting their lives in Mediaeval England as a curdled milk drink made with wine or ale; and ending up sometime around the 19th century as a creamy dessert of cream, sugar, eggs and citrus.  They even feature in Shakespeare as Lady MacBeth drugs King Duncan’s guards with a poisoned posset.  Our definitely-not-poisoned sea buckthorn berry posset (£6.75) did not use the usual citrus to give it its tang, but the far more unusual sea buckthorn berries.  The berries not only provided a sharp tang to counteract the richness of the creamy posset, but also lent their vivid orange colour to the layer of jelly that topped the dish.  Simply fabulous.

It was a lovely evening that proved the deliciousness of the eggs and made me want to come back to Hix to sample more of their menu – and take another look at their art!

HixEggBox

HixEggs

And best of all, at the end of the evening we were also given goodie bags to take home – mine contained Burford Browns, Braddock Whites, and a pack of quail’s eggs.  Nick largely ate the Burford browns, but I managed to rescue the duck eggs and turn them into my one-pan breakfast fry-up where they lent a luxurious creaminess.  Even in the simplest of dishes, the eggs just tasted… better; more eggy if that makes sense.  Maybe it is true that tastes as happy does!

Thanks Clarence Court and Hix for a lovely evening.

Hix Soho
70 Brewer St
Westminster, London W1F 9
Tel. 00 44 20 7292 3518

 

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  1. Mona Wise says

    June 8, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    Look at those gorgeous eggs!
    So lovely and yellow.
    We make that very same dish here at home – with the pork/egg/capers/anchovies.
    To die for.
    Lovely photos Jeanne.
    Móna

    Reply
  2. nina says

    June 9, 2011 at 4:50 am

    I love that pork chop idea, mmmmmm! What’s for supper?

    Reply
  3. Firefly says

    June 9, 2011 at 7:34 am

    That main meal looks absolutely devine. Yum yum yummy.
    I wish they would take bloggers a bit more serious here in SA, specially travel bloggers. It seems that there are very few people out there that realises the value we can add to their publicity and exposure.

    Reply
  4. Clare Hampshire UK says

    June 9, 2011 at 10:33 pm

    Ah the humble egg, I am always looking at new things to do with them thanks loads

    Reply
  5. PinkPolkaDot says

    June 11, 2011 at 3:33 pm

    Beautiful photos!

    Reply
  6. norma says

    June 13, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    It’s a pitty that living in the city I am not able to acquire fresh eggs as we did when we were children. I remember having omelettes made from 5 different eggs at times…..

    Reply
  7. Gourmet Chick says

    June 19, 2011 at 9:14 pm

    I am just as bad as you Jeanne – so many draft posts lurking around… They were great eggs weren’t they? Although I couldn’t eat an egg for a few days after the dinner – I think we had egg overdose!

    Reply
  8. seo service says

    March 22, 2012 at 2:47 am

    Oh I sooo love your meatloaf with quail eggs … how did it taste? Is the meatloaf mix a tasty one? If so, I might have to cadge the recipe off you!
    We’ve enjoyed our CC eggs from that lovely evening at Hix boiled, fried, in the chocolate custard and meringue topping of the Green and Blacks recipe we did and made into mini scotch eggs! YUM!

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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