Urban Junkies

In my mind Soho hasn’t had a proper ‘scene’ for a while now. Or maybe it’s that so many other areas have got one Soho’s has faded into obscurity.

Since the days of Dick’s Bar, the brief but glorious existence of Marco Pierre White’s Titanic and everyone’s favourite guilty pleasure, Chinawhite (which has just relaunched in a new location, dangerously), it’s all got a bit… meh.

Sure there have been the members clubs, tapas joints, risotto bars etc, but there hasn’t been much to get really excited about. Hope is in sight, however, in the form of two ex–Caprice honchos. Most of us have heard of Mark Hix, who opened HIX a couple of weeks ago, but less well–known (for now) is Russell Norman who has opened Polpo.

The thing about both these places is that, the food’s good – hearty British grub with names like Heaven and Earth at HIX and Venetian tapas at Polpo – but the real clincher is that you don’t just want to eat in these places, you want to hang out in them. Every night if possible. And so too, it seems, do half of London.

So my recommendation: a couple of camparis and chicchetti at Polpo, which now has a no-bookings policy in the evenings, and a main course at HIX – retiring afterwards, and this is the crucial bit, to Mark’s Bar downstairs.

Then try telling me you haven’t had one of the best nights in a long time.