Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- David Hasselhoff is dining in the corner, and he’s not the only actor around. James Nesbitt is in the bar with the celebrity hairdresser Nicky Clarke. The artist Tracey Emin and model Kate Moss have already been in, as have the rock musicians Nick Cave and Bobby Gillespie.

When London chef Mark Hix opens a restaurant, the stars come out, as do the critics and the bloggers, whose presence is signaled by the flash photography that makes them the paparazzi of the plate. Young British artists also abound.

That mobile above the bar, of dead fish in Perspex coffins, is by Hix’s friend Damien Hirst. The dangling Fray Bentos tins are by Sarah Lucas and there are works by Miranda Donovan, Gary Webb and Abigail Fallis. The neon sign that points to “Mark’s” club downstairs is by Tim Noble and Sue Webster.

As if any confirmation of the chef’s cultural connections were needed, a new Emin neon sign spelling out HIX hung over Hix’s packed pop-up restaurant at the Frieze Art Fair and, yes, Emin sat below it having lunch with friends on Saturday.

Such celebrity connections are a double-edged sword. One blogger has repeatedly criticized Hix for being too focused on his mates, and not all the critics are fans. When Hix Oyster & Chop House opened in 2008, Marina O’Loughlin of Metro wrote, “Unless you’re a known face or pal of the management, you’re likely to feel as though you’re gate-crashing a cliquey party.”

Over lunch at Hix, which opened in Soho at the start of this month, Hix shakes his head when he recalls the early days of the Chop House, near Smithfield Market.

Table Traffic

“The service was a bit of a car crash,” he says. “I hadn’t worked with a lot of the staff and they didn’t know what I was trying to achieve. The food was fine but getting it to the table was the problem. The difference now is that people have been with me for a while and things are much smoother.”

To the question of how many people are working in Hix, the chef gives a two-word answer meaning he’s not entirely certain. (The first word has four letters and the second is “knows.”)

The menu is typically Hix, which is to say it combines traditional English options such as oysters or partridge with dishes that are not so familiar. Cod’s tongues with girolles anyone? There’s also a curry of monkfish cheek with lobster.

“I always like to have a curry of some description on the menu,” says Hix, who ate at Tayyabs -- where he enjoyed a dark prawn curry -- while developing the spicing for his sauces. “Everyone loves a curry. We sell loads. Over the years, you develop the mixing of the spices. This one is quite mild.”

The menu changes twice a day, so you can’t be sure what might turn up at any particular service.

Seashore Salad

My favorite starters over three meals include: Heaven and Earth, which is a Cumbrian black pudding on crushed potatoes and apples; an intense Cornish fish soup; wild duck on toast with salsify and elderberries, which features sliced meat atop a liver pate; and a seashore salad of samphire scallops, mussels, cockles and oysters that’s as powerful as Heston Blumenthal’s Sound of the Sea dish; and those cod tongues.

Among the main courses, the deep-fried pollock comes in the lightest, crispiest of batters and is served with mushy peas (well, they are actually crushed and a little more Lyme Regis than Leeds) with Sarson’s vinegar on the side. There’s also a hearty salt-marsh mutton, ale and oyster pie (15.50 pounds). The only dish that hasn’t worked -- and I’ve tried it twice -- is the curry. The sauce was watery and the fish is tough.

Starters are mostly in the range of 7-9 pounds, most mains are 15-25 pounds and desserts are about 7 pounds. But your bill may be higher than you expect if you get enticed by the cocktails or become over-familiar with the wine list.

Secret Weapon

Don’t expect Hix to be cooking for you. He’s working the room. Kevin Gratton, formerly of Le Caprice, is in the kitchen. The other secret weapon is Nick Strangeway -- ex-mixer at Hawksmoor -- who has created an epic cocktail list for the clubby basement bar. Be prepared for noise. My decibel counter headed past 80 -- the sound of a freight train -- but then I was dining with the chef Richard Corrigan and the food writer Xanthe Clay and we were a tad animated.

What’s the difference between Hix and the Chop House?

“Not much,” Hix says. “The pricing’s much the same and there’s only so much you can change for food. We’re trying to do a bit more fish here but the philosophy is the same: using good, seasonal ingredients and not messing about with them.”

Hix, 66-70 Brewer Street, London, W1F 9TR. Information: +44-20- 7292-3518 or http://www.restaurantsetcltd.co.uk/markhix.

(Richard Vines is the chief food critic for Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on the story: Richard Vines in London at rvines@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 19, 2009 19:00 EDT