Celebrated chef, restaurateur and food writer Mark Hix is known for his original take on British gastronomy
Mark is frequently lauded as one of Britain’s most eminent restaurateurs with an unrivalled knowledge of ingredients with provenance. He is an award-winning author and food writer with 12 cookbooks to his name, the latest of which, Hooked, regales stories of fishing from his childhood through to the present day. He has a weekly award-winning recipe column in The Telegraph Magazine, as well as contributing to Dorset Magazine and Marshwood Vale. He has previously been a regular contributor to City AM and GQ, Mark was previously the food writer for The Independent on Saturday for 14 years.
After 17 years with Caprice Holdings, he left his Chef Director role in 2007 to open HIX Restaurants which spread across London’s West-end and City as well as his native Dorset, until they closed in 2020 as a result of Covid-19
Mark opened The Oyster & Fish House in Lyme Regis in July 2020 as well as launching his HIX Oyster & Fish Truck in Morcombelake, which sold wet fish and seafood from Lyme Bay Reserve fishermen during lock downs. He opened The Fox Inn pub in Corscombe in December 2020 but sadly due to the continuing challenges in the industry the pub closed on 17th July 2022. The Oyster & Fish House closed on 8th December 2024.
Mark received an MBE for his services to hospitality in the New Years’ Honours list 2017.
You can read his award-winning weekly recipe column in The Telegraph Magazine. He also writes for Marshwood Vale and Dorset Magazine every month.
Mark’s cookbooks are now available online with ckbk.
If you missed Mark on the Channel 5 programme Dorset: Country and Coast, you can catch up online with My 5
Mark Hix first collaborated with artist Nettie Wakefield on his last book Hooked – Adventures in Angling and Eating. Her black and white illustrations, not only of fish, but portraits of Mark and his fishing buddies, featured throughout the book, replacing the usual food photography.
They have joined forces again to create a colourful project, bringing art and food together, with a collection of framed prints you can add to your kitchen wall. The prints combine seafood recipes by Mark Hix, accompanied by beautifully detailed illustrations by Nettie; combined to create a series of 28 limited edition artworks, printed in London’s Jealous Print Studio. The idea was inspired by the Andy Warhol book Wild Raspberries.
Mark says, “It’s been playing on my mind for years, so I spoke with Nettie about projects we could work on together, bringing my recipes and her incredible drawings together in one place. With my passion for fishing and cooking fish and seafood, this seemed like the most creative and obvious thing to work on.”
Twenty-eight drawings later, they are planning to publish them into a book next year and possibly work on a mushroom project. Making it all happen is Mark’s old friend and neighbour Dario Illari at Jealous Gallery in East London who’ll be printing and framing the artwork. Nettie says “I am delighted to be collaborating with Mark again and couldn’t think of anyone better than Dario at Jealous Gallery to launch these works with us.”
The limited edition of 250 prints will be available to buy online from Jealousgallery.com from 17th October. They are all signed by Mark and Nettie. Price £295 each including VAT. Framing is additional £105 Order online here.
