Restaurant Closed
This restaurant is closed.
Please contact us if this is incorrect.
Breaking news
The following notice of impending closure has been posted on the restaurant's website:
The very idea that we would be conveying the following message had seemed inconceivable for us, even with a global pandemic, which brought with it the multiple closures and reopenings of our business, still in recent memory. Add to this train strikes, the current economic climate, staffing challenges, rising costs and utility price hikes, we have somehow managed to navigate through, not completely unscathed, but certainly still intact.
Unfortunately, whilst presenting our planned investment to the estate landlord just over 18 months ago, we were rather unceremoniously made aware that a break clause had been activated in our landlord’s lease, ultimately affecting ours. We were offered what turned out to be false hope that we had the possibility to remain, and potentially secure a new long-term lease. While we have tried to negotiate and secure our future either in our current home or a potential new location within Coal Drops Yard, this final hurdle has proven to be the biggest and ultimately, insurmountable.
This certainly is not the end of the hicce journey.
December 2023 will see our final service, although the exact date has not been confirmed just yet. We will keep you posted on how we intend to celebrate our almost 6 years in our original home.
Many great hospitality businesses have been unable to survive the events of the last three years. Hicce has not only survived, it has thrived. Ours is certainly not a story of an unsuccessful, unprofitable business.
Unfortunately for us, this seems to have not been enough.
Pip & Gordy
Harden's survey result
Summary
It has a “good location and a buzzy atmosphere too”, but this early linchpin of the Coal Drops Yard development continues to produce mixed reports. Most feedback does acclaim Pip Lacey’s “interesting menu” of “lovely sharing plates”. But “tiny portions at sky-high prices” remains something of a theme (“I was shocked by the bill, especially as we’d eaten so little!)”. Top Tip – “a particularly nice spot on a summer’s evening”. BREAKING NEWS. In October 2023, it was announced that the restaurant will close in December.
Summary
“A stylish and trendy venue in stylish and trendy Coal Drops Yard” – Pip Lacey produces “an interesting menu of small plates” at this “lovely” venue, prominently situated within the development. There were some gripes this year about the “confusing wine list”, and although everyone acknowledged some “superb” dishes, reservations remain about the value equation here (“great food, but the bill! For the size of the portions and overall amount of food and wine consumed it really felt steep!”). (Top Gear fans: Lacey now also has a side gig running the kitchen at Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm restaurant in the Cotswolds).
Summary
“Great sharing Mediterranean dishes”, many of them cooked over wood, is the USP at this Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross, venue – the first solo outing from Pip Lacey, former head chef at Angela Hartnett’s Murano. Most reporters enjoyed the food, and ratings would almost certainly have been higher had one or two reporters not continued to gripe at the portion size (“plates were so tiny the staff asked us to double our order)”.
Summary
“In revitalised Coal Drops Yard” – Angela Hartnett protégée Pip Lacey’s late-2018 opening is generally credited as “an excellent addition to the new development”. But while just about everyone loves its “beautifully designed and buzzy” interior, when it comes to her “interesting dishes, cooked over wood, mainly for sharing”, then opinions are more divided. “Some truly unusual combinations” make it a brand-new-favourite for some diners, but even fans sometimes note that “the ratio of tiny portion size to high cost is a problem”, and for others the cooking is “just not memorable enough”: “confused and far too expensive for what was delivered”. Top Tip – it’s pronounced ‘ee-chay’.
For 33 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. In a typical year, diners submit over 50,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK. Each year, the guide is re-written from scratch based on this survey (although for the 2021 edition, reviews are little changed from 2020 as no survey could run for that year).
Have you eaten at Hicce?
Coal Drops Yard, London, N1C 4AB
Restaurant details
Hicce Restaurant Diner Reviews
"Considering it is closing soon (end of lease?) we had a wonderful meal, though serving a main course tapas style felt odd, with a really small plate. The set lunch was good value."
"This trendy small sharing plates restaurant serves OK food - but at steep prices. And whilst the serving staff are charming and helpful - the service isn’t as sharp as you would expect for the prices charged. Most irritating is the use of QR codes on the tables instead of menus. The problem is that regular wiping down the tables also wipes out part of the QR codes - so they don’t work! That of itself wouldn’t be a problem if there were paper menus - but there aren’t enough to go around and we ended up taking photos on our mobile phones in order to share the one paper menu our table was offered. We won’t be returning. "
Prices
 Drinks |
|
|---|---|
| Wine per bottle | £32.50 |
| Filter Coffee | £4.00 |
 Extras |
|
|---|---|
| Bread | £3.20 |
| Service | 13.50% |
Coal Drops Yard, London, N1C 4AB
Opening hours
| Monday | CLOSED |
| Tuesday | 5:30 pm‑11 pm |
| Wednesday | 12 pm‑3 pm, 6 pm‑11 pm |
| Thursday | 12 pm‑3 pm, 6 pm‑11 pm |
| Friday | 12 pm‑3 pm, 6 pm‑12 am |
| Saturday | 12 pm‑4 pm, 6 pm‑12 am |
| Sunday | 12 pm‑5 pm |
Best British, Modern restaurants nearby
British, Modern restaurant in King\'s Cross
British, Modern restaurant in King's Cross
British, Modern restaurant in King's Cross
Best similarly priced restaurants nearby
Spanish restaurant in King’s Cross
German restaurant in King's Cross
Fusion restaurant in Islington
