Freak Scene is a pan-Asian fusion restaurant in Soho serving up tapas-style, often-fried riffs on Chinese, Thai, and Japanese cuisine.
We came for our first dinner in London, and booking was easy to get less than a week out. Though it was sparsely populated when we showed up around 8, it was getting busy when we left an hour later; this is definitely a party spot, though it's too small to truly be a clubstaurant.
Freak Scene's head chef worked at Nobu for years, as evidenced by both the buzzy, theme-y atmosphere and the theatrical Westernized menu. Expect dishes like sashimi pizza and wonton bombs, washed down with tropical shooters. Dishes run in the low teens and are best split between two.
Drinks are wide-ranging, from sake to wine to cocktails, and reasonably priced if not particularly intellectual. I had a citrusy rum drink, while my boyfriend took on the indignity of ordering a Slippery Nipple, some layered shot concoction, alongside an Asahi.
Miso-grilled black cod tacos (11 pounds) tasted more Tex-Mex than Tokyo, with an admirable but overpowering salsa and a salty shell that made the well-prepared sushi rice redundant. They're pretty, but logistically difficult to eat.
Jerusalem artichoke was not quite what we expected, fried into a thin stick like an elongated egg roll. However, it ended up being one of our favorite dishes and very flavorful with the aioli, though the portion is just silly for the price.
Beef tataki salad (12 pounds) was standard, nothing special but a good way to round out the meal. By far, the winner was the lamb, two juicy and substantial chops with a simple sweet-and-spicy sauce.
Service was spotty, though food did come out pretty quickly once we managed to place our orders. We spent about an hour here. The space has cool old propaganda posters, but feels a little too slickly designed. Prices were middle of the road for this part of town-- the final bill was about 70 pounds for 2, with a drink each.
If you're looking for somewhere fun in Soho for a drink and a bite, this will do the trick, but for savvy customers used to Momofuku and other elevated fusion spots this may come off as juvenile. read more