FREAK SCENE, FARRINGDON

I've been a fan of Scott Hallsworth for a while. The Marble Arch branch of Kurobuta, where he used to be in charge, isn't far from my flat and I've been there to enjoy their wacky take on fusion food several times. So I was very happy to hear that his new venture, Freak Scene, was due to open less than five minutes walk from my office. I popped in last week for a quick lunch to try a couple of dishes and will definitely be going back while it's there. Freak Scene is just behind Fabric in Farringdon for the next couple of months, serving up "curious Asian plates" like the chilli crab and avocado wonton bombs I started off with. Clean, fresh, punchy flavours of soft crab and avocado in a crispy deep fried wonton wrapper. 

Next up was chicken fried chicken - soft, slow cooked chicken cooked confit, with meat falling off the bone with the gentlest prod of a chopstick, into sticky, dark peanut sauce, all balanced out by cucumber pickles.

Miso cod taco with sushi rice, and scorched red chilli and tomato salsa was actually my favourite of the three dishes, though they were all so good it was hard to choose. This one won because of that salsa. I could've lapped up bowls of the stuff. It was spicy and refreshing and one of the best salsas I've ever tried.

I'm not sure of the actual length of stay for Freak Scene but it's not going to be there forever so get down there soon. With dishes like beef rendang curry with lychees, tuna sashimi pizza (which you'll know if you've been to Kurobuta), chicken and chip - chicken liver parfait with crunchy chicken and apple balsamic, and honey hoisin grilled pork belly with mussels and chilli jam, there's plenty on the menu to keep me going back while they're still there.