Friday 13th January 2023, 2:40pm by Jay Richardson
He’s already been a tennis coach and rugby league player. But for his next career sidestep, comedian Adam Hills is entering the restaurant business.
The Last Leg host has partnered with ex-Nobu head chef Scott Hallsworth for a revival of his establishment Freak Scene in London.
The coronavirus pandemic forced Hallsworth to close the previous iteration of his Asian restaurant, on Frith Street, in Soho, in July 2020.
But he and Hills are now partnering on an opening at 28 Parsons Green Lane, in Fulham, after Hallsworth ran an interstitial pop-up called Double Dragon out of Clerkenwell last year. With 46 covers, it will be the first fully fledged restaurant for the itinerant brand.
Freak Scene has been what Hallsworth calls “a whistle stop tour of Asia,” loosely influenced by his stint at Nobu and its maximalist, high-acid penchant for deep-frying some things, serving most others raw, and generally using as much hamachi, tobiko, and wagyu beef as is humanly possible.
Hills admits his investment isn’t wholly business-minded. He tweeted: “I’ve been a fan of Scott’s food for years, and am super excited to support his new Freak Scene venture (and eat there regularly).”
