‘Last Leg’ Comedian Adam Hills Is Getting Into the London Restaurant Business
He’s backing Scott Hallsworth’s latest revival of Freak Scene, in Parsons Green
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The Last Leg host and comedian Adam Hills is getting into the London restaurant business, by backing the revival of ex-Nobu head chef Scott Hallsworth’s Freak Scene.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced Hallsworth to close the most recent iteration, 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 in early-to-mid-2022. With 46 covers, it will be the first fully fledged restaurant for the itinerant brand.
In all its versions, 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. A new catering pack for the restaurant proffers menus that include hamachi sashimi with yuzu and soy; black cod “tacos”; and a trio of wagyu.
It opened its Frith Street space after a series of Clerkenwell pop-ups despite failing in a crowdfunding bid to go permanent. On this occasion, Hallsworth is hoping to go the whole hog, while Hills will be hoping his first venture into London restaurants won’t soon find itself on its last leg.
