Antidote: Winebar and Restaurant near Carnaby Street

Trying to get reservations on a Saturday night is near impossible in London if you haven’t booked at least a week in a advance. Luckily, I found two new restaurants that looked interesting but couldn’t decide between: Little Social and Antidote. Both had good reviews, the only major difference being the set up of the menu at Antidote was bit different. 

For dinner, they offered a 4 course set menu at £40, which I felt a bit wary about yet at the same intrigued by. It changes daily and you only find out about courses  once you arrive. Sure I've been to places where the menu is designed to not offer choices like Entrecote or Burger &Lobster. With these places, you sort of know what you’re going to get and a burger or steak or lobster roll isn't an intimidating option. But not knowing what four courses are going to be does feel a bit risky.

In any case, fortified by a very nice Pomegranate and Rosemary Gin Tonic from Tapas Brindisa, I made my way to Antidote on Newburgh Street. At first glance, the layout appears confusing with a main door that appears to be the entrance but is actually not and you have to enter through a side door. Downstairs is a wine bar with small plates on offer and the upstairs is where you get the set menu. 

Cornish Pollock with mussels and Sea Vegetables

I was curious to try the bread; there are reports that the bread it’s the best in London. I’m not kidding there are actual critic reviews with that bold proclamation. Antidote’s trump card is that the chef at Hedone (a Michelin star with rave reviews) does a ‘consulting gig’ (not sure what that entails) at Antidote and the sourdough bread comes freshly baked from Hedone. And well, it really is THAT good. We couldn’t stop eating it and I was actually sad when dessert arrived because I knew it was time to stop trying to stuff myself with load of bread slathered with the most delicious butter and move on.

Scallops with Lettuce and Cucumber

Anyway on to the food - after an amuse bouche, the first course was scallops served with lettuce and dill. Light and fresh – it reminded me of the scallop dish I had at Pied Nus. The second course of Cornish Pollock with girolles, beans and mussels was the stand out dish for us. Flawlessly cooked fish with all the flavours of the sea from the mussels and samphire – the addition of vinegary mushroom “ketchup” was a perfect complement to the meal. The third course was suckling pig with onions, garlic and potato puree – again lovely flavours. Dessert was chocolate mousse with a white chocolate sorbet – hard to go wrong there.

All in all, it was a rather delightful meal. The mark-ups on the wine are pretty high so we ended up spending quite a bit on the wine but the food was perfection. I can totally see myself coming back and trusting the chef’s set menu of the day.