Antidote

What the bread?

Antidote is a wine bar and restaurant in Soho, which lately has been buzzing in the food blogging community when it came to light that it appointed chef patron of Hedone to consult the menu and ingredients. Personally I am not much of a fan of Hedone having eaten there two years ago and which wasn't really anything special. However with its location and a few good positive reviews, I stopped by Antidote for a pre-dinner drink and some small bites.

Antidote

According to a good number of food critics, it has the best bread in London and I couldn't disagree anymore, it was decent at best. I could easily think of so many places that have superior bread in London, Five Fields and L'Autre Pied comes into recent memory, I dare any of those people who raved about Antidote's bread to taste all three breads in front them and still rate Anridote's bread that highly.

wine bar

"epic" bread

However, the small plates from Antidote was really something special. The Scottish langoustine was as fresh as it can get, cooked alive and dished up in a matter of a few seconds, the meat was so sweet and quality wise it was hard to beat London standard wise. The suckling pork shoulder was also outstanding, the meat was very tender and well seasoned, the spring onion added a peppery taste while the mushroom ketchup gave the dish a pleasant earthy undertone. 

Scottish langoustine

sucking pork shoulder

Overall it was a pretty good pre-dinner affair, while the bread failed to reach anywhere close to the expectations given from the critics, the small plates were really solid. The service was also great with good knowledge and explanations on how each wine works with what food. Given the central location and the thumbs ups from the press, it should do well. 

Food 5.5
Service 7
Ambience 7
Value 6

£18 per head with a glass of wine

12A Newburgh St, London W1F 7RR

http://www.antidotewinebar.com