Former Silo chef takes over at Antidote
Hazlewood took over the kitchen last August but has had to return to his native New Zealand this month due to visa restrictions.
Now Dee, whose CV boasts stints at Brighton’s zero-waste restaurant Silo, The St John Hotel and The Canton Arms, has been brought in to offer a ‘fresh new approach’ to the menu.
Dee said: “My style is to cook simple dishes – ingredient-led cooking with sustainability and seasonality at its heart. No fuss, but big flavours and I like to pay homage to tradition and culture and old techniques and to cook with the whole beast.”
The new ‘streamlined’ menu includes Crab, Essex Samphire and Mayonnaise; Mackerel, Kholrabi, Wild Fennel and Lemon; and a changing Plat Du Jour such as Mussels Pancerra Coriander.
Guillaume Siard, co-owner at Antidote, said: “We are big, big fans of William’s cooking and he’s bringing a lot of experience and variety to the kitchens at Antidote. We’re eager to see what he’ll create here and how our guests will respond to this exciting new menu."
Antidote was opened in 2011 by Siard and Theirry Bouteloup, who ran its predecessor La Trouvaille.
Mikael Jonsson – chef-owner at Hedone – held a consultancy role at the restaurant from 2014 until he stepped down in January.
The Swede was originally brought in instil ‘a bit of the Hedone ethos’ to Antidote’s menu, but handed full control over to Hazlewood this year after agreeing that the kitchen was ‘strong enough to stand’ without his support.
Hazlewood told BigHospitality last year that Antidote had fallen victim to the ongoing chef shortage, and was struggling with a lack of applicants for highly-skilled roles.
