App  • Careers  • Quarterly  • Consultancy
In association with
Dear

The food world was surprised and shocked yesterday by the announcement - on Instagram - that Magnus Nilsson was to close his wildly popular and influential restaurant Fäviken. The pilgrimage to rural Sweden to eat Nilsson’s food has been made by many chefs, critics and food obsessives but in perhaps a clue to his departure, the chef says, “when I am done here I am going to spend time with my family, reflect, fish, garden, write, rest and get fit, both physically and mentally. I am not going to lie, I am a little bit tired after all this time pushing the development of the restaurant forward.”

It takes enormous amounts of energy to launch and run a restaurant, even if (or perhaps when) it’s hugely successful. Nilsson has given just one interview to explain the move, and says he won’t be speaking of it again, preferring to concentrate on his food until he leaves on 14 December. Needless to say, Fäviken is fully booked until that date.

CODE always regrets the closure of a restaurant, but in this instance, it sounds as if a young star of hospitality is taking the sensible step of looking after his own health and that after a rest, he may be back. Let’s hope so.

Have a good week.

CODE

Circolo

The news that smash-hit Italian restaurant Gloria is to have a sister site has been confirmed. However the next ‘extra’ pizza and pasta joint from the Parisian Big Mamma Group - on Rathbone Square in Fitzrovia - will be named Circolo, not Gloria II, and will focus on Sicilian cuisine. The trattoria will be 9,000 sq ft and is due to open mid-to-late June.
Corbin & King

Fresh from opening Soutine in St John’s Wood, Jeremy King and Chris Corbin have obtained planning permission for their next restaurant, a site in Soho. We gather it’s a fish-focused 240-seater with the same pricing policy as Brasserie Zédel. Rumour has it that they are resurrecting the famous Manzi’s name for the new place. We can’t wait to hear more.

Opening...

Sandwich experts Sub Cult are to open its first brick-and-mortar site on Watling Street in the City next month… Flor, the new London Bridge restaurant from Lyle’s team of James Lowe and John Ogier, will open next month… It’s a long way from Come Dine With Me, but Craig McAlpine, who won in 2005, has just opened a grill restaurant called Ember on Brick Lane…And the Guinea Grill in Mayfair will now open for breakfast, serving the most important meal of the day from Thursday to Sunday every week.
... and collaborating

SevenRooms, the all-in-one reservations, seating and guest management platform run in 250 cities from New York, is partnering with UK organisation Bookatable to extend the reach and improve reservations management via both hospitality networks globally – the latter has 17,500 customers…

Fitzroy

 

The highly successful London operators David Gingell and Jeremie Cometto have announced that they are to open a restaurant in Fowey, Cornwall. Fitzroy will focus on local produce and there will be plenty of seafood on the menu – from crab soup with cultured cream to spiced gurnard with shellfish sauce. The restaurant is in an old bank and will feature a Shaker-style interior.
Bank House Wine Bar & Kitchen

Stuart Gillies, formerly CEO of the Gordon Ramsay Group, is to open his first solo operation later this month. Bank House Wine Bar & Kitchen, in Chislehurst, is also a former bank and will have a wine room in the basement, restaurant at street level and cocktail bar on the first floor. The menu will champion produce from the Kent area.

Fäviken

The highly influential, remote Swedish restaurant Fäviken is to close on 14 December this year. In an unexpected Instagram post, chef patron Magnus Nilsson said he had done one interview about the closure, with the LA Times, and would make no further comment, wanting to spend the final six months focused on the food and then taking some time to rest.
Bodrum EDITION

Launched in Turkey last year, the Bodrum EDITION has announced that the noteworthy Peruvian chef Diego Muñoz will be overseeing three restaurants at the hotel when it opens for the season on 1 May. There will be Brava - its signature restaurant, daytime site Morena on the beach and their version of a chef’s table, Fisherman’s Table at The Dock.

Jamie May

Tom Kerridge is known for keeping hold of staff, promoting them within his four-strong restaurant group. But the Hand & Flowers head chef Aaron Mulliss has left after 12 years - off to as-yet-unannounced new ventures - and is replaced by Jamie May, who himself has been at the Marlow restaurant for eight years.
Ruth Hansom

Familiar to TV viewers from her appearance on Million Pound Menu, Ruth Hansom has announced that she has joined the Notting Hill restaurant Pomona’s as head chef. Hansom learnt her trade at the Ritz, before a stint as head chef of the restaurant at Luton Hoo hotel and was winner of the 2017 Young National Chef of the Year.

General manager, Opera Tavern

Salt Yard Group was set up in 2005 with the opening of Salt Yard in Fitzrovia. Eating out around Spain and Italy inspired the concept of a small, friendly restaurant serving dishes to share, alongside good wine and by staff who had a personal touch.
We are looking for an experienced charismatic General Manager who is confident managing and inspiring a large team. They should be operationally-minded and examine the business in detail.

Click here to read more
Head butcher, The Quality Chop House

The Quality Chop House Shop & Butcher is a butchers, food shop and cafe attached to QCH restaurant and Quality Wines wine bar. We are a big hospitality family devoted to great food and produce. We are a small butchery department and looking for someone to head it up - either a butcher or a chef looking to make the move across. A fantastic challenge for someone who loves meat and wants a move out of restaurant kitchens.

Click here to read more
New site opening - all roles, Frank's Café

Fancy nabbing yourself the best summer job in London? Frank’s Café is a rooftop bar and restaurant in Peckham, recruiting for supervisors, bar staff, bar support and floor staff to join us for the 2019. Full time and part time roles are available. Experience is preferred but not necessary as full training is provided on the job. 

Click here to read more

To Claridge’s on Monday for dinner to celebrate the special food issue of the hotel's magazine. Executive chef Martyn Nail served his now-infamous lobster wellington to guests including Marcus Wareing, Fay Maschler, Tom Parker Bowles, Ewan Venters and Clerkenwell Boy.

At the GQ Food & Drink Awards, the real action happened on the street outside when there was a ‘car off’ between Tom Sellers and Jason Atherton who both arrived in brand new Rolls Royces. The Dumbwaiter arrived on foot.

Naming a restaurant requires some thought as does naming a group. It turns out Woodhead Restaurant Group, who own Quality Chop House, Portland, Clipstone and the recently opened Emilia in Mayfair, was named after co-founders Will Lander and Dan Morgenthau’s favourite teacher at the school they both went to. Mr Woodhead no doubt enjoys receiving more than an apple from his two former students.

Many chefs raise money for charity but Paul Ainsworth is as big a hitter with this as he is with food, raising more than £43,000 for Pancreatic Cancer UK by running the London Marathon. Congratulations, chef!

To remember Reg Gadney, husband to Fay Maschler and one of London’s favourite restaurant guests, there was a lovely gathering in Fitzrovia, at which the Guinea Grill, Homeslice and Veeraswamy provided the refreshments to many of the capital’s biggest food names. CODE toasts Reg with a negroni (his favourite).

From Waterloo to Wilton Road. Here are the Dumbwaiter's Best Bites of the Week.

 

restaurant of the week
Le Relais de Venise L'Entrecote Soho
bar of the week
Spiritland Royal Festival Hall

Copyright © Nexus CODE Ltd 2019
The CODE Bulletin is published by Nexus CODE Ltd
CODE ® is a registered trade mark of Nexus CODE Ltd