Monday Bulletin: Sam’s Riverside fights for winter terrace and a new croqueta bar comes to Soho

Catch up on the latest industry news stories of the week from the CODE Bulletin

Camisa

Soho’s legendary Italian deli i Camisa & Son will close at the end of the year unless a buyer is found. Camisa first opened on Berwick Street in 1929 and has been trading on Old Compton Street since the ‘50s. Launched by two Camisa brothers, the family sold the shop to the Italian importer Alivini in 2014. Gianni Segatta, one of the directors at Alivini, told CODE that the business has been losing money for years and continuing to operate would be ‘impossible’.
Full story on CODE.

Bar Kroketa

The Spanish restaurant group Brindisa will launch a croqueta-focused spin-off on Beak Street later this month. Bar Kroketa will serve a menu of playful and inventive croquetas, with combinations such as sobrasada and goat’s curd with honey; blue cheese and crushed walnuts; prawn and leek with prawn head alioli; salt cod and txakoli verjus; girolles with pine and shaved idiazabal; and Jamón with lardo and migas. Snacks such as crab toasties, cheese taquitos, and gildas – of course – will also be available. And an ‘affordable’ wine list alongisde sherry, vermút and sidra suggests this opening will prove to be an extremely good idea.

Small Plates

• The ‘premium casual’ Nikkei restaurant Nakanojo is opening its second London site in early 2023. Situated on Thayer Street in Marylebone, the launch is part of the brand’s continued expansion plan, with more locations in the capital planned for next year.
   
• Another Nikkei restaurant confirms the Japanese-Peruvian dining trend in London. Also upcoming is Contigo, a more upmarket proposition due to launch in the former Strand Dining Rooms early next year. Founder Keith Dube said he wants Contigo to be an ‘unexpected discovery in the heart of London’. 
   
• Robbie Lorraine, chef-patron and founder of Only Food and Courses, has announced his first permanent restaurant. Lorraine previously operated in a 30ft steel container in Pop Brixton but will be moving to the dining room above the Cheshire Cheese pub near the Strand this week.
   
• The much-loved Harrow spot The Red Cup Café has closed after seven years. Owners Henal and Reena Chotai blamed a rise in rent and energy bills and said the decision was ‘soul destroying’ and ‘devastating’.
   
• The brilliant Herne Hill restaurant Llewelyn’s has opened a ‘little sister’ next door. In charge is Lasse Petersen, formerly of Copenhagen’s Amass, and on the menu are dishes such as devilled eggs and trout roe; beef tartare with pickled artichokes; and Parisian gnocchi with mushrooms and truffle. There will be lunch time salads and sandwiches too.
  
  
• In northeast London, meanwhile, Sager + Wilde has opened a wine shop and coffee shop called Equal Parts on Hackney Road. The site is destined to be a bar – small plates, too, probably – next year, as soon as the business gets its license. 
  
  
• Alex Webb, who won MasterChef: The Professionals in 2020, has made his Mayfair pop-up permanent. The chef has been cooking at Number One Park Lane for the past eight months, first taking over the terrace and then a space inside.
  

Barletta

The Margate restaurant Barletta will close after the business fell victim to fraudulent activity that saw it lose £50,000. A crowdfund for Barletta, a popular modern European restaurant currently housed at the Turner Contemporary gallery on the seafront, was set up in mid-November after its owners were unable to recoup the money. Sadly, it appears too little money was raised. Natalia Ribbe and Jackson Berg said they had sent ‘numerous pleas’ to the bank after losing £50,000 to a fraudster, but reports have said it is looking ‘increasingly unlikely’ the money will be returned. Ribbe told CODE she is resigned to the closure but will continue to pursue the money. She will also concentrate on her wine bar, Sète, also in the seaside town, which will open as a small plates restaurant in the new year. More here.

Jane Swift

Jane Swift has been announced as the permanent CEO of Borough Market. Swift was made temporary CEO by the market’s Board of Trustees last year after working for the Trussell Trust, the Workers Education Association, and the Landscape Institute. She said of the appointment: ‘Borough Market is a community that makes me so proud. It brings together amazing food from around the world by traders who are the very essence of creativity, diversity and commitment to what we do. This iconic London destination is run by a fantastic team who are so committed to making the Market the very best it can be. I am looking forward to continuing to play my part in the Market’s continued success.’

Sam Harrison

Sam Harrison of Sam’s Riverside in Hammersmith has spoken out after the local council forced him to close his outdoor terrace. He said the decision left his staff ‘in tears’ and said the business will miss out on up to £15,000 of trade every week. Reports said a small number of local residents petitioned the council to have the 32-cover terrace removed. Harrison told The Caterer: ‘People are properly worried about this winter. The sad thing is I don’t think the council [is]. We should be doing everything within reason to allow businesses to trade. People have not recovered from lockdown and if anything, it’s getting worse. It is already the hardest trading I have ever known, and this will push my business and myself to the edge.’

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