Monday Bulletin: Stevie Parle’s new restaurant & Thomas Straker’s opening in NY

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

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Thomas Straker

Thomas Straker is opening a restaurant in New York. He’ll be taking over the storied SoHo address of what was, for over thirty years, the home of legendary restaurateur Keith McNally’s French-inspired bistro Lucky Strike. McNally closed Lucky Strike at the start of the pandemic in April 2020. Straker quietly announced “our new home in NYC” on Instagram late last week, adding: “Can’t wait to get this space open and vibes rocking”. He has yet to reveal further details of the restaurant but the expectation is it will be a branch of Straker’s, the chef’s first restaurant on Golborne Road in Notting Hill. Thanks to his combined five million followers on Instagram and TikTok, Straker’s reputation precedes him in New York, though Eater New York ran the news (“The most famous chef in London right now is opening a Manhattan restaurant”) with a helpful recap of the reasons for his virality, from “princess-dating” to butter recipes to that fateful “chef team assembled” Instagram post. Straker’s takeover of the Lucky Strike site feels topical, given the forthcoming publication of Keith McNally’s memoir I Regret Almost Everything (see ‘What We’re Reading’ below). New York must still have a thing about Brits.

Town

Stevie Parle is opening his “biggest, most ambitious project” to date next month, in the form of Town, a new restaurant on Drury Lane. The restaurant aims to pioneer a new model of supply chain relationship with growers and farmers by investing in and growing alongside them. Town will be the first restaurant to list grass-fed beef from Wildfarmed, the regenerative farming business best known for its wheat and bread. Parle is joined at Town by a team that includes executive chef Olly Pierrepont (Luca, La Trompette) and head chef Andy Bright (Kerridge’s Bar and Grill, Fera). Satan’s Whiskers’ Kevin Armstrong is behind the cocktail list. “Ingredient-first” dishes will include the likes of day boat crudo, tomato water, and Todoli grapefruit, and wood-grilled hogget with Chianti and anchovy butter. Parle currently has one other London restaurant, Pastaio in Soho; his other restaurants Sardine, Palatino, and Craft London, having all closed during the pandemic. Town opens 12 May.

Small Plates

• Chefs! Want to be on the telly? TV production company Two Four is scouting for ambitious young chefs for a reality TV show, filming in Barcelona in July. Email summerkitchen@twofour.co.uk to register your interest.
   
• Cult smashburger brand Supernova has a second site incoming. A new Mayfair location will open this summer on the former Saltie Girl site on North Audley Street. The original Soho site opened in September 2023 to queues of an hour plus.
   
• Congratulations Craig Johnston, the first chef to win the double: The Roux Scholarship and MasterChef:The Professionals. Johnson, head chef at The Angler at South Place Hotel London, triumphed in The Roux Scholarship finals last week. His MasterChef win was in 2017.
  
  
• In a city in thrall to newness, it’s something different to welcome Songhelou, a 250-year-old concept from China, which has now opened its first overseas restaurant in Chinatown, London. Songhelou specialises in Suzhou-style noodles.
  
  
• Big news from Big Mamma. Not only has the hospitality group reported a record £44m turnover for 2024, it has also announced its seventh UK site, opening in Canary Wharf in June 2025. Barbarella will be a “retro, wild and jungle-themed city pad.”
  
  
• Tom Kemble (The Pass, Bonhams, Fäviken) has turned his attention to the art of pizza-making. He’ll launch his New York-style Spring Street Pizza in Borough in June. Expect 18″ pizzas, dips, and soft serve gelato.
  
  
• Moto Priestman of London-based okonimiyaki and izakaya group Okan has launched a new concept Oton at Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross, with former Dinings sous Takuma Shoji. On the menu: unagi and tamago don and ikura onigiri.
  
  
• Fhior in Edinburgh will close on 1 June after seven years. Owner Scott Smith is launching a consultancy Blank Plate Creative. He says: “We’ve chosen to close on our own terms, with intention, and with the same care and integrity that defined every service.”