Monday Bulletin: The return of the carvery and Ikoyi 2.0

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

A pub with an actual carvery

The latest pub from chef Ben Tish and the Cubitt House group, The Barley Mow, has opened, with Lara Rogers – daughter of a publican called Oisín, who you might have heard of – managing the site in her first GM role. The 19th century property, on Duke Street in Mayfair, has been meticulously refurbished, but remains every bit a traditional public house: real ales and well-priced wines are served alongside a menu of Scotch eggs; pulled beef fritters with anchovies; seasonal oysters; and sausage rolls. On the first floor is a restaurant with an open bar ‘showcasing a carvery’, as well as a sizeable cheese display. The food there is overseen by head chef Chris Fordham-Smith and will be ‘rooted in classics, cooked well and presented simply’. Soused mackerel, seafood salad, and pie and mash might well be highlights. Tish, chef director of the Cubitt House group, said he and the team have ‘taken inspiration from Britain, with a little bit of France. Super seasonal, using British produce as much as we can and where it’s best.’ Interiors have been designed by Georgie Pearman, who ‘wanted to maintain a pub feel’. Think wood panelling, banquettes, and the original 1800s back bar. 

King when you’re winning

A portrait of the restaurateur Jeremy King by artist Lucian Freud, who was a regular at the Wolseley, will be offered at auction at Sotheby’s on 15 October. The copper plate etching will become the first Freud piece to be offered at auction and is estimated to be valued at £250,000 to £350,000. And word is that King and the hotel group Minor have finally ‘buried the hatchet’ as far as their earlier dispute is concerned. When we contacted the tight-lipped King, he could not be persuaded to elucidate as to what he might do next. We know his ‘garden leave’ was due to end on 30 September so perhaps we’ll find out about his plans before the year is out…

Small plates (we hope you’re hungry)

• Ikoyi duo Jeremy Chan and Iré Hassan-Odukale have shared more information about moving their restaurant to 180 Strand: Ikoyi 2.0 will launch at the end of November, and they said the space has been designed to allow them ‘to fully express our interpretation of seasonality through bold heat and intensify the techniques we have worked on for the past five years.’

• The new St. John Marylebone has an opening date: 18 October. It will be an ‘all-day, wine-led space’, with food from head chef Fintan Sharp – all overseen by Fergus Henderson and Jonathan Woolway – served from midday onwards. On the menu? New dishes such as deep-fried Welsh rarebit, and a host of classics.

• TikTok star Thomas Straker will open his debut restaurant on 25 October. Located just off Portobello, Straker’s will bring an ‘ethos of food you want to eat into his first permanent restaurant’, an announcement said. The menu will feature grilled flatbreads topped with bone marrow and parsley, and turbot with chanterelles and chives.

• A new Club Mexicana, the vegan ‘Tex-Mex’-inspired street food concept from Meriel Armitage, will open in Spitalfields in November. Armitage started Club Mexicana as a Hackney-based supper club in 2014 and now operates a small place in Kingly Court. ‘I’m super excited about being able to just get back to slinging tacos,’ she said of her latest venture.

• We announced two fairly high-profile closures last week (on Twitter, because where else): Shoreditch seafood bar Goddard & Gibbs will close after just six months to make way for an events space; and Mr Ji in Soho has shut, though there is a new one opening in Camden his month. 

Pulperia

Chef Aktar Islam has closed his Pulperia steakhouse in Birmingham due to ‘rising costs’. Islam, who also owns the highly acclaimed Opheem in the city, said it would be too difficult to maintain standards without further raising prices. He said: ‘Pulperia has been one hell of a journey – we barely opened just before lockdown and then was shut for the best part of a year. With the current climate we simply cannot operate at the standard we want without outpricing our customers. Consumer habits have changed, and we feel we’ve come to the end of our journey. The team has been nothing short of amazing.’

The Lamb Tavern

The chef Nathan Richardson, formerly of The Guinea Grill, has opened The Lamb Tavern in Buckland, Oxfordshire. Richardson and his former supper club partner Phil White have restored the pub and will be serving a menu full of ‘British classics’. Think battered hake and chips; beef and bacon suet pastry pie and mash; and treacle tart. On the bar, a rotating menu of ‘five good things’, with fried haggis and Welsh rarebit among them. 

Ayo Adeyemi

Ayo Adeyemi has been appointed executive chef at Akoko in Fitzrovia, replacing Theo Clench who left to launch his own restaurant, Cycene. Adeyemi has worked around the world, including at Taj Campton Place in San Francisco, and the Fat Duck in Bray. The chef said he will ‘lean into his West African heritage’ at Akoko, with a menu featuring dishes such as waina, a fermented rice snack served with Oscietra caviar, and otoro, a tuna croustade with scotch bonnet kani. ‘I am delighted to join Akoko and use my experience to bring the ingredients and dishes, which represent my heritage and childhood memories, to the global stage.’

Des Gunewardena

The co-founder of D&D London, Des Gunewardena, is leaving the restaurant group after 16 years. He plans to pursue other ventures. D&D has appointed its co-founder, COO, and deputy chairman David Loewi as interim CEO. Loewi and Gunewardena started the group in 2006, having met and worked together at Conran Restaurants. During Gunewardena’s tenure as CEO, D&D London has expanded to own and operate more than 40 restaurants across the UK and internationally, including London’s Le Pont de la Tour and Coq d’Argent. Read more here.

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