Monday Bulletin: Meedu Saad | Hawksmoor | Aji Akokomi

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

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HAWKSMOOR

Hawksmoor, the British steakhouse group which celebrates its 20th anniversary next year, has announced that it is to open a new restaurant in the Grade I-listed Gothic Revival St. Pancras London. Announcing the news in an email to customers, co-founders Will Beckett and Huw Gott said: “We’ve been waiting for the perfect location for our next London restaurant. Somewhere that feels iconic. Somewhere that stops you in your tracks.” The dining room at the St. Pancras London fits the description to a ‘t’. Previously home to Marcus Wareing’s The Gilbert Scott and, more recently, Victor Garvey at The Midland Grand, the new dining room will have 95 covers, a private dining room and a chef’s table. Even better, Hawksmoor is taking over the adjacent Gothic Bar which will become the Hawksmoor Martini Bar. Jay Rayner’s happy: “My little bolt hole of a bar is about to become a place of pilgrimage”. Tim Hayward’s happy: “The Gothic is right next to King’s Cross… the way I get home…I may never get home again.” Its success is surely assured. Opens late November.

AJI AKOKOMI X TATE MODERN

Restaurateur Aji Akokomi of West African restaurants Akoko and Akara has collaborated with Tate Modern on an exclusive menu for the gallery’s landmark Nigerian Modernism exhibition this year. Here’s what to see and what to eat.

IMPALA

Former Kiln chef Meedu Saad will open his debut restaurant Impala in Soho next spring. Part of the Super 8 stable (Brat etc), Impala will focus on charcoal grill cooking inspired by the places that have shaped Saad from Egypt to North London.

SALE E PEPE MARE

Thesleff Group, one of CODE’S Happiest Places To Work 2025, is putting a coastal spin on its Italian restaurant Sale e Pepe. Next month, the group will debut a new seafood concept Sale e Pepe Mare at the five-star Langham London.

• LOR (Ladies of Restaurants) founded by CODE’s Woman of the Year Natalia Ribbe is going on tour, hitting Dublin on 20 Oct, Cardiff on 27 Oct, and Manchester on 25 Nov.
  
  
• Well Grounded, the social enterprise connecting the unemployed with careers in coffee, is launching a Leeds academy. Free spots at the 23 October launch here.
  
  
• Forza Wine has confirmed it will open a location in Soho. It moves into the former Daroco space on Manette Street in February 2026.
  
  
• The team behind Goodbye Horses and cult ice cream bar The Dreamery are opening a wine bar and shop in Islington in December.
  
  
• Silo, Douglas McMaster’s pioneering zero waste restaurant in Hackney Wick, is closing its doors. Time to book in before Dec 20 when it heads off on a world tour.
  
  
• Chef Aaron Potter and interior stylist Laura Hart have opened Bar Flor, a Basque wine and pintxos bar above their restaurant Wildflowers in SW1.
  
  
• Heath Bakery in Hackney Wick, one of Britain’s Best Bakeries 2025, is running a series of alternative grain workshops for food industry professionals. Details here.
  
  
• Reminder: the deadline for CODE’s 30 Under 30 is looming. You have until 15 October to nominate yourself or a friend or a colleague here.
  
  

WHAT WE’RE READING

A first look at Franc: a new jewel in chain-ridden Canterbury: The Good Food Guide

Inside dive bar All My Gods: Class

My cooking rules: Adam Byatt’s Substack

There’s one week left to save one of London’s best restaurants: Vittles

THE DUMBWAITER

The long lunch is back. Quite literally at Motorino, Stevie Parle and Luke Ahearne’s soon-to-open Fitzrovia restaurant, where a near 20-metre-long table was set for a preview lunch last week. Among the guests feasting on Cornish sardines and Orkney scallops were Irving Welsh and Professor Green.

One for the messy eaters (and their friends): Lisa Allen is giving out bibs for diners who order the chicken Kyiv at her new restaurant Rosi at The Beaumont Mayfair. Early reports, however, suggest Allen is so generous with the garlic butter it’s actually the person sitting opposite who should don the bib.

Richard E. Grant, fresh from his Paris Fashion Week catwalk appearance for Miu Miu, attended Jeremy King’s book launch at Simpson’s in the Strand on Monday night. Other guests included Nick Jones, Ruthie Rogers and Chris Corbin who all raised a glass of Moët to King and his book, Without Reservation: Lessons from a Life in Restaurants.