Monday Bulletin: Berenjak | 100 Best Local Restaurants | Trèsind

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

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GOOD FOOD GUIDE’S 100 BEST LOCAL RESTAURANTS 2026

CODE’s sister publication Good Food Guide is on the hunt for the country’s 100 Best Local Restaurants 2026, in partnership with Square. This is your chance to shine a light on those neighbourhood gems that deserve recognition and to champion the hard-working independents at the beating heart of their communities. These awards reward the unsung heroes of the restaurant landscape, the city dining rooms, cosy bistros and rural hideaways that we return to again and again and again. Previous winners have included last year’s overall winner, The Lucky Lychee, in Winchester; regional winners Counter Culture in Newquay and Long Friday in Newcastle; as well as 2024’s overall winner Bavette Bistro (no doubt still buzzing from a five-star review from Camilla Long in The Times last week). Who do you think deserves to win this year? Nominate your favourite here.

TRÈSIND

Trèsind, the three Michelin star Indian restaurant in Dubai, opens its London outpost in Mayfair this spring. There will be a chaat trolley. The name, by the way, is a portmanteau of the French ‘très’ (very) and ‘ind’ (Indian).

MONDO SANDO

Peckham purveyors of cult sandwiches, Mondo Sando, are opening a second site, MONDO TO GO, in Deptford on April 10. The new concept will be grab and go, with space for 50 al fresco. Don’t miss the legendary Mondo Frango (pictured).

BERENJAK

Berenjak, now with ten restaurants worldwide, will open its third and largest London location in Mayfair, on Nowruz, 20 March, the first day of the Persian New Year. An extended menu will include over 20 new dishes from across Iran.

• A few changes at Honey & Co: Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich will close their deli Honey & Spice at the end of its lease, and reimagine their grill Honey & Smoke as a wine bar, deli and dining room this spring.
  
• Senza Fonda – of bottomless lasagne fame – are launching a new all-day restaurant and deli concept, Senza Fondeli, in Tunbridge Wells.
  
• Launching soon: CODE’s Happiest Places to Work 2026, in partnership with Planday. Pre-register now ahead of applications officially opening on 30 March.
  
• Athens’ Taverna Ermou is on its way to London. Greek hospitality group ERGON launches the 120-cover seafood restaurant in Marylebone in late March.
  
• Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park is closing its doors. You have until January 2027 to try the meat fruit.
  
• The Wolseley is heading for the Big Apple. Minor Hotels will debut the brand’s first hotel near Times Square in early 2027.
  
• Max Coen, head chef at Dorian, is handing over the pass to his senior chefs on Sundays now so they can serve dishes of their own creation. Recent specials have included bavette steak with blood orange yoghurt and tacos by junior sous Jake Mills.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

A guide to Manchester’s slam-dunk sandwich scene: The Good Food Guide

Magic Mushrooms: The World of Interiors

The Noma affair will leave a very nasty taste in the mouth: Jay Rayner, Financial Times

On parenting in hospitality: Botivo’s Imme Ermgassen and Mam Sham’s Rhiannon Butler: CODE

“The most fabulous hoot”: William Sitwell reviews Simpson’s in the Strand, London: The Telegraph

THE DUMBWAITER

To Simpson’s in the Strand for a ‘Press and Peers’ dinner last Monday, where The River Cafe’s Ruth Rogers and hotelier André Balazs proposed a toast to restaurateur Jeremy King. Peerless.

Hot Dinners’ annual party to celebrate its Murphia list was great craic by all accounts. In attendance, The Devonshire’s Oisín Rogers, chef Patrick Powell and MasterChef judge Anna Haugh. Trompe l’œil packs of Kerrygold butter – actually ice cream bars by Chin Chin Labs – stole the show.

Lily Allen’s tour took her to Manchester last week, where she took time out of her schedule for a meal at Erst.