Monday Bulletin: Cassette | Sumi | Tasca

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

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CASSETTE

Mark Gurney and Matt Bushnall, founders of Levan and Bar Levan in Peckham, are heading into Zone 1 – Covent Garden, to be precise – for the opening of their second restaurant, Cassette. It will launch this autumn in a Grade II-listed former church furniture and stained-glass workshop on Maiden Lane dating back to the 1870s. The pair are proud Francophiles – witness their annual French Connection chef series at Levan– but Cassette will go further, drawing on the bars à vin, auberges and bistros they have discovered on their travels through France. The menu will centre on confident, contemporary Parisian-style cooking, with dishes including coq au vin jaune pie and grilled monkfish au poivre from head chef Essa Fakhry (Planque, Note in Dublin). Also joining the proejct, Madeleine Fawcett (Forza Wine) in the general manager role. As for the name, it’s a nod to Gurney and Bushnall’s love of music, which is set to be a big part of the restaurant’s identity.

SUMI

Creative Restaurant Group, led by MD, Milena Floyd, and culinary director, Endo Kazutoshi, have secured a second site for their successful Notting Hill sushi restaurant, SUMI. A launch date for the Devonshire Street, Marylebone location has yet to be announced.

TASCA

Sommelier Sinéad Murdoch and chef Josh Dallaway’s Iberian-inspired concept, Tasca, is back from its global travels. It resurfaces at Project 44 in Shoreditch on 22 July, where it will reside all summer (and possibly beyond), Wednesday to Sunday, evenings only.

NETTLE

Acre’s Will Devlin has revealed further details of his rooftop farm-to-table restaurant arriving at The Conduit in early September. Nettle will revolve around a bespoke fire kitchen where the likes of wild rabbit skewers and Kent lamb with house togarashi will be cooked over charcoal.

• The summer guest chef series at Elsa in Fitzrovia starts today with Lai Rai’s Binh Nguyen Jones. Jamaican pop-up Irie, Flora Phillips’ Floffal, Ruben’s Reubens, and Ben Slater to follow.

• Liam Nichols, who won a star at Store at Stoke Mill in Norwich, has picked up the keys to his debut solo restaurant. The Northwic is ‘coming soon’.

• Parade Hotel Bath opens across three Georgian townhouses in the UNESCO World Heritage City this September, promising 49 en-suite rooms, a courtyard spa, and a restaurant to follow by the end of the year.

• Still not made it to Dongnae in Bristol? Catch them at The Hero in Maida Vale where they’ll be cooking on 4 August for one night only. Tickets, £80.

• Chef Shaun Searley moves on from Quality Chop House next month ahead of opening a place of his own.

• The loss of a Soho institution hits hard: St Moritz closed last month after 66 years. Three streets over, 10 Greek Street is to close on 8 August after 14 years.

• Tributes poured in last week for Dom Taylor of the Good Front Room who has died aged just 44. Our thoughts are with his friends, family and colleagues.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

• 5 Dishes to try at Lai Rai: CODE

• Why Gen Z loves London’s extremely old restaurants: Time Out

• Good Food Guide’s 100 Best Local Restaurants 2026

• The case for skipping straight to dessert: FT Weekend

THE DUMBWAITER

Restaurateurs from up and down the UK descended on Theatre Royal Drury Lane last Monday for the announcement of Good Food Guide’s 100 Best Local Restaurants 2026. Naturally, they found time to eat out while they were in town. The hot ticket? Impala – the chosen destination of both the Wang’s and Ardfern crew..

Restaurant PR doyenne Gemma Bell celebrated her 50th birthday last week with a big bash at Toklas – chic! – with a VIP guest list including Fay Maschler, Claude and Lucy Bosi, Tim Hayward and Jess Shadbolt from King NYC.

Meanwhile, restaurateur Ablikim Rahman, owner of Uyghur restaurant Etles in Walthamstow, makes his big screen debut in AI docudrama, Synthetic Sincerity, in cinemas now.