Monday Bulletin: Bistro Cocotte | Dumbo | Dalla

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

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BISTRO COCOTTE

Heading to Kingly Court, Soho, in late 2026: Bistro Cocotte, a modern French bistro and wine bar. It will trade seven days a week, with a Burgundy-focused wine list and a 45-minute prix-fixe among its attractions. More than that, it will be the flagship of Maisons Vivantes, the new collective of chef-led restaurants founded by Romain Bourrillon of rotisserie group Cocotte. The portfolio already includes five Cocotte restaurants, two Jusu Brothers cafés and Italian restaurant Casa Felicia, co-founded by Bourrillon with Francesco Sarvonio, one of CODE’s 30 under 30, Class of 2026. Next to join the stable are two concepts from former Kiln head chef Karla Knowles: her first permanent project, a fire-led Thai-inspired restaurant at 61 Charterhouse Street in Farringdon opening this autumn, followed by AREE in Notting Hill in early 2027. Get ready to hear a lot more from Maisons Vivantes.

LENNY’S

Lenny’s, Max Lewis’s New Haven-style ‘apizza’ spot, previously in residence at the Bedford Tavern in Finsbury Park, has a new home. It will open in partnership with MJMK Restaurants this autumn in Covent Garden. The signature ‘Lenny’, pictured, is not to be missed.

DUMBO

Parisian smashburger slingers Dumbo, now well established in Shoreditch, have signed on a second London site, this time in Soho. The 550 sq ft restaurant will open on Berwick Street (on the former Tommi’s Burger Joint site) this September.

CORDELIA’S MAYFAIR

Cordelia’s Mayfair takes over the old L’Atelier Robuchon site on 26 August. Head chef Jordi Sebastianelli (ex-Le Petit Beefbar) will tend the grill, cooking dry-aged steaks from Galician, Italian, Finnish and British rare-breed cattle. Expect cocktails, DJs and late-night energy.

• The booking lines are now open for ATLAS James and Maria Close at Rockliffe in County Durham, launching 9 September. Menus from £190.

• Local seafood cooked over fire on a private island? Yes please! The Greyhound Pettistree’s annual seafood lunch is back, this time over two days, in the old oyster packing shed on Marsh Island off West Mersea, on September 4 and 5. Tickets, £175.

• Don’t dilly-dally. Get down to Dalla in Hackney, where they’re offering a new Friday lunch at £28 for two courses such as frittatina and nettle cappellacci.

• Fat Macy’s, the social enterprise tackling homelessness through hospitality training, is looking for experienced hospo pros and recruiters to help with mock interviews on its Employment Day in Shoreditch on 21 September. Email here to register your interest.

• Now open in Islington: SANE, a dedicated sake and wine bar from sommelier Maxime Maiano.

• Josh Katz has shuttered Berber and Q in Haggerston after 11 years. Its railway arch home, however, remains open for collabs, feasts and events.

• Steve Drake has called time on his Michelin star restaurant Sorrel in Dorking after nine years.

• Andrew Sheridan’s Open Restaurant Group has acquired Hispi from Gary Usher’s Elite Bistros. The Didsbury restaurant will relaunch on 28 August as Arcadian, a live-fire restaurant.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

• Where to eat in Whitstable: Good Food Guide

• The chef who invented the modern Chinese restaurant: Vittles

• A first taste of Florence Knight’s new restaurant, Lunette: HTSI

• “One of the dining highlights of 2026” – Chez Rose restaurant review: The Guardian

THE DUMBWAITER

Malmö Dockteater was at the newly opened Yard Theatre in Hackney Wick last week with its X-rated show based on Jackie Collins bonkbuster, The World is Full of Married Men, performed by souped up Barbie dolls (only in Hackney Wick… ) Keen-eyed restaurant-watchers will have enjoyed the cameo appearance by a dolls’ house-size approximation of Quo Vadis in its swinging sixties era.

Toklas’s terrace drew a chic crowd last Monday for part two of The Goal is to Eat’s series asking “Where are the women restaurateurs?”, with Sally Abé, Songsoo Kim and Cynthia Shanmugalingam in attendance. (Nick Cave, dining next door in the restaurant, missed out on snaffling a coveted TGITE pen.)

Ravneet Gill’s Chingford restaurant Gina celebrated its first birthday last week with a cake fitted with an actual custard tap. More custard taps please!