Monday Bulletin: Spiritland | Elezar | Trindle Stores
Published 12 October 2026
Catch up on the latest industry news stories of the week from the CODE Bulletin.
To get the CODE Bulletin direct to your inbox every Monday morning sign up here.
Let us know your news to potentially be featured in the CODE Bulletin or Good Food Guide Weekly newsletters, as well as across CODE and Good Food Guide social platforms.
ELEZAR
A new take on a time-honoured concept: Mikhail ‘Misha’ Zelman’s “Eastern European chophouse” will open in the crypt of St George’s Church, Hanover Square, Mayfair, on 2 November. At Elezar, Zelman (Burger & Lobster, Beast, Goodman) will draw on his own heritage and that of his team, with Ukrainian and Polish influences from head chef Erik Miotto (ex-Cycene and Akoko) and consulting chef David Bury respectively. A meal will begin with zakuski (appetisers), including rye bread with slices of butter and caviar, herring or pork cheek, best enjoyed with a shot of vodka, ahead of signature pierogi and cuts of fish and meat butchered in-house, and sides of sauerkraut, Hasselback potatoes and tomato salad. Unusually, all mains will be priced at £28, allowing guests to choose by preference, not price. Cocktails will be ‘vodka-heavy’, featuring curiosities from across Eastern Europe, and wines from “the Balkans to Burgundy”. Mikhail Zelman says: “I want Elezar to become a restaurant guests are proud to return to and recommend, with my own heritage and my team’s at the very core of everything we do.”
CAFÉ EIGHTY-ONE
Jaguar is positioning its new Knightsbridge flagship as a modern luxury destination not a traditional showroom. At its heart, a café in partnership with chef Michael O’Hare; a line-up of tastings and cultural collaborations; and a new take on afternoon tea.& Bird) for its fourth site. It will open as The Magpie in early 2027.
TRINDLE STORES
Abbie Hendren, ex-Teal by Sally Abé, has joined Trindle Stores in Kew as head chef, where she’ll be cooking devilled crab crumpets and fig tarts using produce from Chiswick House Kitchen Garden. It’s daytime-only from 16 October; dinners commence in February.
SPIRITLAND
Spiritland, ten years old this year, has partnered with the Barbican on a new listening bar to open on 20 October. Expect an eclectic programme of cocktails, talks, tastings and album playbacks, plus an “outrageously high-end sound system” by Living Voice.
Edinburgh chef Roberta Hall McCarron is cooking a series of ‘Magic Dinners’ in support of Magic Breakfast, in collaboration with female chefs including Amber Francis, Julie Lin and Flora Phillips. First up, Higher Ground’s Rosie Maguire at Eleanore on 27 October.
Margate Restaurant Week is back for its winter edition from 2-6 November, with participating restaurants offering a three-course menu for £20.26. Angela’s and Sète are among those taking part.
Angel Zapata Martin, previously of Barrafina, has joined Brindisa Tapas as its new chef director.
Luke Maynard, former head chef at Rovi and The Portrait Restaurant, has been named group head chef across all four Sam’s – Riverside, Waterside, Kitchen and Larder – in West London.
Registration is now underway for Good Food Guide’s Restaurant Month 2027 supported by Botivo, running from 11 January to 11 February. Join up here.
Ruth Hansom, chef owner of Hansom Restaurant in Bedale, has been crowned UK National Chef of the Year by the Craft Guild of Chefs.
Rochelle Canteen will run a seasonal outpost at Twenty8 NoMad at NoMad London in Covent Garden from 15 October to 15 January. The opening menu includes pumpkin and sage soup and chicken, leek and cider pie. Cosy!
A few spots remain for the next edition of CODE Founder Series 2026, in partnership with Toast, on 19 October, when Knife & Fork founder Adam Hyman will be in conversation with Tom Ford’s former right-hand woman, Whitney Bromberg Hawkings of FLOWERBX. Register your interest here.
WHAT WE’RE READING
THE DUMBWAITER
The ashtray amnesty at Quaglino’s is going well. Sort of. While approximately 29,900 of the 1990s collectors’ items remain unaccounted for, 100 have been returned to the restaurant in exchange for a £110 bottle of Laurent-Perrier. Seems some enterprising individuals are picking them up on eBay for £65.
Has it come to this? A restaurant in Hudson, New York, took to social media this week to ask: “Why do you all hate us” / “Come through” / “We want to stay open OKRRR”.
Olivia Wilde and Jennifer Aniston were spotted dining at The Hart in Marylebone last Friday night. While over in Chelsea, Noel Gallagher had dinner at Martino’s.
And finally, happy birthday to designer Martino Gamper’s colourful, stackable, upturnable “Arnold Circus Stool“, a modern classic found at coffee shops everywhere, which celebrates its 20th anniversary with a bash at Leila’s Shop in Shoreditch on 18 October.
