Monday Bulletin: Cantoast | Happiest Places to Work | Quality Wines

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

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CODE HAPPIEST PLACES TO WORK 2026

Hospitality workplace practices have been in the headlines a lot of late, following The New York Times investigation into allegations of historic physical and psychological abuse at Noma. While the stories were horrifying, it matters that they’re out there, and that the subject of kitchen culture is front and centre. Here at CODE, we’ve been talking about it for a long time, first through our Happiness in Hospitality surveys and, more recently, through our annual Happiest Places to Work awards, which spotlight hospitality employers leading the way in staff welfare, training and career development. Happiest Places to Work 2026, in partnership with Planday, launches officially next week, with pre-registration now open. So, if you work somewhere with a people-first approach that you would like to shout about, get the ball rolling and sign up your business today. We want to hear from you.

LADY OF THE GRAPES

The Covent Garden wine bar known for championing female winemakers is to open a French bistro and speakeasy bar at Menier Chocolate Factory in London Bridge this May. It will have 400+ references on the wine list. Head chef is Matyáš Plzák.

CAFE JIKONI

Café Jikoni, a 120-cover café and restaurant from Jikoni’s Ravinder Bhogal and Nadeem Lalani Nanjuwany, will arrive at V&A East Museum, Stratford on April 18. The menu sounds enticing: think Bombay sandwiches and macaroni dhal.

CANTOAST BAKERY

Cantoast Bakery, the Hong Kong French toast pop-up created by Haydon Wong, one of CODE’s 30 under 30, Class of 2026, and Natalie Tj, has found a home for the next six months. Head to Marylebone for Korean-style salt breads, fluffy shokupan toasts and more. Launches early April.

• The first ever World Hanky Panky Day, spearheaded by Celebrate Her, takes place this Wednesday 25 March. Participating bars include newcomer Cato and The Savoy’s American Bar, where Ada Coleman invented the classic cocktail in the early 1900s.

• Registration is now open for Restaurants Feed London, The Felix Project’s annual £1-on-bills campaign to fight food poverty. Sign up here.

• A fun new concept in the City of London: The Horsemen and Fitzgerald’s, an American Irish freehouse and jockey club-inspired dining room at No.1 Broadgate. Opens 7 April.

• Hackney Iranian-Iraqi café Logma, famed across London for its kofta sandwich, will open on Wednesday evenings for ‘Logma Lates’ from April.

• Auguste, a new neighbourhood Italian from chef Mike Bagnall and Dylan Walters opens on the old Papi site in London Fields on 1 April. Abruzzese wine and food including skewers of cull yaw, liver and wild boar will be the focus.

• Quality Wines’ Sunday Series is back and the line-up is stellar. The first event with Anna Ansari is on 26 April, with reservations opening on 26 March at 9am sharp. Rahel Stephanie, Max Rocha and others to follow.

• Fresh pasta restaurant Bancone opens its fifth and largest site in the City on 22 April.
  There will be new dishes including raviolo carbonara.

• Two sad closures to report: The Silver Birch in Chiswick has shut after five years; while Jason Atherton’s Little Social in Mayfair will close on 11 April after 13 years.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

Breaking Bread: Jeremy Lee on the joy of a proper British loaf: Good Food Guide

“AI can’t tell you the best vintages of Pavillon Blanc over 100 years”: CODE

Manchester’s food scene isn’t fun anymore: The Mill

Osteria Vibrato, London W1: “Worth singing loudly about”: The Guardian

THE DUMBWAITER

The restaurant PR’s dilemma: whether to go for press shots of the team all in matching chore jackets (borrrring!) or in clown make-up? Credit to the team behind Auguste in London Fields for choosing the latter. File under ‘only in Hackney’… There’s method to their madness; the restaurant’s name is inspired by the melancholic figure in Soir Bleu, a painting by Edward Hopper.

This season’s chicest accessory: napkins with buttonholes to protect your Turnbull & Asser shirt, as seen at Simpson’s in the Strand.

And they’re off – the spring cookbook publicity race is underway. Breaking from the pack, The River Cafe’s Ruthie Rogers, whose pal Jake Gyllenhaal shared her new book Table 4 at The River Cafe with his 9m social media followers. What hope is there for the rest of us.

Spotted at Half Cut Market last week: Gracie Abrams, minus her handsome swain Paul Mescal, who has, however, been to the York Way Riviera hang out before.

Sally Abé’s debut restaurant Teal by Sally Abé in East London only officially launches on 27 March but she’s already welcomed her first guest – Tinie Tempah – and posed for a selfie to prove it.