Monday Bulletin: Roti King | FKABAM | Simpson’s Tavern

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CLOTH CORNHILL

The trio of founders behind Cloth in Farringdon are to revive City of London institution Simpson’s Tavern. The Grade II-listed chop house, dating back to 1757 and once frequented by the likes of Thackeray and Dickens, will reopen in mid-2026 under a new name: Cloth Cornhill, adopted for legal reasons. The site has stood empty since 2022. New custodians Joe Haynes, Ben Butterworth, and Tom Hurst promise to honour the building’s historic character, retaining wood-panelled walls, bow windows, brass rails, fireplaces and high-back booths, alongside a menu in keeping with Simpson’s tradition (described by Giles Coren as so old-school ‘it lacked only a mortarboard and inkwell’). Wine will be a focus, with much of the list drawn from the founders’ own portfolio. “We are very excited to be taking on the stewardship of this beloved institution,” says the Cloth team. “We feel extremely privileged to bring it back to life.”

ROTI KING

Roti King, the cult Malaysian roti shop founded by the roti king himself, Sugen Gopal, is heading north of the border for its sixth site. Its legendary roti canai will be available from its new Princes Street home in Edinburgh from 12 December.

FKABAM

Lee and Kate Tiernan, the duo behind Highbury one-off FKABAM, have announced that they will mark their restaurant’s 10th anniversary by ‘hitting pause’. Last service, for now, will be December 20. Plans for a pop-up are tba.

BROWN’S OF LEITH

Brown’s of Leith, a new food and arts space in an old steelworks in Edinburgh, opens on 27 November. Four F&B businesses are moving in: Haze, a café-bar by Timberyard; seafood bar Shuck; pizzeria Civerino’s; and whisky bar Woven.

• Seven Dials Market is slashing its prices at 1pm on 20 November for one hour only. The rock bottom prices – NYC slices for 71p, cacio e pepe for £1.50 – represent the price the vendor’s take home after overheads, VAT and taxes. London On The Inside is behind the campaign.
  
  
• Fin and Lorcan Spiteri have left Caravel and Studio Kitchen ‘due to circumstances out of their control’. But there will be something new from the brothers in early 2026.
  
  
• Scotland is to get its first dedicated cookbook shop in Edinburgh. Founders Martyn and Liz Bryson are crowdfunding ahead of The Cookbook Shop’s early 2026 launch.
  
  
• Newcastle ceramics studio and Middle Eastern restaurant Kiln has a new look. Check it out over shakshuka and chicken joojeh skewers on hand thrown plates.
  
  
• Taking up residence on the Dalston strip this December, new Italian restaurant Hoax and basement bar TDYK (‘The Devil You Know’). Truffle martinis by co-founder Simone Crepaldi (ex-Callooh Callay).
  
  
• Fred Bakery in Holborn is opening a second site. Find its signature chocolate macaronados and iced tiramisu lattes at Oxford Circus from mid-December.
  
  
• Maggie Jones, the Kensington institution opened in 1964 and frequented by the late Princess Margaret, has reopened following a kitchen fire two years ago.
  
  

WHAT WE’RE READING

Folkestone’s Nepalese Cuisine: The Good Food Guide

In Conversation: Jenny Lau and Cynthia Shanmugalingam: CODE

Crisp Pizza, London’s social media sensation heads to Mayfair: HTSI

Chef Isaac McHale on a Plate: Smashed

THE DUMBWAITER

Not since the open audition for Hamilton has there been this much excitement around a new West End production: Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, opening February 2026, is recruiting for the starring roles of carvers and head gueridon. Don’t throw away your shot.

A-listers love to be treated like normies, so they’d do well to head to the new Poon’s at Somerset House. Its proprietor Amy – though raised around celebs including Mick Jagger and Barbra Streisand at her family’s original Poon’s – remains blissfully ignorant of today’s names. As she told the Observer, she once taught Too Much and White Lotus star Will Sharpe Latin having no clue he was famous.

Scorpio szn is in full swing. F1 driver Lando Norris roared into town to celebrate his birthday at Nela at The Whiteley in Bayswater, while Emma Raducanu swung in to spend hers at Cambio de Tercio in Kensington.

All eyes are on Sloane Square right now. Ralph Lauren has a Christmas pop-up bar in the Chelsea square and there’s an even more exciting announcement coming very, very soon too… To Tomos Parry’s 40th birthday party on Saturday night at 180 Studios where Margot Henderson, Denise Harris and Angela Hartnett showed us all how it was done on the dance floor. As for Parry’s secret to looking so youthful at 40, the Dumbwaiter can only ascribe it to all that turbot.