Monday Bulletin: Turn Up Truck | Bubala | Clementine

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

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BUBALA

Bubala, winner of CODE Hospitality’s Happiest Places to Work 2025, is heading to Covent Garden this September for its fourth London location, following Spitalfields, Soho, and King’s Cross. The new site, within a Grade II-listed building on Garrick Street (formerly Lima Cantina), will be Bubala’s biggest and most ambitious site to date, with 92 covers across two floors, and a further 30 al fresco. It will serve all the vegetarian Middle Eastern favourites for which it is known such as halloumi with camomile and fennel honey and crispy confit latkes with toum, as well as the famous “Bubala Knows Best” set menu (recently reduced by close to 20% to £39 across all sites). Bubala’s founder Marc Summers comments: “What’s mattered most to us throughout all of this is that Bubala still feels like Bubala. The food, the atmosphere and the way we look after people all matter equally to us, whether that’s guests or our team.” 

CLEMENTINE

Anna Higham, the pastry chef behind Quince Bakery in Islington, has launched a crowdfunder to raise £50,000 to fund Clementine, a new café opposite her bakery this September. Rewards run from £15 for a scone and coffee to £10,000 for Higham to cater your wedding.

TURN UP TRUCK

Turn Up Truck wheels into Coal Drops Yard this weekend, with a line-up of new stars taking it in turns to showcase their concepts this summer. First up, from 5-7 June, Giuseppe Federici, aka Sepps. Steam and Roll, Dudu Eats, Lil Wong Bakes, and more to follow.

No. FORTY NINE

Opening tomorrow: No. Forty Nine, a new bakery and bistro in St John’s Wood from Jake Finn and the team behind Cinder. Ella Williams, one of CODE’s 30 under 30, Class of 2023, leads the kitchen. There’s talk of pastrami pain suisse and cornbread madeleines… Opens 2 June.

• Sune’s annual Midsummer party is happening on Sunday 21 June with a full day of wine, flower crowns, BBQ, music and more. Details here.

• Good news for fans of Dover Street Counter’s margaritas and disco fries; Martin Kuczmarski’s cool Mayfair hangout will be opening on Sundays from noon to 10pm from 7 June.

• Meanwhile, in South London, Alex Jackson is celebrating summer with un grand aïoli every Friday in the garden of the Garden Museum Café throughout June. Bliss!

• Portobello Road Italian Canteen is having a summer in the country. Its pop-up at The Old Coal Yard in the Cotswolds launches 4 June.

• Wine & Wean, the baby-friendly wine-tasting social, is holding a tasting at Renegade Urban Winery in Walthamstow from 12-3pm on 3 June. Tickets, £28. Baby ‘plus ones’ compulsory!

• Paris restaurant group La Nouvelle Garde has a launch date for its London debut. Brasserie Olivia will open on Sloane Square on 9 July.

• Heartbreaking news from a trio of industry leaders: Sophie’s Steakhouse shutters its Fulham Road site after 24 years; Simpsons in Birmingham closes after 32 years; Sambal Shiok in Highbury after eight.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

CODE Neighbourhoods: Cafe Kowloon’s Budgie Montoya on Hackney

A first look at The Latimer: Good Food Guide

A sprinkle of caviar on pub grub wrests luxury from the rich: The Times

Tavern review: Great tune, but where’s the middle section: The Standard

Top UK Chefs call for 10% VAT cut for pubs and restaurants: BBC

THE DUMBWAITER

Debonair Mancunian Thom Hetherington had a run in with a chocolate gelato last week, just before sitting down to lunch at Skof. Requesting soda water and a napkin to clean his beloved ecru chinos on arrival, the manager went one better and produced a Tide to go stain pen: the Skof chefs’ secret to keeping their whites pristine. Now you know.

Simpson’s Jeremy King is well known for his love of bespoke suits so it’s a surprise to discover that the button-down he’s wearing in the ’90s David Bailey photograph, hung on the wall at Arlington, is, in fact, from Gap. The photo shoot was apparently intended for a Gap ad, to be run on London buses.

To Fink’s at Clissold House, for The Goal is to Eat’s panel talk asking “Where are the women restaurateurs?”. A fair few were in the room including Rita’s Missy Flynn, Granger & Co’s Natalie Elliott and Oula’s Boutheina Ben Salem.