Former Noma Chef Will Preview Debut London Restaurant on Brick Lane

Ex-Noma chef will open first restaurant

Leonardo Pereira will open Nutshell in Covent Garden early 2019. The Iranian restaurant, in partnership with Mohammad Paknejad and Marwa Alkhalaf, promises food from the country’s culture cooked with British ingredients. His preview pop-up at Hopscotch, on Brick Lane, will feature bitter leaf dolmeh with mackerel and Jerusalem artichoke, and red partridge with pomegranate and oregano, according to Hot Dinners. Book a table for the Nutshell pop-up by Leonardo Pereira here.

250 jobs under threat at struggling high street burger chain

Gourmet Burger Kitchen has agreed to close up to 17 restaurants in order to restructure its finances. Read more on the burger chain’s plan.

Chef support network announces next guest dinner

Countertalk will host Anaïs Van Manen at its next guest series dinner, 12 November. Van Manen formerly cooked at Nuala, CAM Import Export, and Trullo, and is now working on research and development for Bao and Xu, as well as Bastarda with fellow ex-Nuala employee Honey Spencer. Countertalk, founded by Ravneet Gill, aims to help foster talent through a supportive environment. Book tickets for Van Manen’s supperclub here.

Troubled Italian chain closes another London restaurant

Strada has quietly closed its Wimbledon location, according to The Caterer. Camden, Clapham and Blackheath had closed at the start of the year; unlike many of its fellow high-street strugglers, the Italian chain has not entered into a CVA.

Acclaimed Mexican chef to cook Day of the Dead menu in London Bridge

Pedro Evia of Kuuk in Mérida, Yucatán will collaborate with Natalie and Edson Diaz-Fuentes for a five course tasting menu based on Yucatan cuisine. The menu will run at Santo Remedio from 1 – 30 November, inflected by the region’s range of global influences: the middle East, Caribbean, and southern Asia all counted Yucatan as a trade destination in the 16th century. The hero dish will be mucbipollo or pibilpollo, a large tamal of corn dough filled with chicken and pork, cooked with annatto seeds and traditionally wrapped in banana leaves and cooked underground.