Struggling High Street Burger Chain Confirms 17 Restaurant Closures

Another high street restaurant chain agrees restructuring deal

Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) will close 17 of its U.K. burger restaurants, as reported by Eater last month. The high street burger brand, which recently rowed back on a racist advertising campaign for the ‘Proper Indian’ Ruby Murray burger and launched freebie burgers based on plants, held a meeting with creditors on Friday 9 November. Those affected voted in favour of closing the restaurants with an “overwhelming majority.” [MCA/Paywall]

Cult U.S. Tex-Mex chain opens new London restaurant, over 20 years later

Taco Bell will open a restaurant on King Street in Hammersmith, two decades after closing its site at Leicester Square. Eater reported on its plans for U.K. openings earlier this year; the restaurant will serve its classics: crunchy taco supreme, nachos supreme, and the grilled stuft (stuffed) burrito. Here’s what to order at Taco Bell breakfast. [Hot Dinners]

Acclaimed Hackney restaurant rows back on mystery menu

Pidgin, the Wilton Way restaurant celebrated for its creative, weekly-changing menu, has gone back on its nascent plans to make that menu a weekly mystery. The restaurant’s weekly newsletter today said:

There we were, like a latter-day Paul Daniels, trying to bring some magic and intrigue to proceedings, and there you were, saying “actually I would quite like to know the menu in advance” and “my husband won’t eat offal” and so on. We’re ultimately in the business of hospitality, and seemingly enough of you found the new approach somewhat inhospitable, so, you spoke we listened, if you don’t want to know about this week’s menu look away now. Now that’s a people’s vote.

It may only be two weeks in, but owners James Ramsden and Sam Herlihy are admirably receptive to killing off innovations as soon as they prove more inhospitable than useful. Sister restaurant Magpie, on Heddon Street, ditched its trolley-style service early on in its life when it just didn’t work out. Rejecting one’s own ideas for the sake of a better restaurant: something worth applauding.

New Camden development promises 60 restaurants and digital dystopia

Hawley Wharf could be the next Coal Drops Yard, or Bloomberg Arcade, or — maybe even — Nova Victoria. Developers Lab Tech (LabTech) say that the restaurants will be complemented by the largest farmers’ market in north London, as well as “market leading technology solutions designed to help commercial growth” and “technologically-led living spaces.” [Hot Dinners]

Pan-Asian restaurant chain will open in Canary Wharf

Momo Canteen will open its third London restaurant at 11 Westferry Circus in early December. Notable for employing chefs to cook the cuisine of their homeland — rather than throwing a generic blanket across ‘Asian food’ — the group plans to bring “protein-rich” salads to a “health-conscious,” suited workforce. [Big Hospitality]