Trivet rejects tasting menu, keeps 2 stars

Trivet is being held up as a rare two-Michelin-star restaurant that still centers an à la carte menu instead of a formal tasting sequence. (thestaffcanteen.com) (guide.michelin.com) The latest video spotlight, published April 28 by The Staff Canteen, follows head chef Adam Tooby-Desmond through a day at Trivet, the Bermondsey restaurant founded by Jonny Lake and Isa Bal. (youtube.com) (thestaffcanteen.com) Michelin’s 2026 guide still lists Trivet at 36 Snowsfields in Southwark with two stars and describes a room with “a refreshing lack of formality.” (guide.michelin.com) Trivet’s own website says its kitchen offers an à la carte menu for both lunch and dinner, with lunch served Wednesday through Saturday and dinner Tuesday through Saturday. (trivetrestaurant.co.uk) That matters because the default model at the top end of dining has shifted toward long tasting menus, fixed pacing and prepaid bookings. Lake told The Caterer that Trivet chose a different route, with starters and mains priced individually. (thecaterer.com) Lake said Michelin’s recognition did not force a change in format: “The reality is Michelin came and decided that we are a two-star restaurant, so we have no need to change anything.” (thecaterer.com) Michelin awarded Trivet its second star in the 2024 Great Britain and Ireland guide, placing it among six restaurants promoted to two stars that year. (guide.michelin.com) The restaurant kept that status in the 2025 and 2026 guides, even as Michelin’s 2026 ceremony highlighted other London restaurants, including Bonheur by Matt Abé and Row on 5, for new two-star promotions. (guide.michelin.com 1) (guide.michelin.com 2) (guide.michelin.com 3) Lake and Bal opened Trivet in November 2019 after leaving Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck group, where Lake had been executive head chef and Bal group head sommelier. (thecaterer.com) (forbes.com) The pitch has stayed consistent: neighborhood warmth, serious cooking and a wine-led identity without the choreography diners often associate with two-star rooms. Michelin says wine “plays an integral role,” and Trivet describes itself simply as an “informal, high-quality restaurant.” (guide.michelin.com) (trivetrestaurant.co.uk) So the story is less that Trivet rejected tasting menus this week than that it has kept rejecting the usual script — and Michelin has kept the stars on anyway. (thecaterer.com) (guide.michelin.com)