Two minutes with Samyukta Nair, founder and Somaia Hammad, headchef of Nipotina.
Samyukta, Nipotina has become much more than a neighbourhood Italian restaurant. What was your vision for creating a destination in the heart of Mayfair? How do you want guests to feel when they walk through the door?
Nipotina was never supposed to be a statement, it was supposed to feel like somewhere you already knew. When I met Somaia, what struck me immediately was how much we had in common - a deep belief in the bond between grandmothers and granddaughters, in recipes passed down and made your own, in food as a form of inheritance. The name came from that conversation, and the vision followed from it.
The best hospitality I've experienced growing up, rooted in my family's hospitality legacy and in the tables I've sat around across the world, has always felt like generosity without performance. That's what I want guests to feel at Nipotina. That somebody genuinely wanted them there.
Samyukta, Italian dining is rooted in generosity, hospitality and spending time together. How have you brought these values to life at Nipotina?
Italian hospitality at its best doesn't announce itself - it just makes you feel held. The space is designed to move with you across the day: the Enoteca at the front for something spontaneous, the Ristorante at the back for when you want to linger, the terrace for summer afternoons. None of it is designed to impress. All of it is designed to make you stay.
Somaia, when developing dishes for Nipotina, how do you balance Italian authenticity with creating something that feels exciting for guests?
Italian cuisine isn't about showing off - it's about generosity. Letting a few simple ingredients speak for themselves. We cook with intention rather than complication, because the moment you over-complicate things, you lose what makes Italian food Italian. We start with a traditional foundation and the finest produce we can find, and the elevation comes from care and attention: a touch of texture or contrast that keeps things alive without disturbing the integrity of what's underneath.
Somaia, if someone was visiting Nipotina for the first time, what is the one dish they cannot miss?
If you're visiting for the first time, I'd take you on the journey the kitchen was built around. Start with the sashimi di ricciola - fresh, clean, a way of waking up the palate. Move into the ragù, slow-cooked and soulful over handmade pasta - this is where you understand what we're doing here. Then the wood-fired polpo: charred from the hearth, lifted with salsa verde, somewhere between the north and south of Italy. And you cannot leave without trying the Tiramisù gianduia — hazelnut, chocolate, the richness of Turin. One dish at a time, the whole kitchen reveals itself.