Guests can expect expressive dishes with layered flavours
Great British Menu winner Nikita Pathakji is set to open her first restaurant, bringing her signature bold flavours to South London.
MAAI will launch in Clapham on May 20, 2026, marking a major milestone for the chef, whose career has spanned some of the UK’s most respected kitchens and major television competitions.
The new restaurant will take over the former Brook site on Abbeville Road and will be a family-led venture, with Nikita joined by her mother, Rima, and sister, Isha.
Together, they aim to create a dining experience shaped by Nikita’s heritage, her Michelin-trained background and the way her family eats at home.
The restaurant’s menu will draw on her cultural influences while championing seasonal British produce, blending personal storytelling with modern British dining.
Guests can expect expressive dishes with layered flavours, including the Octopus ‘Tako Yaki’ Doughnut, a dish Nikita cooked on MasterChef: The Professionals in 2022, which she ultimately won.
Another standout dish will be Seared Halibut with Malaysian Fish Head Curry, which she cooked on Great British Menu.
The drinks offering will be led by Nikita’s sister, Isha, adding another personal layer to the concept.
Cocktails on the menu will include the MAAI Colada, Butter Popcorn Old Fashioned and Salted Melon Daiquiri, designed to reflect the same playful and flavour-driven approach as the food.
Nikita has built an impressive culinary reputation through her work at Bibendum by Claude Bosi, Core by Clare Smyth and Kitchen W8.
Alongside her restaurant work, she has also become known as a private chef, hosting sold-out supper clubs across London.
Speaking about the opening, Nikita said: “My training has been in Michelin-starred kitchens, but the food at MAAI reflects how we truly like to eat; bold, expressive dishes influenced by the cultures and cuisines that have shaped us, and by the diversity of London itself.
“This is our take on modern British dining: personal, ingredient-led, and rooted in family.”
The opening of MAAI signals a new chapter for the chef, who has already earned recognition on some of the country’s biggest culinary platforms.
Nikita won Great British Menu 2026 in a dramatic turn of events.
She was originally not supposed to cook a course at the banquet. However, she was called up to cook the fish course after Corrin Harrison pulled out of the final episode for personal reasons.
Inspired by Harry Potter, Nikita’s fish course was titled “Draught of Living Death”, centred around halibut.
Her short-notice call-up proved to be a good one as guests selected her dish as their favourite course, crowning Nikita as the Champion of Champions.
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