Great British Menu winner Nikita Pathakji is opening her first restaurant MAAI in Clapham with her family

What better way could there be to launch your first solo venture as a chef than being crowned Champion of Champions on Great British Menu the day before you make the big reveal. Chef Nikita Pathakji may have had a tricky path to winning this year's show (she wasn't in the running for the final at all, until rival Corrin Harrison had to pull out for personal reasons) but she more than proved herself and now she's immediately switching things up by opening a restaurant in Clapham.

MAAI is going to be very much a family affair with Nikita's mother Rima and sister Isha both playing a key role. We're told that the menu will be "layered with influences from her heritage", whilst also using great British produce. Dishes on the launch menu will include the Octopus “Tako Yaki” Doughnut that she cooked on MasterChef The Professionals which she won in 2022 and the Seared Halibut with Malaysian Fish Head Curry which won her the Champion of Champion titles at the Great British Menu banquet.

Sister Isha has been in charge of the cocktail programme, putting her Master's in chemical engineering to good use. You can expect drinks like the MAAI colada, butter popcorn Old Fashioned and salted melon daiquiri.

If you haven't seen Nikita on the telly, here's a quick primer. The chef, who's worked at Bibendum by Claude Bosi, Core by Clare Smyth and Kitchen W8, really made a name for herself as a private chef who ran sold-out supperclubs. As she explains: "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."

MAAI will take over the old Brook restaurant site on Abbeville Road.