Jamavar restaurateur Samyukta Nair to open MiMi Mei Fair

Samyukta Nair, the co-founder of Jamavar and Bombay Bustle restaurants in London’s Mayfair, is opening a new site on 7 September called MiMi Mei Fair.

The restaurant will be located in a Georgian townhouse on Curzon Street, which previously housed Matsya restaurant. MiMi Mei Fair will be the third restaurant from the newly formed LSL Capital, founded by Nair and her father Dinesh.

The kitchen will be led by Chinese-Singaporean executive chef Peter Ho, with a menu of contemporary Chinese dishes from across Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China.

The menu of sharing dishes will begin with appetisers such as crispy golden langoustine with Perigord truffle, smoked applewood Chilean seabass with Shaoxing wine, sweet soya and fried leeks; as well as steamed XO okra with shallot and enoki mushroom crumble. There will also be dim sum, such as xiao long baos; a sea urchin and turnip puff with white mooli; spicy Szechuan pork wontons; and a seaweed and spinach jade dumpling.

Larger dishes for the table will include a traditional applewood-roasted Peking duck with homemade pancakes and lobster cooked three ways – wok-baked with spring onion and ginger, steamed with pickled chili, or braised with yang chun noodles. Other dishes will include black pepper and garlic Atlantic crab, braised abalone, dong po braised pork belly with sesame mantou cigars, and black bean chili and garlic aubergine.

Nair and Tom Strother of Fabled Studio have designed the three-floor restaurant with the concept of a secret London residence for ‘Empress MiMi’ (mì mì means secret in Mandarin), filled with trinkets, antiques and heirlooms from Nair’s personal collection and inspiration drawn from the Forbidden Palace of Beijing and 1920s Shanghai.

On the ground floor will be the Peacock Room private dining room, while upstairs will be the Parlour and the Library, and the venue will also house the mirror-panelled Moon Bar.

Nair said: “I cannot wait to open the doors to MiMi Mei Fair and share our newest restaurant with our patrons. My passion for Chinese food, art and culture began while living and studying in China, and it has remained an obsession. Dreaming the individual spaces to life and curating the menu with Peter has been such a wonderful experience. Moreover, Peter has worked with my family for years, I’ve known him since I was a teenager, so it is so exciting to be working together now as colleagues."