Nik's & Co: the best cocktail and food pairing in Milano / February 8, 2022 by shane eaton

Photography by Gianni Fontana and Andrea Menin.

With a background in Engineering and a successful startup company, Leo Sculli never expected to enter the hospitality business. But when he and his business discovered an enticing property for sale just north of Milano Centrale station, they decided to take the risk of opening a restaurant bar, Nik’s & Co. Although there are few establishments in the area, Nik’s & Co is a quick 15 minute walk from Isola to the west and Piazza Gae Aulenti to the south west and 10 minutes north of Stazione Centrale and its popular Mercato Centrale.

Open from lunch until late evening, Nik’s appeals to a broad audience. The cocktail bar with kitchen in via Schiaparelli is a crossroads of flavors and imagination: it’s a meeting place for a wide range of clientele, from successful professionals, to young couples, to cocktail aficionados. Inside, the predominant style is New York of the roaring twenties: dim lighting, clean lines and furnishings that play by alternating different shades of green and wood. Adding to the warm atmosphere at Nik’s are retro decorations, making you feel like you’re in a space that’s a cross between a vintage cocktail lounge an elegant living room.

The concept at Nik’s & Co is built around the namesake Nik, a fictional creation of Leo Sculli. Nik is a jet set gentleman from other times, who loves to learn about new cultures, spices and botanicals during his travels around Italy and the world. The drink menu is inspired by Nik, and is a retro journey through flavors. The first two menus at Nik’s covered the 1920s and 1930s, respectively. The third iteration of the menu the most ambitious yet, and was launched this fall and was inspired by Nik’s tour of Italy in the 1940s, with a focus on typical regional products, and draws inspiration from iconic Italian figures of the period. What sets the third volume apart from the previous menus, and even those from other cocktail bars around the world, is a risky but well-executed pairing of signature cocktails and original dishes.

Heading the drinks and restaurant programs at Nik’s, are bar manager Selvi Panepinto and chef Paolo Bertin, respectively. Panepinto and Bertin worked in close collaboration to develop an innovative food and cocktail pairing menu that is on par with the standout menus of the past developed by Ryan Clift at Tippling Club (Singapore) and Luke Whearty and Outrage of Modesty (Cape Town).

Examples of the pairings include one dedicated to Marche with Mussels and potatoes paired with a cocktail of Gin Mare Capri, Cordial of tomato water and capers and a top of Perrier. Then there’s Emilia Romagna with a beetroot risotto with negroni caviar and fermented red fruits married with a drink made with sloe gin, balsamic vinegar cordial, and beetroot extract.

The standouts on the menu come near the conclusion of the tasting menu. The meat dish is dedicated to Nik’s travels through Lombardy and his discovery of a great Lombard wine. The second course in the tasting menu features Grilled venison fillet, Valtellina Superiore with beets and raisins paired with “C’era una volta il west” with bourbon whiskey, homemade artichoke shrub, Baldoria vermouth bianco, and Talisker whisky. Here, the sweet smoky notes of Talisker Skye and the aroma of the artichoke remind us of earth and underbrush, and hence are a great complement to the Venison fillet. In addition, the pairing works well because of the contrasts within the dish between sweetness and acidity.

The masterpiece of the menu is the dessert pairing. The white chocolate mousse with myrtle and pollen reduction is exquisite on its own but reaches new levels when paired with “Sa Seada”, a cocktail with Ketel One Vodka, pecorino sauce and honey. The bar and kitchen teams took inspiration from typical Sardinian products such as Seada and Mirto, distorting the classic consumption experience. During the first brainstorming, the staff described the pairing as follows "We made the dessert a drink the Mirto a dish". Hence the idea of creating a drink that had pecorino cheese, and a dish that had a reduction of myrtle. The starting raw materials are the predominant flavors, which blend in a perfectly balanced way, with honey as a common bond which ties them perfectly together.

With the extraordinary new food and drinks pairing menu at Nik’s & Co has immediately placed itself in the upper echelon of restaurant bars in the country. Although it is a lone wolf in the area North of Milano Centrale, Nik’s & Co with its stellar culinary experience and intimate and unique atmosphere is proving to be a magnet for customers, from all walks of life.

The bar team at Nik’s and Co (from bottom left clockwise): General manager Jacopo Masi Dallera, bartender Eros Ursomando, bar manager Selvi Panepinto, manager Natale Cucè, owner Leo Sculli

The World's 50 Best Bars / December 8, 2021 by shane eaton

The World's 50 Best Bars, the party of the year in the bartending world took place yesterday evening at the Roundhouse in the Camden Town district of London. Due to the pandemic, this was the first time in over 2 years that the gala event was held in person. Although there is still much uncertainty with ever changing travel rules, many bars from around the world were able to fly in to attend the gala in London. The gala featured a mix of drinks writers, cocktail lovers, bartenders and brand people, who enjoyed cocktails while anxiously counting down the top 50 bars in the world. Much like the World’s 50 Best Restaurants held two months earlier in Antwerp, organizers kept a strict limit on the number of invitees to the gala due to concerns for safety.

Italians have much to be proud of in this year’s edition of the World’s 50 Best Bars, with an astonishing 7 bars making the overall 1-100 list. For the second consecutive year, Connaught Bar took home the top spot and although based in London, the bar team is nearly entirely Italian. Led by Ago Perrone, Giorgio Bargiani and Maura Milia, Connaught continues to be the gold standard for the Italian style of hospitality, making you feel like royalty from the moment you enter the historic bar. Their Martini cocktail trolley service has become a brand in itself, and is always served “straight up with style, and don’t forget the smile.”

Director of Mixology, Ago Perrone shared his thoughts on the winning formula of the bar: “Connaught Bar remains classic and traditional in its key features, while we always work to push the boundaries of creativity and surprise our guests with sophisticated and elegant innovations” . In 13 years, only three bars — Milk and Honey, Artesian and now, Connaught Bar — have been crowned the World’s Best Bar more than once.

Born in Carrara, Giacomo Giannotti’s Paradiso of Barcelona placed an impressive 3rd, up from 19th in the 2020 edition. Other Italians to make their mark on the list include Laura Marnich, the bar manager of Zuma (17th) in Dubai and Simone Caporale’s Sips (37th) from Barcelona, a new entry.

In terms of bars based in Italy, three bars made the top 50, including Patrick Pistolesi’s eclectic and hip Drink Kong in Rome (19th position), followed immediately by 1930 in Milano (20th place), by now a veteran of the World’s 50 Best Bars ranking. The iconic Camparino of Milano, led by Tommaso Cecca, entered the list for the first time (27th place).

Meanwhile on the 51-100 list, there were four Italian new entries. The energetic Locale of Florence, just missed out on the top 50, placing 51st. Managed by Matteo Zed, The Court which offers a spectacular view of the Roman Colosseum placed 64th. Napoli’s Antiquario, a bar cherished by the Italian bar industry, finally made the cut, positioned 82nd. Meanwhile, Cera of Milano placed 85th, an impressive feat for a bar only six months old that was opened during the pandemic.

There were several special awards handed out during the evening including the Disaronno-sponsored The Highest New Climber Hanky Panky of Mexico (12th place), just edging out Moscow’s Insider bar (13th place), which instead was awarded the London Essence Best New Opening. Salmon Guru (24th place) of Madrid claimed the Michter’s Art of Hospitality Award while Matt Whiley’s Re of Sydney earned the Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award.

Despite severe government restrictions on group sizes and closing times, Asia continues to impress in the World’s 50 Best Bars with 16 bars in the top 50. For the first time since 2010, an Indian bar returns to the ranking with Sidecar, New Delhi coming in at No.47. Hong Kong’s Coa has climbed to No.7 and is The Best Bar in Asia. Singapore leads Asia with six bars on the list. Jigger & Pony is at No.9, Manhattan at No.15 and Atlas at No.16. There are two Singaporean new entries with No Sleep Club at No.26 and MO Bar at No.36, and Tippling Club, Singapore is a re-entry at No.43.

Although there is still much uncertainty in the world, the World’s 50 Best Bars was a beautiful moment to reconnect a bar industry that has been isolated for the past two years. After endless lockdowns, Instagram lives and travel restrictions, it was a great opportunity for friends to once again meet face to face. One hopes that for the 2022 edition of the World’s 50 Best Bars, the world will be in a much better place and the entire global bar community can participate in the most important event in the industry.

At the press conference after The World’s 50 Best Bars 2021, Content Editor Mark Sansom, Content Editor gave us some encouraging words for the future of the bar industry: “We want to send all the venues on the 2021 list of The World’s 50 Best Bars huge congratulations. It’s been another incredibly tough year for hospitality and the industry’s resilience and togetherness through these challenges is humbling. We hope that the positive stories around the bars’ success in the awards will help to drive vital business in the weeks and months to come.”