One word can describe BellaMumma lifestyle blog founder Nikki Yazxhi and husband Adam, the creative director at branding and design powerhouse MAXCO: busy.

When the pair do find time in their hectic lives, they love entertaining in their relaxed and stylish home on Sydney’s northern beaches, which is where delicious. caught up with them.

“Living up on the beaches, we don’t want to spend a ton of time travelling around, we like to get everyone together and unwind,” says Adam.

“It tends to take a lot of hard work to organise everyone at the same time,” adds Nikki, “so when we do get people together, it turns into a relaxation, but also a really good catch-up. Lunches generally turn into early dinners.”

That was certainly the case with this lunch, reports Adam: “I think guests were still leaving after eight o’clock at night.”

As for those guests, it was a who’s who of Sydney food and design heavyweights, including Sam Christie, owner of Longrain, The Apollo and Cho Cho San; Fratelli Paradiso’s Marco Ambrosino; Champagne Republic’s Belinda Aucott; interior designers Nina Maya and Pina Ambrosino; and fashion designer Iwona Lau.

Set the scene

Style
“We like a really nice, clean, contemporary feel,” says Nikki. Adds Adam: “There’s a part in me that won’t go for the mainstream… things like knives and forks I’ll source from Italy and have them sent over. We generally try to find really nice pieces or eclectic pieces that fit well together.”

Menu
“It’s all crowd favourites, the sort of thing we love cooking,” says Adam. “I don’t like over-torturing food and I hate saying things like I cook from the heart… we don’t cook from the heart, we cook what’s bloody delicious. I believe in getting seasonal stuff and cooking with what’s good at the time.” See here for Nikki and Adams’ complete long lunch menu. 

Playlist
“I used to work in the music industry, so I traverse a lot of different stuff,” says Adam. “It went from more contemporary hip-hop, to soul classics, to late ’90s early 2000s alternative. Marvin Gaye through to Childish Gambino.”

Drinks
Winter-style gin and tonic and Negronis were on the drinks list. “Negronis are a great icebreaker – unfortunately and fortunately!”