'Birmingham was always going to be the first Big Mamma outside London - we've waited two years for the perfect location'

Now boasting over 20 restaurants across Europe, employing over 2,200 staff, Big Mamma founding partners Tigrane Seydoux and Victor Lugger, are making the final preparations for La Bellezza's opening next week.

Happy to have his new restaurant in Paradise Birmingham Tigrane explained the second city has been on his radar after the group's head chef was cheerleading for a Big Mamma Brum.

Speaking from Madrid, Tigrane who told the Express & Star to "call me Tiger": "We have known about Birmingham for years because one of our chefs lived there and raved about the city and its food culture.

"Our head chef Mimmo had worked in Birmingham before he joined us, he is a very important guy in the company and he was always pushing for a Birmingham restaurant, saying it was a great city, not far from London and very vibrant.

"We have created a food hub in the UK so we felt we could open in Birmingham after the success of our London restaurants. We know people value their food, the city sustains Michelin starred restaurants which is always a good sign.

"It took us two years to find the right venue, we have fell in love with it. It has a seven metre ceiling high, its good size, we fell in love with the location."

Da Vinci himself would be proud of the interior decorating at La Belleza, festooned with flowers, balconies and frescos, this part of the West Midlands is about Italian as it possibly could.  

The 39-year-old said: "We want people to feel they are in Italy when the restaurant door closes, so we knew we had to have Italian front of house staff, in the kitchen, everywhere.

"Our managers have always been part of Big Mamma restaurants so it is exciting when we put our team together of experienced staff with new recruits, we had a great recruitment drive in Birmingham, which was exciting. 

"We open in a new city, like Birmingham we first try to recruit Italian staff living there, there is a thriving Italian community locally. We are French owned but we are very much an Italian group, with 85 per cent of our 2,200 staff being Italian."

La Belleza overlooks Chamberlain Square in Paradise which has seen the former home to the concretetastic Central Library become an international foodie destination with lively German beerhaus Albert Schloss, classy Indian Dishoom, the ever-busy Rosa's Thai and Birmingham owned Yorks Cafe's foray into evening menus.

Tigrane said: "We know the people from Dishoom, and they were very positive about Birmingham. I am based in Madrid, but most weeks I am on an airplane visiting one of our cities or visiting new places looking for somewhere else Big Mamma can call home."

The first Big Mamma restaurant opened a in 2013 in the most difficult market for food on the planet - Paris.

He said: "Ten years ago, the Italian market in Paris was overcrowded, there was either very expensive food or affordable places with bad food.

"We started with an ethos of serving good food at affordable prices in great environments, always served with a smile. And we have stuck with ethos ever since. 

"We started in Paris, then Lille, then into London. My partner moved his family to London in 2018, we now have five restaurants in London and have built a food hub with English suppliers providing a lot of our ingredients."

However, the group's relationships with Italian farmers and producers is what Tigrane believes gives Big Mamma an edge.

He said: "We started working with our Italian suppliers ten years ago and still have them now. There are some things you can only get in Italy, but as for other fresh produce we make sure every city we enter, over half of the ingredients is sourced very locally."

Finally, the $64,000 question, one which has preoccupied our friends on mainland Europe for centuries, which country's cuisine, Italy or France, is the best? 

After laughing, whilst stalling for time, the proud Frenchman said: "I grew up in France, 10 kilometres from the Italian border, I got married in Sicily, my restaurant group serves Italian food, so.... like Italian cuisine the best."

Proving his point, Tiger revealed his taste buds betray his Italian stripes, adds: "I eat pasta every day of my life, I know that is probably too many times, but I just cannot help myself."

La Bellezza has started taking bookings for after its opening on November 29.