Popina Restaurant, London

Project Brief

Popina’s Restaurant in Mayfair offers a refined yet inviting setting for modern Mediterranean-inspired dining. The menu celebrates fresh, seasonal ingredients, with a focus on bold, flavourful dishes that cater to a variety of tastes, including vegetarian and halal options.

From vibrant brunch plates to leisurely evening meals, Popina delivers generous portions, thoughtful presentation, and attentive service, making it a sought-after spot for both locals and visitors seeking a comfortable yet polished dining experience in the heart of London’s West End.

Solution

Housed in a characterful red-brick building, the space combines warm wooden finishes, soft lighting, and an intimate layout to create a relaxed but elegant atmosphere.

Illuma’s surface mounted Torps were chosen to provide precise, direct illumination that draws attention to key features within the restaurant. By casting defined pools of light onto each table, they help to create a sense of intimacy and focus, allowing diners to feel that their space is individually lit and considered. This targeted lighting not only enhances the visual presentation of dishes but adds depth and contrast to the overall ambience. The result is an atmosphere that feels both personal and refined, encouraging guests to relax and savour their dining experience.

Popina’s layered lighting scheme incorporates areas of extra warm white illumination, adding a richer, softer glow that enhances the overall ambience. This subtle variation in colour temperature creates visual depth and a sense of intimacy in key dining zones, while our 3000K lighting ensures clarity and vibrancy where it is needed. The combination delivers a balanced atmosphere that feels both welcoming and refined, perfectly suited to the restaurant’s character and style.

Infinia Mini has been used as an uplighting positioned behind the booth seating so it could be used to subtly enhance the intimate, polished feel of the dining space. The indirect light would create depth behind the booth, visually separating seating areas and giving guests a greater sense of privacy. The effect would also complement the restaurants warm, Mediterranean-inspired palette, reinforcing the relaxed yet refined ambience. Combined with the other layered lighting elements, it would help ensure that every table feels both inviting and visually distinctive.

Through a carefully considered blend of direct, indirect and ambient illumination, Popina’s lighting design delivers a dining environment that is as visually striking as it is comfortable. Each element, from the precision of the Torps to the warmth of the extra warm white accents and the subtle uplighting of the Infinia Mini, works in harmony to enhance the restaurant’s distinctive character. The result is a layered and adaptable scheme that elevates the guest experience, supports the restaurant’s Mediterranean inspired style, and ensures the space remains inviting from morning through to evening service.

Our Area Manager, Steve Knight, had this to say about the project "A delightful project to be involved in. Isidora the owner had positive thoughts and ideas on how they wanted the restaurant to look whilst was also open and receptive to some new and creative proposals. A perfect example of this, is the use of Infinia Mini as uplights in the seating booths which gives a modern, subtle and elegant finish to the lighting we have provided."