A London-based restaurant inspired by West African flavours has been awarded a Michelin star just over a year after opening.
Ikoyi, the brainchild of chef Jeremy Chan and director Iré Hassan-Odukale, serves contemporary cuisine with West African ingredients handpicked by chef Chan's "fresh eyes".
Dishes include plantain flavoured with raspberry and Scotch bonnet, smoked crab jollof rice, and Iberico pork seasoned with suya spices. They also use grains of Selim, a peppercorn from a tree found in West Africa.
Hassan-Odukale told BuzzFeed News: "We're very pleased. We're very grateful to Michelin. We're humbled that they would consider us and think that we're worthy of a star. It feels great."
Naturally, people are super impressed.
This can’t be underestimated but Nigerian and west African gastronomy got a massive boost with @IkoyiLondon being awarded ⭐️ Michelin star by @MichelinGuideUK - well done to all those involved. Much love!!! Is it a first in Europe for a Nigerian restaurant?
@IkoyiLondon got a Michelin star on Independence Day to become the first West African restaurant to do so. What a time to be alive 🤞🏾
Chan and Hassan-Odukale met in London, where Hassan-Odukale studied politics and economics at the London School of Economics and have forged a powerful pairing of Hassan-Odukale's Nigerian background and Chan's creativity.
Hassan-Odukale had started growing homesick for the traditional flavours of Nigeria, but was also frustrated by the lack of creativity when it comes to West African cuisine.
While the pair don't describe Ikoyi as an African restaurant, there is no denying the influence of the continent on the menu and concept. The name itself is a nod to the affluent neighbourhood in Lagos, where Hassan-Odukale was born.
And, in a happy coincidence, the announcement of the Michelin star came on Oct. 1 – the same day as Nigeria's 58th Independence celebrations.
Hassan-Odukale said: "Michelin judged the product, not really the concept. They weren't really bothered about where the food came from or what kind of cuisine we were doing. For them, they came to the restaurant they saw we were delivering the products at the right standard consistently and at the right quality as well."
At a time when African and Caribbean food has gone viral for all the wrong reasons (Jamie Oliver's "jerk rice," anyone?), Ikoyi has also not been immune to criticism.
Fans of traditional African food have taken the restaurant to task for its smaller portion sizes and decorative plating techniques, inspired by the art of American painter Mark Rothko.
"Everyone has an opinion," said 32-year-old Hassan-Odukale. "However, there are only one or two dishes that we re-create and, even those ones that we take inspiration from, we don't re-create them to be exactly the same, so we're not really trying to re-create West African food.
We survived the abuse and came out OK in the end! Huge thanks to everyone who has supported our creative endeavours since the start. https://t.co/oL1nDxIrYf
"That's why it's tricky to label us West African food – because West Africans are not always pleased when they come to our doors and they see that we're not actually serving West African food."
He added: "Basically we take those ingredients and we are inspired by those ingredients and we create unique dishes by stepping away from how they are used in a traditional sense."
Conducting the culinary alchemy is Chinese Canadian chef Chan who Hassan-Odukale says is the best person for the job: "It's good for Jeremy to be the one doing that because he is not West African, and he looks at these traditional ingredients with a fresh pair of eyes and applies his own inspiration and how he thinks he can bring out the best in those ingredients."
Chan, who was born in the UK, was also set for a career in finance after graduating from Princeton, but decided to pursue his passion for food instead.
While the pair's venture looks set to finish the year strong, it hasn't been smooth sailing navigating the British food industry, which has seen the number of restaurant insolvencies rise since 2017.
Hassan-Odukale said: "It's been a tough year for us, I'm not going to lie. There were times this summer that we didn't know if we were going to be open tomorrow, not just for us but for most restaurants. I think if you stick to your principles, which we've tried to do, we're just doing things properly and making sure we're delivering the best we can every day."
With a Michelin star comes additional pressure, but the restaurant director says they're trying to grow at a comfortable speed. "We've only just started to feel like we're getting to a standard and place where we're comfortable with. It's been up and down for a year and hopefully we see more stable business, which will allow us to start think of other things."