Ikoyi is a huge deal. Monumental, in fact. Arguably the most important British restaurant of the past decade, it’s also one of the only London locations to regularly find itself in official rankings of the world’s greatest places to eat. Michelin stars? You bet. Ikoyi has a casual two, and is shamelessly gunning for a third.
It is, of course, exceptional. At these prices it has to be. With the most expensive tasting menu we’ve ever come across (£380 a head, and that’s before drinks), food at Ikoyi can’t just be ‘good’. It has to be really fucking great.
Dishes that simultaneously make you think and make you feel held
Jeremy Chan makes sure of it. Ikoyi’s steely and determined head chef has such a singular vision that people have come, night after night, since 2017 to spend the best part of an average weekly salary on a single meal.
A demi-brutalist space of warm walnut wood, and soft spotlights over each table, Ikoyi’s deeply chill dining room sits at the corner of the 180 Strand building. Also home to a branch of Soho House, elite deli 180 Corner, and the HQs of uber cool fashion brands Martine Rose and Harris Reed, as well as style mag Dazed and art fair dons Frieze, 180 Strand is where you’ll find the coolest creatives in London, and possibly everyone who ever bullied you in sixth form.
Named after the affluent suburb of Lagos where co-founder Iré Hassan-Odukale was born, Ikoyi has gently moved away from its original west African culinary concept. Now the focus is on what Chan calls ‘spice-based cuisine’, though a handful of Nigerian-inflected dishes remain on the 14-ish course set menu, including a potent smoked jollof rice, and a guinea fowl suya, which comes served in a crispy caramelised rice shell with a spiced grape gel and freshly grated black truffle. At Ikoyi, such flamboyance is routine, with every single dish involving more stages than the Tour de France. Mostly though, Chan’s menu defies geographical borders, instead pushing culinary boundaries via dishes that simultaneously make you think and make you feel held. He’s nice like that.
Take the opening bite; a compelling pepper broth, made from an 18-hour infusion of caramelised chicken wings, served over a bitesized hunk of tender pork jowl brushed with garlic soy and anchovy butter, which is topped, tableside, with drops of oil from the ultra rare cubeb peppercorn from Sierra Leone. It’s delicious, naturally, but also deeply thoughtful, stacked with skill and utilises an ingredient we’ve literally never heard of until now.
Usually in a multi-course tasting menu there are a couple of duff dishes. Not at Ikoyi, where every mouthful has been meticulously developed, as if it were silicon valley’s latest big ticket app. This is finesse at the highest level. A slice of bluefin tuna isn’t just a slice of bluefin tuna, but a slice of dry-aged bluefin tuna placed neatly on a freaky little pistachio pudding with pomegranate and chilli broth, pickled kohlrabi, preserved quince and nashi pear. And who needs a standard beef tartare when you can have Chan’s aged beef, smoked celeriac and chanterelle tart, which looks like a handsome Furby and feels like licking the Pembrokeshire coastline. Prettier still is a Basque-inspired mussel and saffron crème caramel lined with poached razor clam and caviar, over which is poured a neon pink beetroot reduction and saffron-infused chilli oil, and looks like a piece of jewellery worn by a wealthy West End gallerist.
There is more, much more; sweetbreads brined for a full 24 hours in salted milk; confit red mullet brushed with crab and herb butter; and that signature jollof, a menu staple since Ikoyi opened, and which comes with a seductive lobster and scotch-bonnet custard.
To run through everything else would take almost as long as our four hours spent in the restaurant. Suffice to say, the desserts are exquisite, and calmly complex. There’s a sorbet of lesser-known mikan (a Japanese kind of mandarin) infused with peppercorns and stacked with red kiwi, lavender meringue and baked sweet potato. Then, a white pea ice cream with kumquat and ginger cake, coffee caramel, lemon mousse and dried blackcurrant, which pleasingly resembles a Super Mario mushroom. Equally intricate are exquisite petit fours (which aren’t that ‘petit’) of pinecone suya ganache tart, and a mulled wine-cooked apple slice with twinkling lemon thyme jelly that sparkles like a cluster of diamonds.
Ikoyi is a supremely special place. If you’re able to afford it, you simply must eat there.
The vibe Michelin star magic in one of the world’s great modern restaurants.
The food A slick, skillful tasting menu based around spice, rare ingredients and the very best seasonal produce.
The drink Sleek wine (and tea) pairings are available, but you can also order by the glass.
Time Out tip A shorter tasting menu is available at lunch for £170, if you’re looking for a more affordable way to enjoy Chan’s world-beating cookery.