Ikoyi brings the taste of west Africa to London

The new restaurant opens in St James’s Market on July 15

St James’s Market is becoming quite the centre for international restaurants, with Aquavit (Sweden), Veneta (Italy) and Anzu (Japan) now to be joined by the taste of west Africa at Ikoyi, opening on Saturday July 15.

Ikoyi restaurant co-owner Iré Hassan-Odukale (left) and chef Jeremy Chan

Founded by a pair of old school friends – head chef Jeremy Chan (formerly of Noma and Dinner) and co-owner Iré Hassan-Odukale – Ikoyi is named after the cosmopolitan neighbourhood of Lagos where Hassan-Odukale grew up. Serving dishes that play with the ingredients and flavours of west Africa, it offers pre-dinner snacks including chicken oyster with tamarind and penja pepper (£5.50) and cassava with sorghum tahini (£5), with an optional addition of north Devon caviar (from £39), while the starters range from marinated lamb ribs with asun relish (£8.50) to octopus pepper soup with coastal herbs (£12).

Among the showcase main courses are black Nigerian tiger prawn with banga bisque and corn grits (£27) – cooked gently at 57 degrees in an infused brown-butter/sherry emulsion so that it is “sweet, not too firm, akin to a perfectly cooked lobster but slightly meatier,” says Chan. The suya blade of beef (£20), best served with a side of smoked bone marrow and jollof rice (£10.50), is Chan’s take on west Africa’s most famous rice dish. The dessert menu, meanwhile, offers at least two choices, such as papaya, alligator pepper and buttermilk (£7.50).

Smoked bone marrow and jollof rice – the latter is a classic west African dish

The drinks have been devised by brothers Max and Noel Venning, with standout cocktails including the Guinness Stone Fence (£10), a cacao nib-infused rum served with lime flower and lengthened with Nigerian Guinness, while Sunaina Sethi, operations director and wine buyer at JKS Restaurants (which includes Gymkhana, Trishna, Bubbledogs and Bao), has developed the wine list, drawing on her vast experience of matching spicier flavours with reds, whites and rosés.