When Adejoké Bakare’s Fitzrovia restaurant Chishuru was awarded a Michelin star in 2024, she made history, becoming the first Black female chef in the UK to earn a star. Bakare had come a long way from launching a pop-up in Brixton in 2020, after teaching herself how to cook the West African food she grew up on in Nigeria. Over the past few years she’s been instrumental in the rise of popularity and visibility of West African cuisine in London, thanks to her set menus of dishes like agidi pepper soup, pollock mbongo tchobi (a spicy black stew) and sinasir (a rice pancake).
Here, Bakare shares where she eats around London – from the other West African restaurants she recommends to where she heads for a drink and a snack.
Is there anything happening in London’s restaurant scene that’s getting you excited right now?
Survival is the most exciting thing happening for many London restaurants – it’s tough out there!
Aside from Chishuru, where do you head for great West African food?
Akoko for the suited-and-booted fine dining experience; it’s also in Fitzrovia. It’s always fun to tell customers “there are two Michelin-starred West African restaurants in the whole world, and the other one is three streets away”. Ikoyi was formerly rooted in West African cuisine, but now Jeremy [Chan, chef] is casting his net wider and he and [founder] Iré Hassan-Odukale now describe themselves as operating a “spice-led restaurant”. And then for something more casual, Akara in Borough Market.
What’s your go-to for a quick takeaway dinner?
It would always be Tasty African for a delivery.
You want to go all-out – where are you booking?
Planque in Haggerston. It’s the opposite of flashy, but I love Seb’s [Myers] food so much, and the wine list is so good, that going all-out is alarmingly easy. I’ve cooked with Seb a couple of times; it’s a beautiful space.
Where do you go to eat if you also want to have fun?
Quality Wines in Farringdon is a vibe. I squeeze on to the counter, drink whatever Marcos [Spyrou] is pouring, eat whatever Nick [Bramham] is cooking, and soak up the atmosphere. Nick always has something new on the menu, there’s always great stuff by the glass, and it’s always buzzing.
If you have friends visiting from out of town, where are you taking them?
Teal by Sally Abé is showing what modern British food can really do. We are currently overwhelmed in London by live-fire cooking and Sally’s place just heads in the opposite direction. It’s simultaneously traditional and innovative. I take my hat off to her.
What’s your pick for a good drink and a snack?
Duchy in Shoreditch is a full-service restaurant but there’s so many wonderful little things on the menu that Simon [Shand] cooks that it’s worth going in as a pit-stop. Alex [Grant] and Matt’s [Garratt] wine list is large and generous, too.
Your favourite breakfast spot?
I’m not a breakfast eater! I’d have a stew with rice over a muffin any day of the week.
Where do you buy your groceries?
Brixton Market and Ridley Road Market offer the sorts of things you don’t find in regular supermarkets. We have a minicab ferry up ingredients from Brixton for us at least once a week, and for spices I use a specialist shop in Dagenham. People are always surprised by that answer, but there’s a large Nigerian community there.
What’s a hidden gem more people should know about?
Labombe is a more casual restaurant from Isa Bal and Jonny Lake at Trivet, located in the Como Metropolitan Hotel at the bottom of Park Lane. You wouldn’t know it was there, but the food is terrific, and – when I went – cooked by a mostly female team. The dishes are inventive and delicious and expertly made.
What’s your favourite sweet treat in London?
The crème brûlée cookie at Bake Street in N16. But just about every sweet treat they make I love – I’m often there on a Sunday, ordering far too much.
What’s your bucket list restaurant?
My new obsession is a restaurant in Le Marche, Italy, called Andreina, where chef Errico Recanati is doing amazing things with vegetables.
