Profile‘Britain’s most creative chef’ Jeremy Chan on what makes his 2-Michelin-star restaurant Ikoyi unique, and how food that ‘offends some’ is a good thing
- Jeremy Chan’s Ikoyi in London, which made the 2022 World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, defies boundaries with its food’s African, Asian and European influences
- Chan, who owns Ikoyi with a friend, talks about its design by Noma architect David Thulstrup and how, if food is divisive, it’s usually ‘very, very good’
“This restaurant is a soul poured out into a room,” says Chinese-Canadian chef Jeremy Chan, casting his gaze over his two-Michelin-star London hotspot, Ikoyi. “It’s my vision of a beautiful architectural space, with comfort mixed in with a little brutality and precision.”
The comfort is there in the warmth of red oak tables, patinated copper wall panels, soft mustard leather chairs and handmade earthenware. A shimmering drape stretches across the ceiling and curves down over the windows, creating a safe cocoon.
Brutality is there, also, in that drape – it has the flow of fabric but is actually a mesh of woven steel. A sprig of dried grass in a rough ceramic vase is the only nod to more traditional notions of table decoration.
The precision is everywhere, when you look in close. Each one of the restaurant’s lights has been individually programmed to dim or brighten separately throughout the day to create a continually optimal glow.
They designed Ikoyi as if it were a living art piece, although Chan would never brand it as that.