I’ve always thought food in Britain would be below par compared to many other cities in the world. With my most recent trip I wanted to prove myself wrong and try some of the most outstanding food it has to offer. This meant saving up the money to afford a 300£ meal at Ikoyi, and after leaving completely stuffed and blown away I don’t regret it (maybe I will once I have to check my credit card bills later). There is a ton of info on Ikoyi located at the world’s 50 best article from 2023.

For me, it was important to try a restaurant that is really fancy, but also isn’t just straight up “elevated” European food. The menu at Ikoyi has a ton of African and Asian components, which you do not see together everyday. I recently found out that there are not many Michelin establishments that are ran by BIPOC chefs and the chance to try one of the few meant a lot to me. I understand that lists like World’s Best or Michelin can be really stuffy and still arbitrary in their rankings, so I try to go in with an open mind and have my own experience.

Starters

The little plates that make up the beginning of the meal do a great job at giving a sneak peak! They are these little flavor bombs that have a variety of flavors in one small bite. I loved the pepper broth they brought out first as it was simple but also the Gola Pepper they used had aged, sour and hearty flavors that I hadn’t tasted in a broth before.

The 3 bites consisted of a Smoked Sirloin, an Artichoke Caesar and Drunken Squid with Fermented Rice. All bites had a huge contrast in the textures combining crunchy with melty with flaky and it was overwhelming but in a good way. It felt like once I could pinpoint down how to describe a taste, another one would follow up and keep surprising me! It’s hard to believe that so much preparation can go into these plates that only last a couple seconds, but the attention to detail for that short time blew me away.

Lead up to the Entrees

This portion consisted of dishes that highlighted the Purees that Ikoyi creates out of their fresh seasonal vegetables. Items from the menu change one by one depending on seasonality and which cuts are available. Every plate had such a multitude of colors and different shapes that I felt no shame capturing what felt like art.

The mussel & saffron creme caramel is one of the prettiest dishes I’ve ever consumed, with the Mussel and fish eggs being balanced by the fresh veggies and creaminess of the red puree.

I am a hoe for Scallops so pairing it with MARSALA MARINATED ROE is going to make it easily my favorite small plate. I also couldn’t guess what the crunchy white strands were on top of the plate, but it’s apparently chopped and fried Kombu and I don’t want to think about how difficult that must be to make. This is one of those plates that really combined Asian and African flavors in a way that I had never thought was possible.

Octopus is usually a dish that I am not a huge fan of, but Ikoyi pairs it with sweet peach and a dark chocolate mushroom, so I can’t complain too much. With how many components the dish had, I actually thought the flavor was lightly muted and all the different spices got their chance to shine!

Stars of the Show!

The main courses were a Cured Turbot and a Native Beef Rib with Jollof Rice. I poked around the fish plate and tried to get a bit of everything in one bite - it was worth the effort. The pickled vegetables and the richness of the sauce continued what the small plates did, but with even bolder flavors. Dipping the bread around to pick up the remainder of the purees and sauce was also a fun way to end the dish.

The minute they brought the Jollof Rice out with the meat though, I knew this was going to be my favorite part of the meal. I could see the chef smoking the rice before they brought it out and it lived up to all the hype. The beef was aged 120 days and was a great dish on it’s own, but finishing it up with Jollof that was 60% crunch was easily the flavor peak. I thought the sauce was piri piri for the longest time because it was so meaty, but turns out it was actually LOBSTER PUREE. I couldn’t believe it when I heard it but suddenly all the umami flavor that was packed in there made sense (it also showed me my taste buds can’t really differentiate things that well…)

Dessert

At this point I was ready to tap out because I was not expecting to get so full, but all the desserts were so different from each other it felt like I got a second wind. The Citrus and Pine Sorbet was needed after such a heavy rice and meat dish. I wouldn’t say it was that unique of a dessert but still really well done. The flower sugar with pepper was a glob of sweet and savory and spice that was my favorite dessert, even if it was really simple looking. The final dish had a little Ganache along with a Verbena Berry & Wasabi tart. This reused the 20 spices that they had added to earlier parts of the meal like in the Bread, but as part of a sweet dish it really stood out.

Overall, Ikoyi was easily the most expensive but one of the best meals I have ever had. It would be hard to recommend this to someone unless they came in ready to splurge but I will stand my ground and say it’s worth it. The presentation of the food wasn’t pretentious and there were more flavors than I could keep count of. I kept watching the chefs prepare with their assortment of bottles and I loved not being able to tell what 50% of the flavors I had were. They also phase out certain ingredients based on seasonality so hopefully someday I can come back during fresh local vegetable season!