Ikoyi, the St James restaurant, has announced it will open in a little over a fortnight with a new approach that its owners say “feels like we are starting all over again”.
Reopening on Friday July 17, founders Jeremy Chan and Iré Hassan-Odukale will no longer serve their signature "blind tasting menu" – where diners wouldn’t know what they’d tuck into until they were at the table – instead moving towards "comforting dishes" which they say are designed to “warmly welcome guests back”.
“The new menu will retain the essence of Ikoyi – hyper seasonal produce, spice and big flavours – but with a focus on comfort and familiarity. Think fried chicken, bowls of smoky rice, aged sheep kebabs, fresh salads and home-made cookies,” says Chan, “There is simplicity in the new menu, but with the same attention to detail and artistic sensibility as always.”
“We’re aiming to warmly welcome guests back with this new format,” says Hassan-Odukale, “easing them back into eating out again.”
“It’s very difficult to say exactly what people will want, but we are going in with our instincts and cooking the most delicious food we can,” Chan adds.
Though firstly opening for supper only, from 5.30pm and with last orders at 9.30pm, Ikoyi will also be offering their new menu for delivery and takeaway, and are set to sell some of their produce from a new online store, with plans to launch a signature Hot Sauce.
Originally opened in the summer of 2017, Ikoyi found fame for its dishes of seasonal British produce combined with spices from sub-Saharan West Africa.
“The lockdown became a bit tedious but this moment of pause has allowed us to plan the reopening very carefully,” says Chan, “In fact, I’d say we have really been working for the past few months as there is so much theory and planning involved in reopening a restaurant after a pandemic. It feels like we are starting all over again.”
For more information, visit ikoyilondon.com
