Raised in Dorset by his Nigerian parents, Ayo Adeyemi has had a circuitous route to running the kitchen of a West African restaurant having previously cooked at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck in Bray, Taj Campton Place Restaurant in San Francisco, and Ryan Clift’s Tippling Club in Singapore before settling at Fitzrovia restaurant Akoko. The kitchen had previously been in a state of flux, having been headed up by now Cycene chef Theo Clench and before him William JM Chilila, and Adeyemi was seemingly tasked with bringing some stability to the restaurant. And boy has he done that.
Earlier this year Akoko was awarded its first Michelin star, becoming only the second West African restaurant in the UK to have achieved such an accolade (Chishuru won a star on the same day) thanks to Adeyemi’s ability to combine his passion for and knowledge of the food on which he grew up with the culinary skills acquired while cooking around the world.
Under Adeyemi Akoko has developed and grown in stature. The restaurant’s long set menu (a shorter lunch menu is also available) is a careful curation of refined dishes that are somehow familiar but also tantalisingly exotic, whether this be Cornish brill with sosu kaani (a type of chilli sauce); or mackerel with vatapá.
Adeyemi isn’t resting on his starred laurels though. He describes his food at Akoko as ‘quite approachable’ but intends to be a bit braver with dishes that will further explore West African cuisine and unashamedly push lesser known ingredients and proteins to the fore.
The star is just the start of the journey for Akoko, and greater things are to come. That’s what makes Adeyemi a chef to watch.
Earlier this year Akoko was awarded its first Michelin star, becoming only the second West African restaurant in the UK to have achieved such an accolade (Chishuru won a star on the same day) thanks to Adeyemi’s ability to combine his passion for and knowledge of the food on which he grew up with the culinary skills acquired while cooking around the world.
Under Adeyemi Akoko has developed and grown in stature. The restaurant’s long set menu (a shorter lunch menu is also available) is a careful curation of refined dishes that are somehow familiar but also tantalisingly exotic, whether this be Cornish brill with sosu kaani (a type of chilli sauce); or mackerel with vatapá.
Adeyemi isn’t resting on his starred laurels though. He describes his food at Akoko as ‘quite approachable’ but intends to be a bit braver with dishes that will further explore West African cuisine and unashamedly push lesser known ingredients and proteins to the fore.
The star is just the start of the journey for Akoko, and greater things are to come. That’s what makes Adeyemi a chef to watch.
