Two-Michelin-Starred Restaurant Ikoyi Sets Sights on New Location
The owners of Ikoyi, which doubled its Michelin star count in the most recent awards, insisted to Eater that the restaurant is not closing, and will move premises if and only when the St. James’s location is sold.
Chef Jeremy Chan told Eater that more information about the restaurant’s plans would be forthcoming this summer. He did say that he and business partner, the general manager Iré Hassan-Odukale, sought a larger premises for Ikoyi, a restaurant whose smart integration of premium British meats, seafood, and vegetables into West African culinary traditions, has over the last near-half decade earned the restaurant international recognition.
Later Chan confirmed a Hot Dinners report that the company had submitted a planning application for a venue next door to Toklas at 180 the Strand, and had had a license granted for the location. Chan again insisted that the move to that preferred location was subject to the sale of the lease on the premises in St. James’s.
Despite coming close to closing its doors less than a year after opening, the restaurant has become, without doubt, one of the most creative kitchens in London, if not Europe.
Stay tuned for news of Chan and Hassan-Odukale’s next move, pending the sale off the St. James’s Market site.
