Created by chef Jeremy Chan and director Ire Hassan-Odukale, Ikoyi focuses on Jollof cuisine, a modern take on traditional Nigerian, Ghanian and Sengalese flavours.
Chan has worked in a number of high-end kitchens, including Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Noma and Claude Bosi’s former Hibiscus.
The St James’s Market opening will be the first bricks and mortar site for the team, who have run a series of residencies at London restaurants such as Le Bab and Carousel over the past year.
Though details on the opening menu are scarce, dishes at Ikoyi’s pop-ups have included smoked banana leaf meringue with caramelised coconut; and grilled mackerel with tigernut milk and grains of selim.
The restaurant is set to open in May 2017.
“We are privileged to have been selected to join St James’s Market and to call it our first home and we believe it’s the perfect location for us to introduce Jollof cuisine to a London and global audience,” says Hassan-Odukale.
"Ikoyi will interpret West African ingredients and cooking, linking it to its roots and former influences. We believe this will give rise to a new kind of cuisine, one that is applicable to a wider, global audience. Our objective is ultimately to create delicious food, but underlying this is a greater ambition, to understand and develop our perspective of West African food and its origins.”
Ikoyi joins a number of high-profile operators opening at the St James’s Market scheme, including Nordic restaurant Aquavit, Salt Yard Group’s Veneta and Duck & Waffle Local.