Chef Adejoké Bakare and her restaurant Chishuru. The restaurant earned a Michelin star without fancy table linens or plating with tweezers, but with homey vibes and even bigger heart.Harriet Langford/Supplied
It all started with an ad in London’s Metro newspaper.
In 2019, Nigeria-born Adejoké (Joké) Bakare was pestered by a friend to enter Brixton Kitchen, an amateur cooking competition and culinary incubator in the U.K. searching for “the next big talent” in food entrepreneurs. The grand prize was a three-month pop-up residency in Brixton Village, a vibrant market in South London.
After briefly sitting on the idea, she decided to enter without telling anyone. Only when she made it to the semi-final, did she think, “This might be something.” Chef Jackson Boxer, a prolific restaurateur based in London and one of the competition judges, said Bakare has a depth of knowledge about the diversity of African cuisines. “Her food is absolutely beautiful – considered, delicious and utterly her own.”
In a whirlwind few years, the modern West African restaurant was named Time Out magazine’s 'Best London Restaurant' in 2022.Harriet Langford/Supplied
A self-taught chef, Bakare’s professional culinary journey began a few short years ago, but her interest in working with food stretches back to her university years in Nigeria in the early 1990s. In between her studies as a biomedical sciences student at Kaduna State University, she ran a fish-and-chips cart. She brought her love of feeding people with her when she moved to the United Kingdom in 1999, cooking at home for friends in her London flat.
With the win, Bakare was able to open a pop-up restaurant for three months. Her plans had almost been dashed when the pandemic hit. “It was almost like, okay, this dream is dead now,” she recalled. But then the Brixton Kitchen organizers called in the summer of 2020 – 18 months after she won the competition – asking if she wanted to test her vision the first iteration of her restaurant, Chishuru, in Brixton Village in the fall of 2020. The answer was an emphatic, “Yes.”
In a whirlwind few years, the modern West African restaurant was named Time Out magazine’s “Best London Restaurant” in 2022, which prompted a search for a more permanent home in central London. Now, Bakare’s restaurant is in Fitzrovia, a swanky neighbourhood in the West End, and received its first Michelin Star in February. With the Michelin nod, Chishuru became the first restaurant in the U.K. helmed by a Black woman to receive that recognition. Chishuru, a Hausa word that means “the silence that descends on the table when the food arrives,” earned its star without needing fancy table linens or plating with tweezers, but with homey vibes and even bigger heart. Recently, Bakare was named “Best Chef” at the U.K.’s 2024 National Restaurant Award.
The three-course lunch starts with a duo of sinasir, a fermented rice cake reimagined with heirloom cherry tomatoes, clementine and chili dressing, and akara, an okra-stuffed bean fritter with a sinus-jolting fermented rhubarb and chili sauce.Harriet Langford/Supplied
Today, Bakare is adding to the growing discussion about what Nigerian – more broadly, West African – cuisine in the diaspora can be. “When people [emigrated], they looked for ways to recreate those flavours [of home]. I wanted to bring that into our dishes at Chishuru as well,” she shared. The three-course lunch starts with a duo of sinasir, a fermented rice cake reimagined with heirloom cherry tomatoes, clementine and chili dressing, and akara, an okra-stuffed bean fritter with a sinus-jolting fermented rhubarb and chili sauce. The bold, uncompromising flavours are reminiscent of South Indian idli (spongy, fermented rice cake) and vada (spiced lentil fritter), a beautiful reminder of how food connects us in more ways than we know. “When Chishuru was in Brixton, that was a recurring thing,” explained Bakare. “Most of the people who came were South and East Asians. [The food] is familiar but different – and they were discovering that shared link.”
The reaction to her food from guests gave her confidence that she had a viable business model. “With every place that’s been colonized, there’s always that feeling that your food is a little bit inferior, which is totally wrong. Our food can stand on its own,” she said.
She spoils diners with a choice of elegant riffs of either yassa, fork-tender charcoal-grilled guineafowl with caramelized onion and lemon sauce, and yaji peanut spice, which gradually brings some heat; asaro, smoked eel with sweet potato cream, and a medley of yams, pepper relish and sprouting broccoli; or ukwa, a breadfruit seed stew with crunchy and tangy bites of the turnip, kohlrabi, and Jerusalem artichoke and spinach and green chilli sauce.Harriet Langford/Supplied
While scouting out a bigger, more central location for Chishuru, Bakare feared she would have to change who she was, which is reflected in her menu. “Even though it’s Fitzrovia, I have Island Poké and a burger place next to me. It’s two minutes from the noise and grind of Oxford Street. It meant I didn’t lose myself completely,” Bakare explained. “There’s a little bit of finesse or sophistication to things, but there is that grungy side that is much more me. This is where we were supposed to be.” Since September, 2023, Bakare has headed up the kitchen at Chishuru 2.0, bringing her tasting-menu format to the West End for lunch (three-course meal for £45/$80 a person) and dinner (five courses for £95/$168).
She spoils diners with a choice of elegant riffs of either yassa, fork-tender charcoal-grilled guineafowl with caramelized onion and lemon sauce, and yaji peanut spice, which gradually brings some heat; asaro, smoked eel with sweet potato cream, and a medley of yams, pepper relish and sprouting broccoli; or ukwa, a breadfruit seed stew with crunchy and tangy bites of the turnip, kohlrabi, and Jerusalem artichoke and spinach and green chilli sauce. That leads into an airy dessert of strawberries and cream, reimagined with contrasting flavours, including bitter utazi (a leafy herb native to West Africa) sorbet, macerated local strawberries, plantain and brown sugar cream and peanut crumb.
Bakare is part of a growing number of chefs and owners who are seeking to cultivate a nurturing workplace culture in an industry still notorious for worker exploitation and abuse.
“I’m so lucky I didn’t go through that toxic kitchen stuff to get here,” said Bakare. “You could never do that in a nine-to-five job – that would never fly. Thank God I didn’t have those habits to break.”
Bakare can’t help but smile when I asked about her predominantly female, nine-person kitchen team who calmly work as symphony in an open-plan kitchen. “I wanted a place whereby we would have a voice and be represented,” she said. Her approach has resonance beyond the U.K. “Loads of young, female chefs, especially, have DM’ed me [on social media] going, ‘Oh Auntie, you’re doing so well. Thank you.’ ”
Bakare can’t help but smile when asked about her predominantly female, nine-person kitchen team who calmly work as symphony in an open-plan kitchen.Harriet Langford/Supplied
The Michelin Guide may have come knocking, but Bakare doesn’t think her approach will change. “I’m too old to change,” she joked. “There is so much more to come. I just focus on my food and our guests. Most immigrant communities pride themselves on making guests feel like they’ve been treated like royalty, and it’s part of our ethos.”
One in a regular series of stories. To read more, visit our Inspired Dining section.