There comes a point in the evolution of international cuisines when an explosion of interest prompts people to explore all of the wonderful and diverse food within it. That moment, it seems, is arriving for the hitherto unjustly overlooked cuisine of West Africa.
That there is so much to discover should also not come as a surprise bearing in mind we are talking about a region of over 360 million people spread over16 countries which include such cultural behemoths as Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal. That their food is worthy of anyone’s interest should not therefore come as a surprise, but up until recently, the moment had not quite arrived.
I first thought it was coming when Ikoyi opened in the Economist building in St.James’s (it has now moved to larger premises on the Strand). This continues to be an important restaurant, taking West African ideas and ingredients and exquisitely reshaping them into dishes that are the height of fine dining. It now has two Michelin stars, is listed in the 50 best restaurants in the world and frankly is on everyone’s list of favourite restaurants. The only problem is getting a table. If you have not been, what have you been doing for the last few years?
Then at the other end of the of the price spectrum, a Ghanaian street food outlet called Spinach and Agushi pitched up at Exmouth Market just near our offices. Among serious competition from stalwarts such as the Turkish/German barbecue stall (not to be confused with German Doner Kebab, and a whole lot better – epic crackling) and a stall set up by popular North African restaurant Moro, the guys at Spinach and Agushi have aced the public test by regularly having the longest queue. And I can verify that the ten minutes or so to queue is a small sacrifice to get a generous serving of Jolof (the legendary West African dish of rice, tomatoes, onions and garlic – just don’t get into which country invented it) topped with groundnut chicken curry and a spinach and mushroom stew (all for £8.50!). I get withdrawal symptoms if I go more than a week without a hit.
To these early shoots, we can now add the thoroughly deserved Michelin stars awarded to Ayo Adeyemi and Aji Akokomi’s superb restaurant Akoko, which opened on Berners Street, just north of Soho in Fitzrovia in 2020 and the extraordinary Chisuru. The latter was originally started as a three-month pop-up in Brixton Market by Adejoke Bakare, an entrancing chef who like Messrs Adeyemi and Akokomi is of Nigerian extraction, and in which she has taken her imaginative reworkings of African classics and new dishes from traditional ingredients to a site on Great Tichfield Street, coincidentally also in Fitzrovia. These two places are perhaps the hottest tables in London right now.
Her dishes do astonishing things like mixing classic Nigerian sinasir rice cakes with crabmeat, pumpkin and sorrel puree and moi moi bean cakes topped with plantain and pickles, which manage to combine a sense of place with the confidence to take those ingredients and do something new. Not an easy thing to do and she deserves every plaudit for succeeding. Akoko does something slightly different in that it casts a wider net over the variety of culinary traditions across West Africa and takes you on a journey through them, which could include a version of the classic Gambian Yassa stew with chicken mousse and truffles or a suya, a traditional smoked spiced meat skewer from Hausaland (a region which extends over northern Nigeria and southern Niger) which is here made with Ox tongue and bone marrow.
Who knows, with a following wind we may end up with the joy of eating at a plethora of West African restaurants over the coming years which will enable us to dive into all the complexity and variety of the region’s cuisine. I certainly hope so as it will be a very tasty journey indeed. In the interim let us know (david@greencastlemediagroup.com) if you have recommendations for other West African restaurants that deserve mention and if you are wandering past Exmouth Market any time soon don’t forget about Spinach and Agushi.
Related post: Eyes on the pies this British Pie Week (thelondoneconomic.com)
