Introduction

Adejoké Bakare is the first black female Michelin-starred chef in the UK. Her London restaurant, Chishuru, showcases modern West African cuisine and was one of several new one-star venues listed in Michelin’s Great Britain & Ireland Guide 2024.

Joké Bakare developed her love of food from an early age, and ran a fish & chip cart while studying in Nigeria. After moving to the UK with her family, she continued to pursue her passion for cooking alongside several jobs.

Things went to the next level with a pop-up restaurant in Brixton, which quickly proved a hit with diners and critics, and Chishuru became a permanent addition to London’s culinary landscape.

Business partner Matt Paice joined in 2021, running front-of-house operations and overseeing the wine list, and Chishuru relocated to Fitzrovia in 2023. Decor reflects its culinary roots, with soft furnishings by British-Nigerian designer Eva Sonaike.

Michelin inspectors praised Chishuru’s warm and friendly ambience. Of the food, they said, ‘Delicious, satisfying and full-flavoured dishes showcase cleverly judged spicing, with sauces proving a particular highlight – whether thick scotch bonnet with ekuru, or caramelised onion and lemon with guinea fowl yassa.’

How do you feel about winning your Michelin star?

I’m thrilled! The hospitality industry gives out lots of awards to itself, but the one that chefs care about more than any other is Michelin.

Where does your passion for food come from, and when did you first start cooking?

I learned from my paternal grandmother. As the oldest sibling, I was often tasked with cooking for the family. I became interested in learning about food, and experimented a great deal on my dad, the poor man!

When did you first start cooking professionally?

I ran a fish & chip cart while I was studying biological sciences at Kaduna in northern Nigeria. It was just something I did from time to time, but it was very popular, especially with American and Asian students. Then, years later, after I moved to the UK, I sold pies and akara and puffpuff from a van outside my church in southeast London on Sunday mornings. After that, I ran a couple of supper clubs.

Can you tell us more about how you made the leap into the hospitality sector in the UK?

When I came to the UK, I worked in a range of fields from care to health & safety facilities management. I was becoming more and more interested in food, and I had always dreamed of having my own restaurant. Then, I saw an advert in the local London paper, Metro, for a competition to get a three-month pop-up restaurant. To my amazement, I won. That was in early 2019, but it wasn’t until September 2020 that it opened.

How did you make the transition from pop-up to restaurant?

The pop-up was only supposed to last three months, but Jay Rayner – the famous food critic of the Observer newspaper – came in and gave us a rave review. Brixton Village then asked me to make the pop-up permanent.

Why did you make the move from Brixton to Fitzrovia?

After TimeOut named Chishuru the ‘best restaurant in London’ in April 2022, it became apparent that we had outgrown the space – we didn’t even have our own bathrooms! So my business partner Matt and I started looking for central London premises – we knew we needed to be central, because of the number of foreign visitors we were getting. We closed Brixton in October 2022 and I did a couple of pop-ups while we waited for the restaurant to open. We finally opened the Fitzrovia site in September 2023.

What has been your biggest obstacle, whether professionally or personally, and how have you overcome or managed it?

London landlords were not very interested in having a west African restaurant in their premises. We were flatly refused sites we wanted, and for a while with our current site it looked like the deal would fall through and we would lose everything. Summer 2023 was very challenging indeed. The answer was persistence, and self-belief. I just refused to give up.

Why do you describe your restaurant as ‘modern West African’?

I was born and raised in Nigeria but there’s no such thing as ‘Nigerian cuisine’ – it’s a huge country with many peoples and culinary traditions that go across borders. For example, you are more likely to find some northern Nigerian dishes in northern Ghana than southern Nigeria. My parents are Yoruba and Igbo respectively, and I grew up in a Hausa area, so at Chishuru you will see elements of all those culinary traditions on our menu.

I’m not setting out to create an authentic version of the food of my heritage; I’m just trying to present a version of the dish in a London context, with London presentation and professional cooking techniques. I describe myself as ‘a Londoner by way of Nigeria’ and I guess my food reflects that.

How hard is it to get your ingredients in London?

I’ve found it impossible to get good plantain from normal restaurant suppliers, so I have boxes and boxes driven up from Brixton Market twice-a-week. I head to Dagenham for specialist spices, and for yaji – a spice blend for grilled meats. I get this made for me by someone I know in Nigeria.

What’s your favourite dish on the menu?

One dish that I’ve been making since the beginning is ekuru. It’s a wild watermelon seed cake, topped with a pumpkin seed pesto and served with a Scotch bonnet sauce. Like a lot of my food, it’s a little London twist on a dish from my childhood.

What are the principles behind your wine list at the restaurant?

My food often has intense flavours, so we identified quite early on that wines with freshness and aromatic intensity would work best. High tannin & high acid wines don’t work, nor do wines with lots of evidence of oak or malolactic fermentation (MLF). Wines with age, with lots of tertiary characteristics, don’t stand up to the food, which is why you won’t see anything older than about six years on our list.

We decided to focus solely on French wines, to be able to go deeper into its grapes and regions. We’re the only restaurant in London serving a Romorantin by the glass [for example]; we serve a Loin de l’Oeil on our wine flight; we have three Savagnins on the list and two Savennières. The list is entirely natural but you’d never know – there’s no funky stuff.

Do you have any personal favourites from your wine list?

Right now, Domaine Labet’s Savagnin ‘Élevage Long’, which is aged 36 months in large barrels. But, their wines are in short supply so it won’t be in the fridge for much longer. Perhaps our most popular wine – the one which customers ask over and over to take a photo of the label – is Domaine Chamonard’s Fleurie ‘La Madone’ which we serve as part of our wine flight.

You’re the first black female Michelin-starred chef in the UK. What do you think is the significance of this?

You can’t be what you can’t see – I hope my star gives inspiration to others to put themselves forward.

What advice would you give to other black female chefs?

Cook from your heart, and believe in yourself. And keep persisting!