🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Nigerian cuisine · b. 1986
The self-taught chef behind Ikoyi — the most decorated West-African-influenced restaurant in the world.
Jeremy Chan is the chef and co-founder, with his school friend Iré Hassan-Odukale, of Ikoyi — a London restaurant that opened in 2017 and within seven years had earned two Michelin stars, the Michelin Green Star and a permanent place in the top ranks of the World's 50 Best Restaurants. Ikoyi is unusual in almost every way: Chan had no professional kitchen training before opening it; he is not Nigerian (he is of Chinese and Canadian heritage and grew up between Hong Kong, Toronto and London); and the food, while built around the spice palette of West Africa, refuses any one national or regional label.
Chan studied philosophy at Princeton and intended a career in finance — he worked briefly at Goldman Sachs in London — before walking out of finance to teach himself to cook. He staged at Hibiscus in London under Claude Bosi, at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, and at the Basque restaurant Mugaritz under Andoni Luis Aduriz, but never completed a formal apprenticeship. He partnered with Hassan-Odukale, whose family is Nigerian and from whom he learned the foundations of West African cooking — the smoked-grain stews of the Hausa, the suya spice mixes of the north, the palm-oil-and-prawn jollofs of the coast — and built a tasting menu around them.
The Ikoyi menu has no obvious nationality. A typical course might pair Cornish turbot with a sauce of fermented shea butter, Scotch bonnet and Hojiblanca olive oil, or feature plantain glazed with raspberry and smoked Scotch bonnet. Chan describes the cooking as 'borderless' — a refusal of the category 'African restaurant' that has historically meant cheap, casual and unstarred in European cities. In 2024 he and Hassan-Odukale moved Ikoyi from its original 26-seat site in St James's Market to a larger room at 180 The Strand.
Borderless cooking. Chan rejects the proposition that a chef's biography should determine what they cook — a principle which has earned him both passionate defenders and articulate critics. He argues that flavour traditions, like languages, can be learned by outsiders provided they are studied seriously and that the suppliers, growers and culinary historians of those traditions are credited and paid. He is also one of the most outspoken European chefs on the gap between the prestige attached to French and Japanese flavour palettes and the relative invisibility of West African ones in haute cuisine.
Two Michelin stars, Michelin Green Star; ranked No. 35 in The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2024.
These recipes from our database reflect the nigerian cooking tradition that Jeremy works in. They are not direct reproductions of Jeremy's copyrighted recipes, but traditional dishes inspired by the same culinary heritage.
“We are not a Nigerian restaurant. We are a restaurant in London cooking with a spice palette that happens to come from West Africa. That distinction matters.”
— Financial Times interview (2022)
“If the only African food a Michelin inspector has eaten is fried plantain on a paper plate, then the Michelin guide will never give African food a star. The pipeline has to be built.”
— Eater London interview (2023)
Graduates from Princeton University with a degree in philosophy.
Joins Goldman Sachs in London as an analyst; leaves the finance industry after eighteen months.
Begins self-directed culinary education with stages at Hibiscus (Claude Bosi), Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and Mugaritz (Andoni Luis Aduriz).
Opens Ikoyi with co-founder Iré Hassan-Odukale at St James's Market, London.
Awarded first Michelin star — eight months after opening, then one of the youngest UK chefs ever to win one.
Awarded second Michelin star and Michelin Green Star at the UK & Ireland ceremony.
Wins Best Restaurant at the National Restaurant Awards and is named GQ Chef of the Year.
Relocates Ikoyi to a larger site at 180 The Strand; debuts at No. 35 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list; publishes Ikoyi with Phaidon.
No, Ikoyi explicitly does not describe itself as a Nigerian restaurant. The name is taken from the Lagos neighbourhood where co-founder Iré Hassan-Odukale's family lives, and the cooking draws heavily on the West African spice palette, but the menu is constructed without national or regional category. Chan has called the cuisine 'borderless' and 'British by location, West African by inspiration.'
No. Chan is of Hong Kong Chinese and Canadian heritage and grew up between Hong Kong, Toronto and London. His business partner Iré Hassan-Odukale is the Nigerian co-founder. The two met as schoolboys at Eton.
Chan is self-taught. He studied philosophy at Princeton and worked briefly in finance at Goldman Sachs before teaching himself to cook. He staged in several restaurants — including Hibiscus, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and Mugaritz — but never completed a formal apprenticeship before opening Ikoyi in 2017.
Ikoyi holds two Michelin stars (first awarded 2018, second awarded 2022) and the Michelin Green Star for sustainability. It is one of fewer than a dozen restaurants in London with two stars.
The most-photographed dish at Ikoyi is the plantain with raspberry and smoked Scotch bonnet: a slice of caramelised plantain served with a raspberry-and-Scotch-bonnet glaze, eaten in a single bite. It has been on the menu in some form since opening and is widely regarded as Chan's signature.
Read more on Wikipedia