I only became aware of Ikoyi in October 2021, when “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list 2021” was revealed.  Ikoyi ranked No.87, and won the “American Express One to Watch” award.  Ikoyi also has one Michelin star.  Whilst having Nigerian-owned roots (Ikoyi is a suburb of Lagos) the restaurant is now renowned for its seasonal British produce cooked in a manner inspired by global cuisines and using exotic spices from sub-saharan West Africa.  Looking at Ikoyi’s website I saw that they only offer a blind tasting menu at £170/person, which is a lot more than other 1 star restaurants would charge.  So I had pretty high expectations for a wonderful and quite different dining experience.   Unfortunately my expectations were not met.

We arrived for our 6pm reservation and the first thing to strike me was that I couldn’t see any African faces in the kitchen or front of house, which bemused me, but I don’t believe it matters where you’re from to be able to cook certain foods.   We quickly noticed that some aspects of service weren’t up to scratch, which I put down to new starters in the ongoing hospitality staffing crisis. For example, although our waiter initially offered to take our coats to a wardrobe, we had to prompt him to do so a few minutes after we’d taken them off.  We were presented with a cocktail and wine list, but no menu; this was to be a blind tasting. But the lack of menu means diners wouldn’t know it cost £170, unless they’d looked at the website.  That would be a terrible shock to someone at the end of their meal!  And although the website gives a ‘sample’ menu, showing 13 courses; the reality is it’s an 8 course menu.  A wine flight at either £55 or £95 seemed very reasonable until we learned that the former gets you just 3 glasses and the latter 6 glasses.  We chose the latter, but ordered a cocktail first. I chose an OldFashioned containing miso, which was undetectable, but it was a good aperitif. 8/10

First we were served some snacks, which the waitress described to us and told us to eat in a set order. I’m not sure why.  We had trout sashimi, then octopus fried in wild rice with yeasted bernaise (the large plate in the photo), followed by “jigged” (raw) squid, smoked scotch bonnet and herbs on a fermented rice blini, and finally lobster salad in a small miso-bric-pastry croustade.  All of these were complemented by west African spices and all were delicious. 9/10

Our first course was charred mackerel, Maitake mushroom, “noire de bigorre” pork fat and carrot veloute.  We were confused when we overheard our neighbouring table being told the dish had Hen of the Woods mushroom, until we discovered that’s just another name for Maitake.  The fish was good and fresh, but the tastiest element was the rare breed pork fat.  Overall quite a small and simple dish. 7.5/10

Our second course was “plantain caramelised in ginger, kelp and uziza jam” on the menu but the waiter told us there was mint and chocolate in it too.  This tasted really exotic, but the plantain had an oily texture which wasn’t great. 6/10

Course three was dry aged turbot and razor clams with white Penja pepper and turnip puree and mussel and vanilla emulsion, which was served with a honey glazed brioche bun.  I’m not familiar with dry aged fish, and I found it tougher/chewier than regular fish. I did not like it that everything tasted of vanilla. 6/10 The only positive for the vanilla emulsion was that it tasted good when mopped up with the brioche.

Next came an interesting looking and sounding dish: roasted honey pumpkin, sesame milk, Kaluga caviar and coffee oil.  The Kaluga Caviar impressed me with its golden eggs and great flavour. But I could only appreciate it if I ate it on its own; within the dish its flavours were completely swamped by the pumpkin and the coffee oil.  5/10

Next up was a small portion of roasted cabbage with a spice called Ira Vadouvan (no, me neither) and malted barley. It was mildly interesting, but I do a much better roast cabbage at home. 4/10

Our main course was beef sirloin with various peppercorn sauce and greens. When it was served we were told it was Herdwick mutton, then the waiter came back to say it was Hereford beef. Hmmm.  I found the beef to be tough, even after I’d been told the knife’s sharp side was actually what is normally the blunt side (why?).  The dish came with some spicy smoked jollof rice with crab, which I thought was overcooked and the crab was undetectable. 5/10

For dessert we had a ball of pistachio ice cream sitting on some biscuit crumbs, and topped with a meringue disc and a hibiscus sauce.  I found it bland. 4/10

By 8pm there were 12 diners in the 28 cover restaurant, and I think a fair proportion of them were walk-ups. =atmosphere was lacking.

I thought this dinner was a huge disappointment. I was not seduced by new and exotic flavours, indeed many times the good flavours were drowned out by other elements on the plate.  Staff were not performing at the required level and the food in general was well below my expectations of a 1 Michelin star restaurant.  It was simply not worth the ridiculously expensive £170 price point – especially when one of the 7 courses was a tiny slice of cabbage, and another was a slice of plantain.  My overall score is 5/10, the lowest I’ve ever scored a Michelin starred restaurant.

By far the best part of the meal were the snacks beginning. These small street-food style snacks were delicious and interesting, and IMHO that’s what Ikoyi should focus on.  But street food prices probably can’t sustain Ikoyi’s St. James’ location rents.

PS We were given a printed menu and wine flight when we left. But there were differences between what was written and what had been told to us by the waiters when serving; another example of the staffing issues.

My total bill for two was £617.87 – a very large sum, which I would expect to pay at a 2 or 3-starred restaurant.  This meal at Ikoyi did not justify that price at all.  If I were an inspector I would not give it a star, and I certainly wouldn’t rank Ikoyi in the top 100 restaurants in the world. Even I’ve been to 100 better places!