“I Dined At Chishuru, The World’s Only Black Female Michelin-Star Chef’s Restaurant”
There is only one black woman in the UK who has received a Michelin star. There is only one Black woman in the world who has a Michelin star for her own restaurant. There is only one Black female chef in the world who heads a Michelin-starred kitchen. All of these women are one; she is called Adejoké Bakare, and her restaurant, Chishuru, is right here in Fitzrovia.
There is Joké, creating from scratch one of the most personal, evocative menus the city has seen. A restaurant that reads like a biography, that is Chishuru.
Mallory, Junior Food & Drink Editor
What sets it apart
This is one of the more interesting restaurants I have ever been to, and Joké is one of the more interesting people I have ever met. She was born and raised in the Hausa region of Nigeria, where she studied Biological Sciences. She moved to the UK 25 years ago, where she worked in care, in health and safety councils, for TFL, and in property management. Throughout her life, her passion for cooking was maintained and resurfaced when she opened a West African street food van in a church in southeast London. From there, she began hosting supper clubs, slowly reaching a larger audience.
In 2020, Joké opened a three-month pop-up in Brixton, Chishuru. Famed critic Jay Rayner propelled it into popularity with a surprise stellar review, thus turning this short-term stint into a permanent site — Chishuru remained in Brixton for two years.
After closing the Brixton site in October 2022, Joké entered a transitional period hosting pop-ups at Carousel, 180 The Strand, and The Globe Tavern while searching for a permanent location, and despite repeated landlord rejections and doubts, she eventually opened Chishuru’s permanent Fitzrovia site in September 2023.
Five months later, it was awarded its Michelin, surpassing all expectations and making Joké a legend in every sense.
What we ordered
Chishuru is a tasting menu that mixes the traditions of the Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa peoples, representing her father (who is Yoruba), her mother (who is Igbo), and her home, which is in a Hausa region. Chishuru translates quite poetically to “the silence that descends on the table when the food arrives”. Fitting. Silence was held.
I started with a spiced okra martini, a drink that I will be shouting about as one of the best martini’s in London for the foreseeable — for obvious reasons, I fear this one will be hard to rival.
I started with a spiced okra martini, a drink that I will be shouting about as one of the best martini’s in London for the foreseeable.
There were welcome snacks reminiscent of the tradition of getting vegetables as soon as you come to somebody’s house, imagined in a bite-sized, immaculate little starter. There was a fermented rice cake with poached chicken in mustard sauce, which, like dipping a cloud of thick omelette into a mellow, although rich, warming sauce, with the chicken poached in a way you could probably never achieve yourself.
There were bean cakes with mushrooms, steamed eggs and squid ink shitto sauce, followed by a Uziza pepper and beef broth with a fermented corn cake, white crab, pork lardo and candied chilli.
Revel in that mastery — squid ink shitto sauce, fermented corn cakes, on the guineafowl, a smoked mussel sauce.
There was Cajou — a brassica with cashew sauce, millet crumb, carrots and cashew nuts served with leaves and rices and black-eyed beans. A magical representation of home cooking, self-taught cooking.
It may seem like I have just listed out each dish, but read it again. Revel in that mastery — squid ink shitto sauce, fermented corn cakes, on the guineafowl, a smoked mussel sauce. For dessert, a flourless tigernut cake with blood orange jam, cola nut tuile, chervil and cola nut custard. Did you read that? And read it properly? The innovation, and yet the particular knowingness of it originating from elsewhere. Of these flavours beginning in a home, for a person, a family, a community and, in this moment, for us.
The ‘Londoner by way of Nigeria’ has worn many hats; perhaps her crown sits amongst the best chefs in the country, perhaps the world.
Verdict
The ‘Londoner by way of Nigeria’ has worn many hats; perhaps her crown sits amongst the best chefs in the country, perhaps the world. There is something magical which occurs in Jokés dining room, dishes which feel as though they are moulded by hand with the salt of the earth. A feeling that this is what food should taste like, what ingredients should evoke.
You will probably have a different culinary experience altogether than I had, a different menu, different dishes, a different strategy for the ingredients delivered, a different product of Joké’s mind, but you will still have the silence, the “chishuru”.
Silence fell over the table because of the mere mastery in which you are privy
Silence fell over the table because of the mere mastery in which you are privy. An appreciation for whence it came. An understanding that just through that two-foot slit in the wall, there is Joké, creating from scratch one of the most personal, evocative menus the city has seen. A restaurant that reads like a biography, that is Chishuru.
