With two West African restaurants in London winning Michelin stars this month, the region's specialities are finally getting the recognition they deserve.
Adejoké Bakare, of Chishuru in London's Fitzrovia, became the first Black woman to win a Michelin star in the UK, and only the second in the world. She "first made her name with a supper club", said the London Evening Standard. Now Chishuru is among the city's "most talked-about restaurants". The other Michelin star was won by Aji Akokomi of Akoko, also in Fitzrovia, where inspectors ate "one of the most memorable meals of the year", said the newspaper.
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The food typically features "smoke, heat and intensely savoury umami flavours – like the slow-cooking of onions, bell peppers, tomatoes and spices to form rich and concentrated bases for common dishes with almost infinite variations, the likes of jollof rice, egusi soup, groundnut stew, kebabs marinated in a spiced peanut sauce and fufu."
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