London's Michelin star restaurants: our verdict
Female chef power. The most thrilling story of Michelin's latest awards is Clare Smyth winning two Michelin stars straight away for her first solo restaurant Core by Clare Smyth which only opened earlier this year. Jumping one star to two star immediately is very rare indeed, and, a feat only Claude Bosi's Bibendum has achieved before.
Exciting too are the Bib Gourmand awards: these are more informal (and more affordable) restaurants serving seriously good neighbourhood food. This year, there are four London recipients: Sorella: sister restaurant to The Dairy in Clapham and Robin Gill's ode to the Italian Amalfi coast; Kudu, a South-African inflected neighbourhood restaurant in Peckham; Farang, Seb Holmes' Thai meets British ingredients in Highbury and Petit Pois, an intimate French bistro in Hoxton.
Great eating in London is about so much more than hipster British and more familiar cuisines, it is home to an incredible number of cuisines less often exalted in restaurant guides.
Ikoyi in St James's Market is Canadian/Chinese chef Jeremy Chen's playful interpretation of West African dishes and flavours inflected with contemporary techniques and a well;honed instinct for balancing unexpected ingredient combinations. He's been inspired by working in restaurants around the world including Copenhagen's Noma and London's Dinner. His co-patron is his schoolfried Ile Hassan;Odukale who hails from Nigeria, hence Ikoyi, named after a prosperous neighbourhood in the capital Lagos.
Among the showcase main courses are black Nigerian tiger prawn with banga bisque and corn grits cooked at low temperature in a brown-butter/sherry emulsion, suya style blade of beef served with a side of smoked bone marrow and Chan's take on West Africa's most famous dish jollof rice, here served with crab. Desserts are equally mould-breaking: as papaya, alligator pepper and buttermilk
Cocktails with a West African edge such as a plantain based Old Fashioned are a big draw too as is the understated beautifully crafted interior.
Dinner for two with drinks: £120
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