Jollof is long-grain rice simmered down in onions, tomatoes, peppers and stock, and Adejoké Bakare calls the smoky version party jollof. It is the dish every West African kitchen is judged on, and in London it now runs from a Woolwich counter to a tasting menu in St James's.
Jollof, and where it travelled.
how it is eaten · Woolwich, Peckham, Brixton and Greenwich, and then St James's
What it is
The New York Times calls jollof "the greatest litmus test of any West African
restaurant".
1
Adejoké Bakare's iconic version is the party jollof at Tasty African Food,
smoky with a rich tomato sauce underneath
. The smoke there comes from time
spent caramelising the onions and tomatoes and then enough heat to catch.
1
Why it matters here
Jonathan Nunn writes that London "is probably the best place to try it in Europe, along with Paris, but there is almost nothing that isn't slightly difficult to get to". 6 Alhaji Suya is on an industrial estate in Greenwich; Angels in Peckham calls itself a bakery while running "a bain-marie loaded with jollof rice, Nigerian stews and a constantly roaring grill firing up suya meat". 7 Tasty African Food started as one Woolwich restaurant in 2000 and is a franchise now. 1 Bakare says what changed when the dish reached a tasting menu: Jeremy Chan cooking jollof at Ikoyi "blew many Nigerians' minds, because the dish is mostly served at hole-in-the-wall places that people who aren't part of that community don't visit". 1
How it is done
At Ikoyi the jollof arrives under "a seductive lobster and scotch-bonnet custard", and it has been on the menu since the room opened. 3 The kitchen's opening bite shows what else the technique is doing: a pepper broth from an eighteen-hour infusion of caramelised chicken wings, over pork jowl, finished tableside with oil from Sierra Leonean cubeb peppercorn. 3 At Chishuru the translation runs the other way, into vegetables: Gavin Hanly found the egusi rebuilt as "grilled hispi cabbage stuffed with caramelised shallots, utazi leaf, wild watermelon seed sauce", and every main still comes with rice and a caramelised plantain. 4
Who does it
Adejoké Bakare cooked supper clubs before she cooked in a restaurant. She won
the Brixton Kitchen competition as the amateur entrant, and the prize was a
room in Brixton Village.
4
What she got out of the market was supply as much as rent: "it was so easy to
access ethnic produce and I had a one-to-one relationship with the suppliers".
5
Jeremy Chan and Iré Hassan-Odukale opened Ikoyi in
2017 with little formal training between them
, and named it after the Lagos
suburb Hassan-Odukale was born in.
2
3 Ayo Adeyemi runs Akoko
on a ten-course menu of barbecued blue lobster, suya skewers and Ghanaian
bofrot, and the same team's Akara took a Bib Gourmand in 2026 on a menu built
around deep-fried akaras.
8
9
On the list
best version at
IkoyiThe smoked jollof has been on the menu since the room opened, now served under a lobster and scotch bonnet custard.
“and that signature jollof, a menu staple since Ikoyi opened, and which comes with a seductive lobster and scotch-bonnet custard.”
Time Out London, Leonie Cooper, 15 January 2026 [3]
best version at
ChishuruAdejoké Bakare cooks across the region rather than one country, and the egusi arrives as a stuffed cabbage.
“In Brixton, Chishuru in Brixton Market is a must; Joké Bakare’s cooking seeps around borders, encompassing the southern and eastern cooking you’ll find in most of London’s Nigerian restaurants, with food from the north as well as across the wider region.”
Vittles, Jonathan Nunn, 29 April 2022 [6]
Where to get it
Tasty African Food has the version the panel picked, and its first shop is
still at 16 Plumstead Road in Woolwich with more counters across the city.
1
Order the jollof with moin moin and fried plantain, and a Nigerian Fanta,
which is sweeter, less bubbly and more intensely orange-flavored
than the
one you know.
1
For suya, Jonathan Nunn sends you to Alhaji Suya on a Greenwich industrial
estate: "Get the tozo, buy some extra yaji and if you have an oven at home,
you can get a guinea fowl to heat up later."
6
Both Chishuru and Ikoyi are bookings rather than
walk-ins, and neither is the cheap end.
The story
Ikoyi "has gently moved away from its original west
African culinary concept" toward what Chan calls spice-based cuisine, in
Leonie Cooper's account, while
The World's 50 Best still writes that the smoked jollof remains
its
signature.
3
2 Both are describing
the same plate. At the other end the risk is the lease rather than the label:
in October 2025 Josh Barrie reported Daddy O Suya among the rooms locked out
of a Stratford site over unpaid electricity bills.
10
Sources & mentions
- [1]The New York Times T Magazine, 16 September 2025, on the dish and the test
“Perhaps the greatest litmus test of any West African restaurant is the quality of its jollof rice, that staple of long-grain rice slow-simmered with onions, tomatoes, peppers, good stock and spices.”
“The version served at Tasty African Food — founded in 2000 by the Olaleye family as a single restaurant in Woolwich and now a franchise with 28 locations — is akin to what one would find in Lagos, with a deep, spicy flavor reflecting ample time taken to caramelize the onions and tomatoes and enough high heat to impart a woodsy smokiness.”
“Jeremy [Chan] doing jollof at Ikoyi, a fine-dining restaurant, blew many Nigerians’ minds, because the dish is mostly served at hole-in-the-wall places that people who aren’t part of that community don’t visit.”
“But if we’re talking about an iconic version of the dish, it has to be the smoky jollof at the chain Tasty African Food. It’s been going for nearly 30 years, and they do a form that we call a party jollof. It’s smoky with a rich tomato sauce underneath.”
“While jollof is the main draw, the kitchen also offers a range of favorites like moin moin (a steamed bean pudding), fried plantains and the obligatory Nigerian Fanta — which is sweeter, less bubbly and more intensely orange-flavored than other versions — to enjoy alongside.”
- [2]The World's 50 Best, Josh Ong, on Ikoyi's founding
“Friends Jeremy Chan and Iré Hassan-Odukale launched Ikoyi in 2017 with little formal training between them.”
“Ikoyi’s signature remains its smoked jollof rice, which has been a mainstay on the menu in myriad forms that vary depending on the time of year.”
- [3]Time Out London, Leonie Cooper, 15 January 2026, on what the room calls itself now
“Named after the affluent suburb of Lagos where co-founder Iré Hassan-Odukale was born, Ikoyi has gently moved away from its original west African culinary concept. Now the focus is on what Chan calls ‘spice-based cuisine’, though a handful of Nigerian-inflected dishes remain on the 14-ish course set menu, including a potent smoked jollof rice, and a guinea fowl suya, which comes served in a crispy caramelised rice shell with a spiced grape gel and freshly grated black truffle.”
“Take the opening bite; a compelling pepper broth, made from an 18-hour infusion of caramelised chicken wings, served over a bitesized hunk of tender pork jowl brushed with garlic soy and anchovy butter, which is topped, tableside, with drops of oil from the ultra rare cubeb peppercorn from Sierra Leone.”
- [4]Hot Dinners, Gavin Hanly, 5 October 2023, on Chishuru's egusi
“the vegetable option was their own take on Nigerian egusi - grilled hispi cabbage stuffed with caramelised shallots, utazi leaf, wild watermelon seed sauce.”
“As well as house pickles, each main comes with a generous portion of rice and a beautifully caramelised plantain.”
“Having started out hosting supperclubs, Joké was the "amateur" winner of the Brixton Kitchen competition which won her a standalone restaurant in Brixton Village.”
- [5]Adejoké Bakare, MICHELIN Guide interview, Andrew Young, 2 March 2026
“the sense of community was wonderful, and for me it was so easy to access ethnic produce and I had a one-to-one relationship with the suppliers.”
- [6]Vittles, Jonathan Nunn, 29 April 2022, on where to eat suya
“Alhaji Suya in Greenwich is on an industrial estate, a bus ride away from the Maritime Museum and Greenwich Park. Get the tozo, buy some extra yaji and if you have an oven at home, you can get a guinea fowl to heat up later.”
“If you’ve never had West African food before then London is probably the best place to try it in Europe, along with Paris, but there is almost nothing that isn’t slightly difficult to get to.”
- [7]Vittles, 2 August 2024, on what a Peckham bakery actually is
“Angels calls itself a bakery, though with a bain-marie loaded with jollof rice, Nigerian stews and a constantly roaring grill firing up suya meat, it could really call itself whatever it wants.”
“Agege bread, simply named after Agege in Lagos, is another classic Nigerian soft-bread favourite, equally as tasty as a sandwich or torn and dipped into a hot stew.”
- [8]The Nudge, 27 March 2026, on Akoko
“Head chef Ayo Adeyemi turns out breath-taking 10 course tasting menus of barbecued blue lobster, suya meat skewers and Ghanaian bofrot (doughnuts) with exquisite wine or cocktail pairings to match.”
- [9]Hot Dinners, Gavin Hanly, 3 February 2026, on the 2026 Bib Gourmands
“(Borough Yards) - From the Akoko team, this West African restaurant has a menu built around deep-fried akaras”
- [10]Evening Standard, Josh Barrie, 11 October 2025, on the rooms that lost their sites
“Last week, much-loved restaurants such as Kaieteur Kitchen, Daddy O Suya, and Como Y Bebe were locked out of their sites by landlord Get Living due to unpaid electricity bills.”