FACT dined and delved into the story behind Ikoyi with its co-founder.
Winning Restaurant of the Year once is an achievement. Doing it twice in succession suggests something more enduring. At the FACT Dining Awards London 2026, Ikoyi retained the biggest prize of the night, while also being named Best British Restaurant for the second consecutive year. The ceremony took place at CÉ LA VI London on 22 September 2026, with the awards recognising the restaurants shaping the capital’s dining landscape.
For Ikoyi, the repeat win feels particularly fitting. Chef Jeremy Chan and co-founder Iré Hassan-Odukale have never built the restaurant around easy categorisation. Instead, it has developed its own culinary language, one grounded in British ingredients, global spices, fermentation, smoke and an almost obsessive approach to sourcing.
Breaking Boundaries
Ikoyi’s story begins with two friends and an idea that evolved far beyond its original intention. Hassan-Odukale was born in Lagos before moving to the United Kingdom, growing up in a Nigerian household where food was central to family life.
“Growing up I ate Nigerian food: plantain, fried Jollof, chicken and rice,” he laughs. “When we went out, we had a lot of Chinese food too”.
After studying at the London School of Economics, a career running one of Britain’s most acclaimed restaurants was hardly inevitable. As he told FACT in 2025: “I’m not a chef. The idea was to do something fun, a bit like Nando’s. Initially, I imagined a chain, but it developed into what it is now – a space for creativity and flavour.”
That development has been dramatic. What began with references to West African ingredients has become a restaurant resistant to geographical labels. Ikoyi, named after the Lagos neighbourhood, is now defined less by a particular country than by Chan’s highly individual approach to flavour.
British Produce, Global Spice
The foundation is British produce. Ikoyi describes its cooking as being built around micro-seasonality, using vegetables slowly grown for flavour, sustainable line-caught fish and aged native beef. A vast collection of spices sourced from around the world then provides the vocabulary through which Chan interprets those ingredients.
Smoke, fermentation, preservation and ageing are recurring techniques, but none are treated as gimmicks. Native beef is aged to develop depth, fish is sourced according to what fishermen can provide, and vegetables are selected for flavour rather than visual uniformity. The result is a tasting menu in almost constant motion.
Recent dishes illustrate how distinctive that language has become. Turbot is paired with egusi miso, while Smoked Jollof Rice distils one of the restaurant’s longest-running references into something unmistakably Ikoyi. Plantain with Smoked Kelp and Blackberry has become one of its most recognisable plates, combining sweetness, salinity, smoke and acidity in a dish that looks deceptively simple.
Earlier signatures have included Jollof Rice with Crab Custard, where smoky brown rice met a rich, vividly coloured sauce. What matters, however, is not maintaining a collection of greatest hits. Ikoyi deliberately changes according to the seasons and its suppliers.
Hassan-Odukale explained that philosophy to FACT in 2025: “The British category is right. We use British ingredients. Jeremy and I are both British, with dual nationalities. The food reflects what’s in Jeremy’s head at the time. Being British is diverse, and this is our interpretation of that diversity. You can make unusual ingredients familiar. The flavours are bold and punchy. Textures might be unexpected, but that’s part of the experience.”
Designing a destination
The same refusal to follow convention extends beyond the plate. Ikoyi’s current home at 180 Strand is dark, architectural and deliberately restrained, with bespoke tableware and natural materials contributing to the sense that every detail has been considered as part of one composition.
“The first venue was colourful; the second venue is darker and more mature. The space references films like Alien – it’s an art installation in itself rather than art on the wall.”
The mood allows the food to provide much of the drama. There are no obvious visual clichés to tell diners how to interpret what follows. Instead, ingredients, textures and increasingly complex layers of spice do the storytelling.
FACT Dining Awards 2026
FACT is far from alone in recognising what Chan and Hassan-Odukale have created. Ikoyi currently holds two MICHELIN Stars, with the MICHELIN Guide categorising its cuisine simply as “Creative”.
Its international reputation has also accelerated. Ikoyi climbed to number 15 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2025, earning the Highest Climber Award in the process.
Add consecutive FACT Dining Awards for Best British Restaurant and Restaurant of the Year in 2025 and 2026, and the accolades begin to tell their own story. Yet Hassan-Odukale’s definition of success was notably pragmatic when FACT spoke to him after the first win.
“We were surprised. It felt great to be recognised as a British restaurant. The team works incredibly hard, and awards like this show people notice.”
He continued: “A restaurant’s success first depends on financial sustainability. Then it’s about giving guests the best experience and ensuring the team is happy and growing. Maintaining standards is pressure, but if we continue doing what we’re doing, it’s fine.”
A year later, the sentiment feels particularly relevant. Ikoyi has not retained FACT’s top honour by standing still or repeating the dishes that first won acclaim. Its strength lies in progression. Produce changes. Plates disappear. Techniques develop. Yet the restaurant’s identity becomes clearer with every iteration.
The current tasting menu is priced at £395, with a shorter menu available for £180. Dinner is served Monday to Friday, with lunch from Wednesday to Friday.
In a city where restaurants regularly reinvent themselves in pursuit of attention, Ikoyi has done something harder. It has created a style of cooking that is immediately recognisable without becoming predictable. For the second year running, that makes it FACT London’s Restaurant of the Year.
Where: Ikoyi, 180 Strand, Temple, London, WC2R 1EA
Contact: https://ikoyilondon.com