JEREMY CHAN
- RIZE
- Nov 19
- 4 min read
"Ikoyi is my life."
Top-Chef Jeremy Chan founded the restaurant IKOYI in 2017, together with entrepreneur Iré Hassan-Odukale. It's been voted one the 50 best in the World and is considered London's gastronomic hotspot. At the end of 2022, they moved to central London, in the immediate vicinity of King's College and the Savoy Hotel. IKOYI is now located in a concrete complex in the architectural style of brutalism. Chef, co-founder and perfectionist Jeremy Chan still checks every plate that comes out of the open kitchen. The menus surprise with sophisticated spices from West Africa. We spoke to Jeremy about his concept and vision for IKOYI.
RIZE: Jeremy, to start with, what can you tell us about your background and upbringing?
Jeremy Chan: I was born in the north of England; my Dad is Chinese and a lawyer, my Mum is Canadian, a ballet teacher. I travelled a lot growing up and was raised in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. After leaving Princeton university, I travelled through Europe and worked in a few short-term jobs, but I never really found my place until I decided to become a chef. Growing up in Hong Kong, its vibrant food culture had a big influence on my way of thinking about food. I believe the way you express yourself around food shows your cultural origins. I have been exposed to such a diverse group of people in my life, including so many cultures and nationalities, and I think that shows in my cooking. From an early age, I grew up associating the burning sensations that spicy food elicits with deliciousness, and this is now really important with how we cook at IKOYI.
You and Iré Hassan-Odukale were school friends. How did you meet?
I’ve known Iré for about 22 years. We met through school friends at a party. As you get older, I find the friends that you meet in your late 20s, early 30s, are those that remain, because you share the same life view and experience, and Iré is one of those friends. We started discussing our passion for food and opening a food business about 14 years ago, and there was a spark and passion we clearly shared. Things blossomed from there. We started cooking for friends, and Iré suggested opening a restaurant. And then it quickly snowballed – we started doing events, looking for locations, doing pop-ups, doing private dinners, putting together our ideas and philosophy, designing our branding. It was a pretty brutal two years trying to set this all up – but we got there in the end.
How would you describe your cuisine?
IKOYI’s cuisine is about optimising the potential of hyper-seasonal produce, using spice to weave together complexity and concentration of flavour. We are passionate about peppercorns, chillies and ingredients with pungent and smoky aromas, and we aren’t afraid to challenge our guests with the intensity of our dishes. I put my whole heart into everything that I do and try to do everything to the max, so everything about the food at IKOYI is about intensity. It’s about memory. It’s about creating clear and decisive flavours. I want to bring joy with my food. I want the dishes to make people happy. I want to give people long-lasting memories.
How important is interior design for a high-class restaurant?
The design is really important. IKOYI is my vision of a beautiful architectural space, with comfort mixed in with a little brutality and precision. We worked collaboratively with Danish architect David Thulstrup on it. Art is also important, there’s sculptures, design and materiality everywhere – but we don’t put art and food in the same category. It’s very ambitious, but at the same time, we’ve designed it to make our guests feel amazing and comfortable.
In 2021 you were honored with the “One To Watch“-Award at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, in 2022 you were awarded a second Michelin star. What do awards mean to you in general?
I’m really grateful and humbled to be recognised by Michelin and 50 Best. I’m proud of our small, hard-working team and grateful to our producers, as without them, it wouldn’t be possible.
What about the current restaurant and dining scene in London? IKOYI is now located at the prestigious The Strand...
To be honest, I really don’t eat out that much in London. When I do, it’s at more casual places where people are friendly – and London does this well. I love my work and what we do, but eating complex tasting menus on my days off reminds me of work too much. What makes London special is that it has many really strong, multicultural and casual restaurants. When I say casual, there's still a lot of work that's gone into them. They're casual in that you don't need to go in and be well dressed, or it's not like a serious dining experience. There are a lot of restaurants that cook really delicious food with good products. They’re approachable, and anyone can go there.
Besides the art of cooking, do you have any other passions?
Well, I don’t really have much of a life, to be honest, IKOYI is my life. So, I’d say most of my activities outside of work kind of relate to work. I enjoy cycling, I cycle to work everyday. I like to read when I have the time. I read on a wide variety of topics, including literature, current affairs, politics and the history of architecture, anything really. I like to read to bring my mind outside of cooking sometimes.
What about your future plans and perspectives?
Honestly, there is no plan, other than getting better every single day, improving the experience for our guests and learning more about cooking every day. To be more precise: In July, we are doing a three-week pop-up in California, in Los Gatos, for Ritual at Manresa. It will be our first US pop-up, and I’m really excited to bring our spice-based cooking ethos to a new terroir.
Find out more about IKOYI here
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