| Restaurant | Ikoyi Restaurant |
| The Address | 180 Strand, Temple, London WC2R 1EA, United Kingdom |
| Rating | 4.5 |
| Rated count | 704 |
| Phone number | 020 3583 4660 |
| Price level | 2 |
| Website | http://ikoyilondon.com/ |
| working hours | Monday: 6:00 – 8:00 PM Tuesday: 6:00 – 8:00 PM Wednesday: 12:00 – 1:30 PM, 6:00 – 8:00 PM Thursday: 12:00 – 1:30 PM, 6:00 – 8:00 PM Friday: 12:00 – 1:30 PM, 6:00 – 8:00 PM Saturday: Closed Sunday: Closed |
About this restaurants :
Lovely dining experience. Well attended to and food was delicious. Apparently the menu changes a lot due to seasonality and availability.
Would happily go for a return visit.
Would happily go for a return visit.
Prepared dishes were pleasant, but not wow’ed.
It’s a missed opportunity that the service team didn’t spend time to engage and explain the matching of ingredients and design that goes into the dish.
The tea pairing was enjoyable.
My usual habit when dining at a Michelin restaurant is to place order for sparking water with a few ask with it. It will show how much the staff is paying attention, and if they considered the customer experience; as these will give a preview of what I am going to get for my entire evening. On this regards, the house has failed to impress.
Excellent food with a twist at this luxury restaurant. Set behind a non-descript door on the corner of The Strand and Surrey Street. It is easy to walk past, we did twice. There is only the brown door with the name on it in mid-size script.
Once inside it is a very Scandinavian with clean lines and muted lighting. The first thing to notice is the food store with turbot and meat hung to age to perfection. That sets the tone for the evening, discrete but with attention to detail and to providing good quality.
There Is no menu to choose from, a seven course blind tasting menu is the standard offering, or rather the exceptional only offering.
All tables start service between 18:00 and 19:00 to allow for dedicated service to the table and exacting preparation in the kitchen.
The tastes seemed to me to be mainly Nigerian influenced with quite a lot of spices I didn’t recognise. I found all the dishes interesting in a very good way. There was one dish where the parts seemed to me not to fit together, even though they were individually very good.
Definitely a worthwhile dining experience and one I would be happy to go through again. I just need to save some money for it.
Once inside it is a very Scandinavian with clean lines and muted lighting. The first thing to notice is the food store with turbot and meat hung to age to perfection. That sets the tone for the evening, discrete but with attention to detail and to providing good quality.
There Is no menu to choose from, a seven course blind tasting menu is the standard offering, or rather the exceptional only offering.
All tables start service between 18:00 and 19:00 to allow for dedicated service to the table and exacting preparation in the kitchen.
The tastes seemed to me to be mainly Nigerian influenced with quite a lot of spices I didn’t recognise. I found all the dishes interesting in a very good way. There was one dish where the parts seemed to me not to fit together, even though they were individually very good.
Definitely a worthwhile dining experience and one I would be happy to go through again. I just need to save some money for it.
Ikoyi had excellent food and a great ambience but at a decidedly steep price point.
The tasting menu had some excellent dishes, especially when it came to the sauces and wringing flavour from vegetables in creative ways. Both the rib and the octopus were incredible. Unfortunately, especially the West African elements that Ikoyi likes to advertise, like the Jollof rice, underdeliver relative to everything else and relative to the fine dining expectations.
I was pleasantly surprised by some of the innovative dessert dishes which often fall flat in fine dining.
All that being said, I would not call the experience twice as good as the average 150£ 1-star restaurant. To make matters worse, when we went we ended up being overcharged by about 210£ due to waitstaff errors. The mistake ended up being resolved but left a bitter after-taste given that we were paying a premium for excellent and attentive service.
The tasting menu had some excellent dishes, especially when it came to the sauces and wringing flavour from vegetables in creative ways. Both the rib and the octopus were incredible. Unfortunately, especially the West African elements that Ikoyi likes to advertise, like the Jollof rice, underdeliver relative to everything else and relative to the fine dining expectations.
I was pleasantly surprised by some of the innovative dessert dishes which often fall flat in fine dining.
All that being said, I would not call the experience twice as good as the average 150£ 1-star restaurant. To make matters worse, when we went we ended up being overcharged by about 210£ due to waitstaff errors. The mistake ended up being resolved but left a bitter after-taste given that we were paying a premium for excellent and attentive service.
I did not think it was possible to love a meal this much. Gorgeous setting, incredible staff, inventive food pairings with every mouthful somehow better than the last.
A special thank you to our Sommelier who suggested beautiful wines, including my first taste of orange wine! I cannot wait to return to such a special place.
A special thank you to our Sommelier who suggested beautiful wines, including my first taste of orange wine! I cannot wait to return to such a special place.
