Chishuru closes ahead of move to new location

Chishuru restaurant in London’s Brixton has closed as of 29 October ahead of moving to a new location next year.

In a post on social media, the restaurant said that after two years in Brixton, the restaurant will have “a new home” next year with “more details to be announced in due course”.

“I wanted to showcase that there was much more to food from West Africa than what people are used to – than jollof, for example, or fufu,” owner Adejoké Bakare told The Caterer last year. At the time, she said the site was leased to her for the following 18 months.

The chef opened Chishuru, her first restaurant, in August 2020. It was something Bakare had always wanted to do, despite having no professional training. Her dream saw her run the concept as a supper club for several years, as well as complete stages at restaurants including London's Ikoyi and Brunswick House, and win the amateur category in the 2019 Brixton Kitchen competition, which landed her the site in Market Row. She previously worked at a property management company.

The restaurant garnered positive reviews from critics, with The Observer's Jay Rayner describing the menu as "full of heat and vigour and zest". The London Evening Standard's Jimi Famurewa reviewed Chishuru's meal kit while the restaurant was closed, which he said blazed with "joy, creativity and rough-edged charm", balancing "homespun charm with a culinary verve more readily associated with fine dining".