Celebrated West African restaurant Chishuru to reopen in new site

Celebrated West African restaurant Chishuru is to reopen in a new site in London’s Fitzrovia next month.

Nigerian-born chef Adejoké Bakare launched the original 32-cover restaurant in Brixton Village in 2020 after winning a restaurant incubator competition but the venue closed in 2022.

In mid-September, Chishuru will reopen in a 50-cover site on London’s Great Titchfield Street, close to Oxford Circus, with Bakare’s business partner and friend, Matt Paice, overseeing front of house.

The menu will continue to pay homage to Bakare’s West African heritage with dishes such as Sinasir rice cake with white and brown crab and squash puree; cod filled with mbongo tchobi (spiced black sauce) and wilted greens; and Moringa soup, black sesame caramel and baobab meringue.

Wines will be sourced from independent French producers, while cocktails will feature West African herbs and spices.

“It’s been a long time coming but opening this restaurant has been a life-long dream of mine,” said Bakare.

“This new kitchen will allow me to explore even further the different cuisines of my heritage – Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba. My food isn’t tied to tradition but is instead inspired by the dishes of my childhood that have then been given a London sensibility.”

Chishuru received positive reviews from critics when it opened in 2020, with the Observer's Jay Rayner describing the menu as "full of heat and vigour and zest". The 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".