Adejoké Bakare is redefining West African cuisine globally through her Michelin-starred restaurant, Chishuru.
In February 2024, British Nigerian-born chef Adejoké Bakare made history as the first Black woman in the United Kingdom to earn a Michelin star. The award, given for her restaurant Chishuru in London’s Fitzrovia, marked a defining moment for West African cuisine and for representation in Britain’s fine-dining scene.
Bakare’s path to the kitchen began decades earlier in Kaduna, Northern Nigeria. She was born to a Yoruba mother and an Igbo father, a combination that exposed her to diverse regional cuisines and traditions from an early age. Growing up in Kaduna, she learned to appreciate the variety and depth of Nigerian food. Though she studied biological sciences at Kaduna State University, her entrepreneurial and culinary instincts surfaced early.
In 1999, she moved to the United Kingdom to continue her studies. To support herself, she ran a small fish-and-chip cart, a venture that quietly merged British fast food with Nigerian cuisine, hinting at the career she would one day build.
Like many immigrants, she worked outside her true passion for years, taking roles in property management and health and safety. Still, she never stopped cooking. In her spare time, she hosted supper clubs and later operated street food vans around London, introducing passersby to flavours inspired by her West African roots.
These grassroots efforts gradually evolved into her first serious culinary ventures, where she tested recipes and learned the business side of food.
The big break
Bakare’s turning point came in 2019 when she entered and won the Brixton Kitchen competition, a contest created to spotlight local talent. The victory gave her the financial and logistical support to open Chishuru as a pop-up restaurant in Brixton Village in 2020. The timing was challenging as the pandemic struck just months later, but Chishuru quickly gained a reputation for its bold, refined approach to West African flavours.
Bakare’s menu has Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa influences, using traditional ingredients such as scotch bonnet peppers, plantains, and fermented locust beans with contemporary plating and precision.
The pop-up’s success led to a new chapter. In September 2023, Adejoke Bakare moved Chishuru to a permanent location in central London’s Fitzrovia, a leap from its modest Brixton beginnings to one of the city’s most competitive restaurant districts. The move paid off. Critics from The Financial Times, The Sunday Times, Vogue, and The Evening Standard praised the restaurant for its creativity, technical skill, and storytelling through food.
Then came the Michelin announcement in February 2024, followed months later by her being named Chef of the Year at the National Restaurant Awards. With these milestones, Adejoke Bakare became the first Black woman in the UK – and the second globally – to hold a Michelin star. This positioned her as a cultural ambassador, redefining how West African cuisine is perceived.
Beyond awards, Bakare uses Chishuru to showcase the diversity of West African food. She emphasises shared histories among Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa culinary traditions rather than focusing on a single regional identity. Through her cooking, she challenges stereotypes, celebrates authenticity, and opens dialogue about the complexity of African flavours in global gastronomy.
