Jeremy Chan: Food doesn't need to be described or talked about but eaten

Ivan Brincat

Jun 28

LONDON: The success that Jeremy Chan has had over the past few years has been nothing short of astonishing. Nevertheless, it is not surprising given his determination to improve in every step of his journey. His restaurant Ikoyi opened in 2017 and he has been winning one accolade after the other. Spotted first by the World Restaurant Awards in 2019, the restaurant was named the One to Watch by the World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2021 and this year was awarded two Michelin stars.

But, the self-taught chef who graduated in languages and philosophy and worked in finance before he started cooking is just getting started. When I spoke to him a few weeks after he had clinched a second Michelin star earlier this year, Jeremy told me that since opening his restaurant he has kept his head down and worked on doing the same thing but trying to do it better and better. "I've only started to become good at what I do this year and last year. What I will do in the next five years will be at another level. I try to block everyone and not look at what is going on around me. I am not phased by comments and feedback. I just block it out. My focus is the restaurant and my team and we work to try and improve and do a good job. I am not looking at other people works and getting influences from here and there. I am thinking first about first principles. We are thinking about creating our own principles, this is the way I live," he said.

Jeremy Chan's road to Ikoyi has been different to what you would expect from a chef. But that makes him all the more interesting. Born in the North West of England he travelled across Europe with his Chinese father, a lawyer and his Canadian mother, a ballet teacher travelling and has lived in the United States and Hong Kong. He studied at Princeton University and graduated in Languages and Philosophy and like his friends he drifted into the area of finance.

"I was only 24 years old and had no idea what I wanted to do. It was not really planned. When I started working in finance I knew this was not for me but my peers were working in this field and it felt right. But it was not right for me. I started cooking because I was in Spain and just loved the markets and being surrounded by good food. I also was very interested in food."

But he knew he wanted to do something that was both physical and creative. "It was not something I really planned because I am not one to plan things. i like to do things instantly. I am very decisive and as soon as I want something I go for it 100 per cent," he said.

He read a lot about chefs and gastronomy and the more he read, the more immersed and impassioned. It was a chance conversation with a childhood friend and now business partner Ire Hassan Odukale that ignited a spark around the possibilities of African inspired food which was the prelude to how Ikoyi started.

Having made up his mind he started to write to various restaurants and landed at Claude Bosi's Hibiscus. "I think it was surreal. It was not long ago and I had never touched a restaurant kitchen before. But I am extremely intense and quick when it comes to learning so for me it was something I was consuming very quickly. I enjoyed the challenge and had no issue. I was never scared or intimidated despite the kitchen environment. I did not care that people could say that I was coming from an office and had no knowledge. I realised early that it takes everyone time to learn to drive. No one is born with driving skills and the same is for cooking, it takes patience," he said.

Jeremy worked as an intern for a few weeks and in those few weeks he learnt 'a hell of a lot' as he said. "Normally interns that went to restaurants worked in the office. I don't think they thought I would last in the kitchen. Probably some expected it to be just a phase and that soon I would be back working in the office," he said.

The time spent there convinced him this was his environment, it was something that he really wanted to do.

I've never had any anxiety or worried about imposter syndrome. I was worried at the start but most people go through this fear that consumers or the market might not understand what we were doing. But many go through this and this happens to all successful restaurants that are ambitious

I asked him if he ever felt any discomfort or had imposter syndrome given he was self-taught and did not take the normal cooking route.

"I've never had any anxiety or worried about imposter syndrome. I was worried at the start but most people go through this fear that consumers or the market might not understand what we were doing. But many go through this and this happens to all successful restaurants that are ambitious," he said. "Now that we have kicked off, the restaurant is doing well, I can really focus on what I do without having to worry or focus about getting clients in."

For Jeremy the pandemic did not present a problem. "During the pandemic we got doubly busy and after the pandemic things have gone really well. It was strangely a blessing. Closing was difficult but the reopening has been incredibly successful," he tells me.

He tells me that during the time the restaurant was closed he had time to reconceptualise the menu. "I had time to filter my mistakes and think about what I could have done better in the past. It was time to reflect and time to reorganise my mental structure, how I organise the kitchen. The business was really streamlined after the pandemic so it was really great," he said.

Where he opened the restaurant in 2017, Ikoyi distinguished itself for its bold use of flavour, intrusion new and original ingredient combinations and presenting them with indefinable style. The focus was West Africa and with Ire's help they set out to analyse and catalogue and ultimately comprehend the diverse produce and complex rich flavour combinations that encapsulate such a massive region on the African continent.

Today with all the knowledge he has acquired his cuisine is more focused on his personality and his multi-cultural upbringing. I ask him how easy or difficult is it to create a signature style.

"I don't know. Ideas come to me through personal feelings and thoughts. I don't look at what other people are doing because I think that distracts me. I like to block everything out so I can extract pure original thoughts about dishes and food and I am not attached to any idea, place, time but rather to the joy of making really great food with the raw materials I have. I am not cooking for anyone other than myself. I am of course cooking to make people happy. But for me it is about the idea, I don't care where the idea comes from as long as it is delicious."

My cuisine is personal. It is a bit like jazz. It is about my stories and ideas that are personal and which are reflected through food. I do not want to tell a story but rather to share a raw feeling. Food doesn't need to be described or talked about but needs to be eaten.

He knows that sometimes it could be difficult for people at the restaurant because they might not have reference points. "My cuisine is personal. It is a bit like jazz. It is about my stories and ideas that are personal and which are reflected through food. I do not want to tell a story but rather to share a raw feeling. Food doesn't need to be described or talked about but needs to be eaten. Is it interesting? I expect people to eat food at the restaurant in a simple way but the process to get there is subjective, complex, intricate and maybe even funny but it is not something that I want to share with the guest. We just want to share the food," he said.

But if the cuisine is personal and there are no fixed reference points does he have a matrix or does he place constraints I ask. "There are no rules but it is not chaotic. Recipes are extremely structured and technical. But the idea itself is artistic, fun, humorous and it is something that has inspired me. There is no matrix for me to follow. I just do it and I am lucky for the restaurant to be doing well so that I don't need to compromise. Most customers want to be able to choose their dining experience so I am lucky that guests come to experience what I have to offer," he said.

Having only started five years ago and with all the accolades coming in, I ask where does he want to be in five years time. "I just want to be able to cook things better. That's all I want. My job is to learn to cook better. I am excited to be learning. I fell that I am only really starting to finesse my cooking and this is really exciting. I do not care about anything else but cooking the best fish. I enjoy what I do so much and I have improved so much over the past four years that if I continue to work with the same integrity and respect I think it is exciting to think where I could be in the next five years. But that constant sense of learning is extremely important," he said.

Cooking is about refining an argument

It is obvious that Jeremy has studied many masters in other areas outside gastronomy when he talks about first principles. Not having classical training means he sees things differently. "When I speak about the best chef or making the best fish it does not mean the best fish because that would be pretentious but rather the best way I think it should be cooked or treated."

He explains further. For him, he could be eating a fish in a restaurant that cooks it better than he does but he would still not cook it that way. "For me best is not the best in terms of ranking but having the full knowledge of what you are doing and having the knowledge of all techniques to be able to choose the best way to cook it. Cooking is exciting because it is like being an artist choosing what to do but it is not random work. I am excited about the discipline of cooking and about the technique that is involved. Not having a classical background means I have a very open mind."

I don't like it when someone tells you I cannot explain how we do it but this is how we always did it and we will always do it. I have seen this often and found it undemocratic.

He tells me he gets bored of the traditional and hierarchical concept of chef culture. "I don't see it often but it is very boring. I don't like it when someone tells you I cannot explain how we do it but this is how we always did it and we will always do it. I have seen this often and found it undemocratic. Of course, in my kitchen I will enforce an idea but I share the idea with my team and I ask if there is a better suggestion. Is there a better formula and if there is let's implement it and find a methodology. I want to know what other people think and I am definitely not perfect. We are always trying to refine an argument. Cooking is about refining an argument. In a traditional restaurant, there is no refining of an argument. It is just one argument and you have to follow it even if it is wasteful or if it makes no sense."

Jeremy is conscious of the fact that if people saw his recipes they would think that he did not know how to cook. "But for me what is important is the result. Why do we need to follow traditional methodologies if the end result is the same and takes half the time," he asks.

We turn to the issue of waste and fine dining and he tells me that in general the industry is heading in a positive direction. "But we need to be honest that it is much more labour intensive to work in a less wasteful way. You have to be more creative, more spontaneous, you have to be more skilled. You need to manipulate byproducts in a delicious creative way. At the end of the day, I want to create good food. A by product could go to staff meal or a marinade but you should not serve it just because you have to. A restaurant must serve people delicious food, that is the priority."

Jeremy said that eliminating waste is also about how you cook and what you cook to avoid waste. "It is about using things grown at a particular point in time. I still have a lot of things to learn and I have not had the time to go in depth. There is a lot I can do to improve the kitchen infrastructure. I need to be able to do it in my own time and properly without being pressured into being a leader in the sustainability movement which I don't think I am. What people have to realise is that it is very challenging to be sustainable and run a restaurant in central London. You cannot have it all. We are supporting local products, growers, farms, fishermen. I think it is essential to work with good people. I don't call it a no waste philosophy but rather mindful cooking. I think about what I can use. This is not new for me but I know that in terms of the future, this is an area that I really have a lot to learn and improve on," he tells me.

"Fine dining is heading in that direction. Consumers need to start understanding the impact of waste but there is a lot of bullshit out there and question marks about what really goes on. I am a bit wary of marketing sustainability. I want to be really able to understand sustainability rather than use it as a marketing tool. The best thing to do to be a good person. If you respect ingredients you are already sustainable, if you use them in the most wholesome way, you are on the right track. There is nothing new about being a good person." he tells me.

Time is running out but I want to understand what he wrote to get a stage at Noma. It is before the recent controversies on the stage system but he tells me that for him it was a steep learning curve. "What I loved most about Noma is the people I met. They are the most inspiring people you can meet and they create an energy in the place that all comes together for the love of food."

With his writing skills - he got accepted at Hibiscus, Dinner and Noma without any experience when do we expect a book from him I ask. "I have already written it. I have put my heart into the book. I have put a lot of passion into it, the same as I do in my restaurant. It is a recipe book with essays, stories, thoughts and cooking. It is an all round narrative," he tells me. I cannot wait to read it.

Ikoyi

Ikoyi is a cosmopolitan and contemporary restaurant in constant evolution, and the home of the unique cuisine from co-founders, Chef Jeremy Chan and Restaurant Director Iré Hassan-Odukale. With strong bold dishes that celebrate the finest, hyper-seasonal British produce combined with an extensive global storecupboard of ingredients -including a myriad use of spices and fermentations -menus are a contrast of elegance and balance, married with the fearless enjoyment of the taste and flavours of the season. Ikoyi is situated in the heart of St James's

Market, two minutes walk from London's famous Piccadilly Circus.