Jikoni

Jikoni the award-winning restaurant on Blandford Street brings its team, food and hospitality to Frieze for the first time this year.  

About Jikoni

 

Our “no borders” cooking is inspired by the food of immigrants; those who have the ache for what they have left behind but also a wonder for their new landscape. We believe it is the reconciliation of this longing and curiosity along with an ability to adapt that leads to the creation of new dishes that we like to call “immigrant cuisine”.  

Jikoni celebrates both the beautiful diversity and similarities across cultures, drawing from wide-reaching heritage and flavours across Asia, the Far East, the Middle East, East Africa, Europe and beyond.

In 2021 Jikoni became the first independent restaurant in the UK to be certified carbon neutral and has a pioneering relationship with a biodynamic farm, Waltham Place, just under an hour away from the restaurant. The restaurant was founded in 2016 by chef and food writer Ravinder Bhogal and her husband Nadeem Nanjuwany.

Jikoni’s Menu at Frieze 

In a natural follow on to our style of cooking at the restaurant on Blandford Street and the cultures and cuisines that feature on our menu, Jikoni at Frieze will run a special vegetarian menu.

 

We already know that a diet made up largely of fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, grains and nuts is healthier for us and our planet, but we wanted to create a vegetarian menu for Frieze not to preach or to be militant, but instead to celebrate the joy of the vegetarian option.  

 

We inherited our vegetable literacy and the knack for cooking vibrant, inventive vegetarian food without relying on the safety blankets of meat and fish from our long lineage of plant-eating ancestors, who perfected the art of making meat-free plates jangle with flavour. 

The menu at Frieze celebrates our relationship with our dear friends at Waltham Place, who have supplied many of the nourishing vegetables and herbs on the menu.  

When the world feels like a wilderness, we find safety and refuge in nature - in the grounds of our biodynamic farm partner Waltham Place. Unfurling onions from their silky, clinging jackets, or gently pulling an unblemished heirloom beetroot from the ground feels extraordinary – they have stoically held their own against the elements, pests and blight – their presence in our kitchen is life affirming.

Our menu presents dishes that you’ll gravitate towards, ones that bring comfort and joy and that incidentally happen to be meat-free too. Of course comfort food means different things to different people, but for us they are feel-good, life-enhancing dishes that nurture, nourish and lift your mood, food you never, ever get tired of eating, meals that bring equilibrium when the world seems fraught. Importantly they should transmit a bounty of love and warm sentiment while still eliciting oohs and

aahs. And of course, if eating a diet that is mostly plants improves our wellbeing and the health of our broader world even in a small way…. well then that’s a cause for joy.