Ikoyi chef justifies £320 tasting menu as he teams up with Uber Eats for 'cheap' delivery option

7 May 2024, 07:08 | Updated: 7 May 2024, 12:02

For two days this week, people will be able to try one of the world's best (and most expensive) tasting menus for a fraction of the price.

Ikoyi, which currently ranks 35 in the World's Best Restaurants, has teamed up with Uber Eats to offer a scaled back version of its £320 dinner.

Executive chef Jeremy Chan says the five-course delivery is probably the most "technical and refined" takeaway in the city, though some of the original dishes have been tweaked so they travel better.

To compensate for this, and for the trouble of having to fill up your own water after each sip, your bill will come in at a less eyewatering £60 per person.

But if you're thinking this venture is a concession to those who baulk at the price of Chan's two-Michelin starred menu (which comes in at almost £100 more than those at similarly lauded Core by Clare Smyth and The Ledbury)… it's not.

"I don't think people pay enough money for food, I think we charge too little, [but] we want to always be accessible to as many people as possible, we're always trying our best to do that," Chan tells the Money blog, before offering a detailed response to a (perhaps) hypothetical customer who wonders why a plate of fish is so expensive.

"You're paying the fishermen, you're paying for the person that's transporting it. You're paying for the logistics company, dry cleaning for the towels used to dry the fish, the paper towels that are being used to clean the guts of the fish, then waste disposal."

The fish then goes through a five-day aging process.

"We have three dry-ageing chambers that are used to store exceptional produce from very, very small producers and just the running costs of those alone [are very high]."

He goes on: "So, that single piece of fish has gone through many, many steps to go from fishermen to me, and you haven't even thought about the years of research and relationship building with the supplier. You can't just call a wholesaler and say, give me the turbot that Ikoyi is using."

All of which doesn't cover Chan's own work with the ingredients.

"I'm the one who peels the quail eggs. It's not just boiled, peeled and put on a plate... the owner of the restaurant is standing there for four hours perfectly peeling these quail eggs.

"Think about the time - that's the biggest cost in a restaurant that people don't think about, one's life, it's my life."

It's perhaps no surprise, in light of all the above, that Chan sees his collaboration with Uber Eats as a one-off.

On the menu is:

• Mutton merguez sausage with a green goddess slaw
• Fried chicken with smoked scotch bonnet and raspberry
• Jollof rice and crab custard
• Suya tamari pork with mustard greens and kumquat
• Flower sugar cake with batak berry and Garigette strawberry

It's the second Michelin tie up for Uber Eats after its £200 two-person tasting menu offering from Ynyshir in Wales, which was named best UK restaurant in 2022 and 2023.

The food will be delivered by a regular rider/driver, so Chan and his team have had to put thought into the ingredients.

"Everything on the menu has been designed to retain heat.

"For instance, the Merguez is made with a beautiful aged mutton shoulder, which has such deep, intense flavour. I don't have to worry too much about the cooking temperature because it's so fatty.

"We're going to make a little note [for the customer] that says 'quickly flash in the pan to bring it back to life, and it will still taste great'.

"A radicchio is obviously hearty, so it's not going to break down.

"All the dishes, if people eat them cold, they are still going to be tasting nice and they're also structurally sound so they don't require assembly - we're making something that can just be eaten straight away out of the box."

The Ikoyi tasting menu is available in central London to Uber One customers on Friday and for everyone on Saturday, between 5-10pm.

(c) Sky News 2024: Ikoyi chef justifies £320 tasting menu as he teams up with Uber Eats for 'cheap' delivery option