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Chop, chill and chat

NEW VENTURE: Brother-and-sister duo Emeka and Ifeyinwa Frederick

BROTHER-AND-SISTER duo Emeka and Ifeyinwa Frederick, whose family originate from Nigeria and Grenada, launched pop-up tapas lounge Chuku’s in London last year in a bid to increase the public’s familiarity with Nigerian cuisine.

“Despite the size of the Nigerian diaspora in the UK, Nigerian food lacks a strong presence on the nation’s foodie map,” said 24-year-old Ifeyinwa. “This is something that had never made sense to my brother and I as everyone we knew that had tried Nigerian food loved it. And so we decided we would start our own Nigerian food establishment to change this status quo.”

But Chuku’s is a pop-up restaurant with a difference. Quintessentially Nigerian dishes such as moi moi and pepper soup are served alongside fusion cuisine created by the pair.

Examples include jollof quinoa and chin chin cheesecake, which were influenced by their experiences growing up in London and travelling abroad.

Dishes are served in tapas-style helpings inspired by Emeka’s culinary experiences in Spain.

“I’d spent a year living in Spain and whilst there I had fallen in love with the tapas culture,” the 26-year-old said. “The relaxed vibe and the social dining was something I wanted to see in the UK. So, merging Nigerian food with tapas provided the opportunity to do so.”

Chuku’s is all about immersive dining infused with Nigerian culture, which has given rise to the catchy strapline ‘chop, chill and chat’. ‘Chop’, which is pidgin for eat in Nigeria and much of West Africa, ‘chat’ because the tapas-style dishes encourage social dining, and ‘chill’ because of the relaxed atmosphere Chuku’s promotes.

Visitors that are new to Nigerian cuisine are able to select a variety of smaller plates, explore a wider range of flavours without having to commit to big portions, Ifeyinwa said.

“A large plate of an unfamiliar cuisine can appear overwhelming, especially one with strong aromas and flavours, with the tapas serving style, you avoid this,” said Emeka.

The tapas concept also side steps a common issue in some African restaurants where presentation is not always a high priority and which can impact negatively on the restaurant experience.


TAPAS AFRICAN STYLE: Yam Tortilla,_Moi Moi,_Kuli Kuli Chicken, and_Plantain Pancakes

“We eat with our eyes so when you are trying to entice a new group of people to try your food for the first time, appearances count for a lot,” said Ifeyinwa.

And it seems the siblings are doing something right as demand for their innovative foodie concept is growing and has garnered the full support of friends and family.

“What we’re trying to do is to bring Nigerian food into the mainstream,” said Emeka. “There’s no reason why it can’t become as popular as Indian and Chinese cuisines are in the UK. But to do so we also embrace the fact that in bringing West African food to the mainstream, it might not look the same as when it’s cooked by our parents or grandparents. And that’s where some of the fusion elements come in.”


RELAXED DINING: Guests at Chuku’s enjoying a range of dishes

Chuku’s is not just frequented by Nigerians, but a host of people from different backgrounds. Its appeal means the duo will be launching more pop-ups this summer.

“Pop-ups are a really great way of being able to bring your product to market and test it without a large investment that comes with owning a permanent restaurant space,” said Ifeyinwa.

“So for us, it’s been a brilliant starting point as it’s enabled us to be agile. We are able to respond quickly to customer feedback and implement changes into our next event without concerns about knock-on effects on the day-to-day running of the business.”

The longer-term goal is to graduate to a permanent space within two years. There are also aspirations to take the concept abroad to Spain in the first instance and then to France where Ifeyinwa lived until recently.

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