The Times
Camilla Long was impressed by the “remarkable” food on offer at this new venture – “lavish, inventive, unlike any museum café menu I’ve ever seen. There are curries (curries!) and toasties and soups and perky lamb sausage rolls and merguez-stuffed flatbreads and salads”.
But while she noted “the beauty and intelligence of its technicolour hotchpotch of ‘mixed heritage’ dishes”, the tone changed with Camilla’s suggestion that, if asked what sort of person Jikoni was, the answer would be: “female NGO worker discovers miraculous Sex and the City bolthole amid burqas and block-printed fabrics. She gets drunk on pomegranate cocktails and shags her Afghan translator.” Blimey.
The soft drinks – including a non-fizzy cola that was “wonderful, a lush charger of dark, quenching, cinnamony goodness” – got got a big thumbs-up. But the food: “Hmmm….” Camilla nibbled her way through a toastie, a chicken pie with a thick orange turmeric crust and a plate of macaroni dal, but “all of them, ultimately, taste the same.” Thankfully the puddings were better, including a reimagined iced bun that looked like something out of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and an ”outstanding” pink meringue with coconut, rhubarb and whole black peppercorns.
Camilla Long - 2026-05-10
