How London’s Two-Michelin-Starred Ikoyi Makes Its Signature Plantain | Eater

"Chef Jeremy Chan applies West African ingredients with deliberate technique and intense flavor — “it’s the spice, it’s the heat, it’s the pungency” — to create a tightly focused, Michelin-starred tasting menu. Signature items include aged sirloin topped with caviar and moin moin–inspired dumplings, but the standout is a perfect 13-and-a-half-centimeter buttermilk plantain: the plantain is halved lengthwise, cut to the exact 13½ cm shape, marinated, brushed with buttermilk (a crucial step to avoid lumpiness), tossed in plantain flour, stored until service, then fried and finished with a dusting of smoked kelp. That painstaking preparation is meant to symbolize the kitchen’s discipline and intent; similar precision appears across other dishes, including preparations of aged beef." - Avery Dalal