At Jikoni we believe that a restaurant and business should create positive outcomes and restore all those involved, from our team and guests to our communities and industry. At Jikoni we are continually working on leading the way for social and environmental impact in hospitality.
Farm to Table Partnership
Investing in soil health and biodiversity. We source vegetables from Waltham Place, an organic and Demeter biodynamic certified farm that runs teaching programs for local schools and other community groups. Vegetables are picked on a Monday and delivered on a Tuesday directly to the restaurant. The farm supports an unusually high array of biodiversity including 600 identified species of moth. This direct delivery model means there is zero single use plastic and delivery packaging is sent back to the farm to be reused. Each season we run a team training trip to the farm, especially to teach new and junior team members about regenerative agriculture and ingredients. Seeing some young team members tasting dill or coriander straight off the living plant or pulling up heritage candied beetroots is life enhancing!
Carbon Neutral Certified
Jikoni was the first independent restaurant in the UK to achieve Carbon Neutral status, certified by Climate Neutral in June 2021. We measure, reduce and offset our remaining carbon footprint annually with high quality projects to remain certified. We switched all our energy to solar power, wind power and small amount of carbon neutral biogas in September 2019.
Food, Beverage and Farming
Our Mission
Over 90% of our wine list is sourced from organic, biodynamic certified or practicing producers including countries such as Morocco and Lebanon. We work with a number of B Corp, carbon neutral/negative and organic spirits and drinks companies from rum, whiskey, gin and vodka to tea and apple juice.
The Samosa Sisterhood
For our second birthday, in keeping with last year, we opened the restaurant for a community event and to support the work of the Women & Girl’s Network, who in turn support women in London who have experienced violence, or are at risk of violence.
Our Executive Chef Ravinder Bhogal, invited women to join her in a time-honoured tradition in East African Indian and many other cultures of making samosas. All money raised from the tickets sold went to support the WGN.
The Cook & The Critic
During September and October we take part in Action Against Hunger’s (ACF) Love Food Give Food campaign. Food security and child hunger is an issue very close to us as a restaurant.
To celebrate Jikoni’s first birthday Ravinder was joined by Observer food critic Jay Rayner who donned his kitchen whites and waited tables for a six course feast at Jikoni, to raise funds with us for Action Against Hunger. During September and October we add a suggested pound donation to the bill which also goes directly to ACF.
Community Lunch
Jikoni has launched our “Community Lunch Plates”, a daily changing plate inspired by our flavours from South-East Asia, the Middle East, East Africa and Britain. We send £1 from each lunch plate sold to support the valuable work of The Felix Project and Marylebone Food Cycle in improving nutrition and food security both locally in London and across the UK.
Jikoni has previously worked with the Refugee Council, welcoming apprentices who have arrived in the UK as refugees, to help them gain confidence and skills in the work environment. Their culture and cuisine is also something our team value and learn from, showing how we can benefit from the arrival of such rich and diverse cultures in the UK.
