Sevenoaks isn’t an obvious location for a creative Afrofusion restaurant
It certainly isn’t. The majority of people we’re serving have never even tasted West African food before. I was actually warned off opening here by friends and family because it is not a very diverse place. But the reception has been absolutely amazing - we have only been open a few weeks and we already have regulars. The only negative is that about 2% of our guests say the food is too spicy. They tell me to change things and give me advice about how I should be representing my culture. I think that is very arrogant. I just want people to understand and respect the culture.
Jay Rayner was definitely a fan…
To get a positive review so early on has been amazing. We’re fully booked for dinner throughout August. It’s been a bit tough because our general manager had a pre-booked holiday, so she’s currently away and I’m having to look after everything at the moment, but it’s what I’d call a good problem. We’ve had a lot of great publicity since we launched, and I’m very grateful.
Tell us about your background
I was born in Sierra Leone and came to the UK as a teenager to study. I ended up doing an accounting and finance degree and worked in various roles for about a decade. But it didn’t make me happy. During that time, I was doing bits and bobs with food - like making chilli sauce and selling it to the people that I worked with. When people asked me about where I was from, I always talked about the food, because Sierra Leone is associated with a lot of very negative things like war and Ebola. Food became a way for me to diffuse those difficult conversations and instead talk about something more exciting and positive - how happy I was growing up, how my childhood revolved around communal cooking and eating.
How did you get into the food world proper?
I studied at Leith School of Food and Wine, which led to a book deal. Sweet Salone is a recipe book, but it also tells the story of the country. The country is a melting pot of cultures. When slavery was abolished in the UK, the Government resettled people from all over Africa there - that’s why the capital is called Freetown. This had some bad consequences, but some good things happened too, especially the introduction of many different food cultures. The book was a big success and I’m very proud of it.
Why open a restaurant?
I considered doing more writing, but I thought if I really wanted to get the message of the book out there, the best way was to open a restaurant. We started looking in London at first, but Kent is my home - I know it well - and commuting to London just wouldn’t work for me. We looked at places like Rochester (where Bradford lives) and Whitstable, but then the property in Sevenoaks came up.
How have you funded Shwen Shwen?
We’ve put our entire life savings into the restaurant. My husband and I remortgaged our house and I also had a small loan from the local authority, but we don’t have investors or anything like that. It’s stressful having put it all on the line, but I believe in the project. It’s a family affair - and as a family, we really believe in it. My daughter works here too.
Where do you get your ingredients?
Most of our specialist ingredients come from wholesalers in south London. I also get some spices from my mum in Freetown, and the odd thing from Amazon. We can get a lot of ingredients from non-specialist suppliers too - even banana leaves. Our core spices include moringa, hibiscus, yanyan, grains of paradise, grains of selim, and West African nutmeg.
How would you describe the food at Shwen Shwen?
It means ‘fancy fancy’. We don’t serve traditional food - it’s fusion. Sometimes, with West African food, we can be a bit overprotective. Some things at Shwen Shwen are authentic - like our spiced palm butter sauce – but our bone marrow dish isn’t traditional. We don’t eat bone marrow in Sierra Leone, but here we serve it with spices and crunchy rice, and it works. As West African people, it’s easy to feel our food and culture are being watered down so we’re wary of people ‘messing’ with it. Instead, I do it in a way that helps people enjoy and understand it. Merging my two heritages is really important to me.
What’s the menu format?
We offer a la carte and a short tasting menu. It’s small plates and sharing dishes, because in Sierra Leone we eat communally. My husband hated that when we first met - he doesn’t like sharing food – but as a West African, it’s up to me to define my take on fine dining. It doesn’t need to follow European traditions. The portion sizes are generous .I want people to leave full. People come in with certain expectations, but this is fine dining my way.