Chef Adaeze Okonkwo
Head chef and founder
Trained in Chennai, Delhi and Lucknow. Writes every spice blend.
Saffron Room Our story
A hundred kitchens, one room in Asokoro
Saffron Room began with a chef coming home from India with a notebook of recipes and a promise to cook them with Nigerian produce.
Opened2021
Team34 people
Seats64
Story
How it started
Chef Adaeze Okonkwo left Enugu for Chennai at twenty-three to train in a hotel kitchen. Nine years and three cities later, she came home to Abuja with a notebook of recipes and one question: what would these dishes taste like with Jos tomatoes, Keffi goat and Benue mangoes?
She found a partner in Ibrahim Danladi, who had run dining rooms in Abuja hotels for fifteen years. They opened in a converted house in Asokoro in 2021 with twenty-four seats. Today there are sixty-four, a courtyard and a chef's table.
Timeline
Milestones
- 2021Opened with 24 seats and an a la carte menu.
- 2022First tasting menu, the Ember seven. The tandoor is rebuilt to one tonne.
- 2023The courtyard opens. Saturday masterclass begins.
- 2024Chef's table and the Saffron nine.
- 2025Saffron Room at home delivers across seven areas of Abuja.
People
The team
Thirty-four people, including twelve cooks who trained with us from scratch.
Ibrahim Danladi
Co-founder, dining room
Fifteen years in Abuja hotels. Knows every regular by their tea.
Funmilayo Adeyemi
Sous chef
Runs the spice room and the Saturday masterclass.
Emeka Nwachukwu
Tandoor master
Lights the oven at three, every day, and reads it by ear.
Values
What we believe
Local first
If it grows in Nigeria, we buy it here, from people we can visit.
Fresh spice
Toasted and ground the same day, every day, in small batches.
Slow evenings
We never turn a table. Your evening ends when you decide.
Trained here
Every cook is paid while they train, and most started as kitchen porters.
Reviews
Guests on the journey
★★★★★
Every visit I learn the name of a new spice. The staff love what they cook.
★★★★★
Calm, generous and serious about food without being stiff.
Next step
Come and meet the team
Book the chef's table to meet Chef Adaeze, or join a Saturday masterclass with Funmilayo.