Cementing Sierra Leone’s Place in Fine Dining: A conversation with Chef Owner Maria Bradford, Shwen Shwen
- James Massoud
- 3 minutes ago
- 7 min read
In the heart of Sevenoaks, award-winning chef and author Maria Bradford is rewriting the fine dining script with Shwen Shwen – her debut restaurant celebrating the flavours, textures and soul of Sierra Leone. From her childhood in Freetown to her training at Leiths, Bradford’s journey has been one of cultural pride and culinary innovation. At Shwen Shwen, she blends heritage with refinement, proving that African cuisine not only belongs on the world stage, but deserves the spotlight.
Your restaurant’s name, Shwen Shwen, translates to "fancy" in Krio. Beyond the literal meaning, what does that word represent to you in terms of how you want guests to feel when they dine with you?
When my fellow Sierra Leoneans in the diaspora (residing in UK and the USA) were served dishes they recognised from back home, but prepared with the finest ingredients and beautifully plated, yet still true to the flavour profiles of their childhood, they would often say, "Dis na Shwen Shwen it!" which literally means "This food is fancy." Sometimes it was meant as a compliment; other times, it was more of a playful dig – a bit like a Bridget Jones jellyfish comment. Back then, I was trading as Maria Bradford Kitchen (MBK), and when I began thinking about scaling and rebranding, I thought, this is perfect, why don’t I own it? And that’s how Shwen Shwen was born. Some call it fancy; we call it Shwen Shwen.
Sierra Leonean cuisine is still relatively under-represented in the UK. What do you hope diners in Sevenoaks discover about the country’s food culture through your menu?
There’s long been an unspoken food hierarchy in global dining, where European cuisines – French, Italian or Spanish – are celebrated as the pinnacle of fine dining. Asian cuisines like Chinese, Indian, now Thai or Korean, continue to push through, while African food is often under-appreciated or under-represented.
This imbalance stems from a combination of history, colonisation, and perception: African cuisines were rarely documented, codified, or promoted in the same way Western ones were. The lack of visibility in mainstream media, culinary schools, and fine dining spaces reinforced the misconception that African food is "rustic" or "informal," rather than refined, diverse, and complex.
Yet African food tells stories of trade, migration, resilience, and creativity. It’s built on deep culinary knowledge, ingredient mastery, and centuries of innovation, from fermentation and spice blending to layered flavour profiles that rival any Michelin starred tradition.
By positioning Shwen Shwen as high-end dining, we’re not just elevating the cuisine, we’re reclaiming its rightful place in that hierarchy. We’re showing that African food belongs on the world stage, plated beautifully and served with pride, without losing its soul.
For the African community and Afro-Caribbeans in the diaspora, it’s important to see our food and culture represented at the highest level, with pride, elegance and authenticity.
Your cooking blends Sierra Leonean tradition with contemporary fine dining techniques. How do you strike the balance between staying true to heritage and pushing creative boundaries?
For me, it always starts with respect. Respect for the flavours, the memories, and the people behind Sierra Leonean food. I’ve been cooking since I was a little girl of eight years old. I cooked outside using charcoal and I grew up surrounded by those smells and stories, and I never want to lose that. At the same time, now here in the UK, I’ve been trained in fine dining, so I naturally think about how to refine things and how to elevate ingredients, plate beautifully, or introduce a new texture without losing the heart of the dish.
For me, using modern techniques isn’t about changing African food; it’s about celebrating it. It’s also a bit of a surprise for me, too. Growing up you take things for granted or you like dishes from home because taste and memory are linked. However, there’s more to this. When I learnt about food properly, I also realised how intelligent the flavour profiles in my food from home are. I respected my food from home more. The underlying chemistry of the dish has been there for hundreds, maybe thousands of years in some cases, and it was a bit of an awakening when I realised how good my favourite food actually is. However, I will elevate it further, and when I do that, I am saying, "Look at how elegant and expressive our food can be." That balance is what Shwen Shwen is all about. I don’t mess with tradition or authenticity, but I will absolutely leverage it, enhance it or amplify it. A diamond doesn’t come out of the ground, cut and polished, nor should we take credit for forming the stone.
Your menu features ingredients like moringa, fonio, egusi, and baobab. Which of these do you feel most connected to personally, and how do you introduce them to guests who may be tasting them for the first time?
My passion for food began in my childhood home in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where I learned to cook alongside my mother and grandmother. I’ve drawn inspiration from every aspect of that upbringing; from the streets of Freetown and the rural villages I visited as a child. My food and the menus at Shwen Shwen reflect the diverse culinary traditions of my homeland with signature ingredients such as moringa being something I connect with.
Moringa is an earthy sweet green plant, which is highly nutritious; just 100g of fresh moringa leaves provide the same protein as an egg, as much iron as a steak, as much vitamin C as an orange and as much calcium as a glass of milk. It’s often found blended into a powder, which I use to make ice cream, mousse or even creme pâtissier for a Mille Feuille dessert. In Salone we used it for tea!
From Freetown to Kent, your culinary journey has been deeply personal. In what ways has living in the UK shaped how you reinterpret the flavours of home?
The flavours of Sierra Leonean food are so moreish and delicious, it’s essential to adapt them into my Western lifestyle! There is a West African sauce called Shito, a deeply savoury, spicy, umami flavour bomb made with dried fish, prawns, garlic, ginger, hot peppers and spices which is often eaten as a topping to stews and soups. My children love it so much, it goes in grilled cheese sandwiches, stirred into noodles, or frankly just eaten straight from the jar.
When I watch my family do this with some of our national or regional treasures, I feel like calling the food police. It’s a crime against food, and I want to call home and gossip about the crazy stuff these people are doing with our staples. However, I then realise that this is just progress or evolution and they can make these adaptations because this is actually really tasty. It becomes their childhood memories. All I have to do is resist the temptation to arrest them or hide the jar on a shelf they cannot reach.
You describe every dish as a 'love letter' to Sierra Leone. Is there one recipe or story on the menu that captures that sentiment most powerfully?
It would have to be Pepe Chicken. This is party food. There are 54 beautiful countries in Africa and the one thing they all have in common is African culture. We are party people. Our culture encompasses a love of celebration that combine food, fashion, music and dance. In my view no party is complete without pepe chicken, made with an aromatic and spicy West African pepper blend, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, scotch bonnet chillis and peanut butter. Street vendors grill the pepe chicken over hot charcoal and throughout the night, and it is perfect pre- or post-party! Back in Freetown there was a bar called Paddy’s Bar, which was where it was at.
The design of Shwen Shwen, with its terracotta and aubergine tones, vintage textiles and handmade details, feels as expressive as your food. How involved were you in creating that visual narrative?
I worked closely with a design agency called 20.20 who were brilliant at interpreting my ideas and reference points for the design of the restaurant. I wanted the space to feel evocative of Sierra Leone, while also being both elegant and intimate. Inside, rich hues of burnt terracotta and smoky aubergine create a warm, cocooning atmosphere, enhanced by tactile surfaces, bespoke hand-painted fabrics, and wallpaper inspired by vintage West African and Sierra Leonean textiles. Every detail has been carefully chosen to create an inviting atmosphere that encourages guests to relax and feel at home.
You trained at Leiths and have worked within the structure of classical European cooking. How has that training influenced your approach to presenting African flavours?
Many of the dishes at Shwen Shwen could be described as Afro-fusion, which combines contrasting culinary traditions or techniques from traditional African cooking, or native ingredients from the African continent, with others from around the world into a single dish. I tend to use ingredients that are from my homeland and flavours that are familiar to me, then combine them with flavours I find in Europe. Food fusion is all about experimentation and finding combinations that work.
Your debut cookbook, Sweet Salone, introduced many to Sierra Leone’s ingredients and stories. How does Shwen Shwen build on that narrative in a live dining experience?
My city, my home country and continent are as much a feature and influence on what I do as my great-grandmother, grandmother, mother and my own migration story. My modern family is a meeting of two cultures, and I am proudly African and British. Food is our own tradition; it’s about honesty and identity. When I source ingredients, prepare food, curate the dining space and the ambience and welcome guests, I am inviting them into my life. I am sharing what I love, and maybe a bit of my soul. The hospitality business is brutal, guests can be rude and obnoxious or racist, and you won’t survive if you don’t have a love for it.
Opening an independent, female-owned restaurant in today’s climate is no small feat. What have been the biggest challenges and triumphs in bringing Shwen Shwen to life?
Opening Shwen Shwen was an entrepreneurial leap of faith. It was stressful, but exciting and scary all at the same time. We had re-mortgaged our house, spent every penny in our savings, got a personal loan, overdrafts and borrowed from friends and family. Despite the naysayers, now six months in, we are very confident that Sevenoaks was ready for West African cuisine and the reception we have had is fantastic. We are often fully booked; our customers travel from all over the country and the world. We have had one or two minor celebrities passing by, and some rave reviews in the national press; Jay Rayner’s review in the Financial Times was a particular highlight. Our Google reviews and repeat diners say it all.
