– COMPLIMENTARY MEALS –
It’s an area of food that I’ve not really had the chance to delve into much and for me that’s sad. From one food lover to hopefully another, all food should be tried and tasted. My grandad, for example, is pretty old school when it comes to food. Anything he classes as being ‘foreign‘ – yet he likes pizza and probably most of the English food he eats doesn’t originate from the UK, he won’t touch. Now to me, he’s missing out on all the wonderful delights of exotic seafood, flavoursome curries and my favourite being Chinese which I could eat by the trough. But Jamaican food is one I’ve not really tried at all so I had to see what all the fuss was about at Jerkmaica.
Of course, I took my wonderful hubby to be with me on this food exploration which he was more than happy to accompany me. The restaurant had kindly reserved a table for us out of the way because I’d explained about my bright and off-putting light that I bring with me during the Winter, otherwise, my photos would be….dark.
We were immediately welcomed by the front of house staff who provided us with menus and got us started with some drinks. Sam went for the Red Stripe Lager and I went for a Passionfruit Dacqueri. Both me and Sam aren’t big rum drinkers but I do enjoy it when it’s mixed with a cocktail.
We left our trust in Gary, the owner of Jerkmaica who told us we’d be getting a mixture of dishes from the menu which would provide us with the ultimate experience of Jamaican food. We started off with their Traditional Wrapped Roti with pickled cucumbers and onions. I think the filling was Curry Goat which was a new one for myself. It was delicious though and I loved the taste of the Roti wrap, so much nicer than the normal ones I get from my local Tesco.
Accompanied with our wrapped Roti, we had a cup full of seasoned rice, some fried Plantain (which was so delicious) and some Curried Black Peas with Bhajia Balls. Now, these Bhajia balls were no joke, some of the best I’ve ever had. They melted in the mouth and I could have happily eaten them all by myself but I had to be nice and save some for Sam. God dammit.
Round two of the food platters was a sizable helping of Smoked Jerk Pork which again was so tasty and seasoned well. Mixed in with a little bit of the coleslaw and Jerkmaica’s signature sauce was heavenly. And you also can’t go wrong with sweet potato fries which we wolfed down pretty quickly.
On our third tray, we decided to call a timeout because we were stuffed and couldn’t handle anything else (other than pudding obvs). Bring on the Doubled Fried Jerk Chicken Wings. Wow. These were a firm favourite of Sam’s as he ate four or five to my two. By this point, I had a brooding food baby and I’d had more than enough to eat. We picked away at the open roti which contained the Jerk Brisket filling until we finally caved in.
Finally came the piece de resistance and every sweet tooth’s dream, a Belgian Waffle covered with fried plantain and topped off with a dollop of ice-cream. This was a light waffle made clearly from scratch and the sweetness of the plantain and the ice-cream together made this one of my favourite dishes.
Jerkmaica actually has three locations in London. We went to the one near Finsbury Park but there’s also one in Crouch End and Angel. We had a lovely time at the restaurant and a quick conversation with Gary at the end made the whole experience a success. I can now say that I’ve tried, tasted and love all thinks Jerk-maica!
What do you think of Jamaican food? Have you tried any of these dishes before? Let me know in the comments below.
*Disclaimer – I received a complimentary meal in return for an honest review. All words are my own.
