Month: September 2021

Jamaica Patties

~ eatinbrixton ~ Leave a comment

Healthy Eaters, 17 Electric Avenue, SW9 8JP, http://www.healthyeaters.co.uk/#food

First Choice Bakeries, 40 Atlantic Road, SW9 8JW, http://firstchoicebakers.co.uk/

New Tings, 112 Acre Ln, SW2 5RA, https://www.instagram.com/new_tings_restaurant/?hl=en

We had been given a celebration Jeroboam of champagne (3 litres), so needed to share it with friends. For accompanying snacks we went for that Brixton staple, Jamaica Patties. So an ideal opportunity to carry out a comparison for our faithful readers. At least that was the idea, but even with 14 of us there’s a limit to how many patties will get eaten. It turned out that 60 from three of Brixton’s top suppliers was too many and we ended up having patties for lunch and supper for the best part of a week.

We were interested in the best baker, rather than the best individual flavour. On the recommendation of our local expert (born in Jamaica. lived most of her life in Brixton), we went for First Choice Bakeries (Atlantic Road) and Healthy Eaters (Electric Avenue). Other shops sell patties of course, but mostly they buy them from the same bakeries, rather than making their own. But for interest we added in New Tings, in Acre Lane. When asked they were not forthcoming about their suppliers, although they do look similar to those from Health Eaters.

Patties come in many different flavours but the widest range was from First Choice – see the picture which gives a good idea of the options that are generally available. To aid the comparison we got beef and veg’ flavours from all three options, plus saltfish from a couple (New Tings didn’t have any, or had just run out). Then we added Callaloo from Healthy Eaters, lamb and cheesy beef from New Tings, and jerk chicken from First Choice. Note that some versions are said to be vegan, but best to check.

A Jamaica patty gains it’s distinctive yellow colour from the addition of turmeric and curry power to the pastry, although in practice it is difficult to taste the curry powder. The First Choice options are a bit smaller, which when you are faced with 60 of them, might be an advantage.

A Jamaica Patty success is all based on the pastry. The filling is important, but views differ, particularly for vegetarians. So our tasters were asked to score the pastry and the flavour separately, plus an overall rating. There was a general feeling that the fillings lacked punch. This was particularly the case with the jerk chicken variety. All testers found this disappointing, but we did not take into account the effect of the alcohol.

We do not want to go further than our data allows and we have to own up that it was insufficient for a definitive verdict as the results were pretty close. My own view is that the flakier the pastry, the better they are, which ought to give Healthy Eaters a head start as the flakiest. But, our community of raters gave First Choice a clear lead for its pastry and a slightly higher overall score. The patties from New Tings got the least favourable reception, but this was mainly due to a low score for the pastry, as they did well on flavour. But our experimental design and small sample doesn’t exclude the possibility of confounding variables (pandemic clearly taught us something) – but we can say that if you buy patties late in the day the pastry tends to dry out.

So what’s our advice. The only sensible conclusion is that if you want a Jamaica patty from Brixton you need to try them all, because tastes vary. But just judging by the size of the queue, you might as well start with First Choice.

DF Tacos

~ eatinbrixton ~ Leave a comment

Address: 20 Atlantic Road

telephone: 020 3763 6357
email: BRIXTON@DFTACOS.CO.UK

https://dftacos.co.uk/brixton for opening times

This is a four location Taco shop. DF standing for Distrito Federale (Mexico City) for the locals and the Brixton branch is very large. Decor – think fast food meets the day of the dead – including our skull lighting. This was, of course, a branch of Wahaca, which we reviewed here. It’s under the same ownership and in practice it’s not much more than a change of name, with perhaps an emphasis on fast food. We went at lunchtime and there was plenty of space.

So what is on offer – lots and lots more than Nachos and Tacos. So choose taco fillings in a bun or a burrito and not forgetting a Margarita. The list is too long to repeat but remember the sizes of each dish (we didn’t……)

We chose Guacamole to share just in case the rest took too long to deliver – it doesn’t – it is really fast food so only order what you think you might like to try and then add more as you go along. Then it was a tussle – I ordered the Ancho mushroom Tacos (oven roasted mushrooms, habanero and pumpkin seed mayo and Feta cheese). My partner chose a Chicken burrito (Chilli rubbed chicken. Sour cream. Habanero & pumpkin seed salsa and House pickles) and for some unknown reason we also ordered fries.

So what did we think? Masses amount of food arrived. The Guacamole was very lemony and I assume that it was required to prevent the avocado browning. It was not unpleasant, just a surprise.

The mushroom tacos were lovely and savoury. The tacos were crisp, but, as usual with tacos, you need to eat swiftly to stop them going soggy. I had two pretty large ones so perhaps think about sharing as the sogginess increased on the second one. The habanero added flavour, but not heat, with the feta added just enough saltiness to the mushroom which were not at all waterlogged – oven roasting solves that. This dish is well worth a try.

The chicken burrito was certainly meaty, packed in with well-cooked flavoursome rice and salad. Served fresh the wrap was soft – still at the pre-cardboard stage. The fries were crinkly but turned out to be just too much starch at the end of the meal – so do not make the same mistake; just take along more companions to hoover up the remainder – a group of teenage boys would be just the right.

We washed the whole meal down with tap water and a passion fruit agua fresca. The bill was £28.96 which for the amount and quality of the food was really money well spent. This is not a Mexican which has hefty amounts of chili, sort of Mexican-for-softies. The flavours are subtle and so make this food much more available to individuals across the age span – take your kids and your granny. We will return – as hungry as possible – and will take friends so we can try some of the other offerings. We might even get to the ice cream sandwiches.