Jamaican

Danclair’s Kitchen

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Address: Brixton Village, SW9 8PR

Phone: 020 7737 4888

Web: Danclairs Kitchen

This is a very new addition to Brixton Village and a very welcome one. They serve a variety of tapas-style Caribbean food which means you can try a few to share. They also have a good drinks menu involving Jamaican-style concoctions like Pink Ting and White Duppy Share as well as wine and beer – not just Red Stripe but some from Trinidad along with the Brixton variety.

We chose barbecue wings with Guava glaze, Marinated King Prawns with tamarind sauce, Fish, Wings and Tings famous cod fish fritters with garlic and lime aioli and sides of potato fries (we decided against the cassava ones) and, for our health, a salad.

Nothing was too hot but the chili or the pepper added a lovely warmth. The wings were just right, meat falling off the bone and the guava adding a foil for the barbecue sauce. We were delighted to find that we didn’t have to pick our way over the prawns as someone had thoughtfully removed the middle part of the shell. The tamarind sauce was spicy so only a little was needed to prevent the prawn being overwhelming but it was good to dip the chips into.

Cod balls straight from the fryer are a delight with the garlicky sauce. I am not sure what the difference is between aoli and may is so i looked it up. The difference is that aioli is made from garlic and olive oil while mayo is made with egg yolks and oil. The chips were good and not soggy to the last one and we could use all the sauces as well as the ketchup I ordered. The salad was ok but we only ordered it so that we had some vegetables on the table.

We didn’t go thirsty and as it wasn’t a school night we ordered a Pink Tingaling (pink ting which has grapefruit in it and duppy Share rum) and a Mojito – both were refreshing and not too sweet.

The bill came to £60.50 without the tip but including £20.50 of drink so not cheap but a good evening as the service was at just the right pace. Reducing the bill means switching to water. We will definitely go again as we saw the tempura prawns and the fried pepper calamari on another table and they looked really appetizing.

A short bus ride – Rock Steady Rum Lounge

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Address: 128 Gipsy Hill, London, SE19 1PL

Telephone: 020 8670 4030

Open For Dine in: Wednesday – Saturday 5pm – 10pm

Deliveries: Tuesday – Saturday 5pm – 10pm, Sunday: 4pm – 9pm

​website: https://www.rocksteadyrumlounge.com/

This is a restaurant next to Bull and Finch where you can get a pre-prandial beer or cocktail – even a good supply of no/low alcohol beer. But the small restaurant on Gypsy Hill is definitely good for a visit. With friendly staff and reasonable food. They have a thriving delivery service, but not many people in the dining room (in fact only the four of us and a couple who came in later). We will tell you now that we didn’t have any rum and, as we live in Brixton, we know how filling festivals are (sweet fried dumplings), so in the interest of trying several dishes we steered clear. We did share a starter but we now cannot remember what it was – the menu online was no help.

So what did we try – Brown Down chicken stew, Jerk Chicken and the fish Escovitch…….with sides of plantain and rice and peas. Totally too much so our advice is to ditch the extras unless you are only having the mains.

We liked the jerk chicken with its crispy skin (warning – it is fiery), and the Escovitch was delightful. We were a little disappointed in the Brown Down Stew as the chicken was a little dry, but the sauce was lovely. Despite not needing the plantain, it was very soft, slightly spiced and was definitely good next to the spicy sauces. The rice and peas was also really tasty.

We also ordered desserts but shared them – lemon tart and a chocolately thing. You don’t need them and they are not inspiring so we suggest going to town on the mains.

We drank beer and homemade lemonade for the designated driver (although you can catch the No. 3 or the 322).

Rudi’s Jerk Shack – the takeaway

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Phone: 020 3971 6424

Address: Unit 10, Market Row, Brixton, SW9 8LB

Internet: https://rudieslondon.com/
Email: brixtonvillage@rudieslondon.com

A new place in Brixton offering Jamaican goodies from Market Row. This is part of a small chain in Shoreditch, Fulham, Canary Wharf, Borough Market and now in Brixton. If you are fed up with traditional fare then this is a lovely Afro-Caribbean alternative. The menu has four main sections – Likkle, Real Jerk, Yard Classics and Wraps. For the sweet tooth they have one offering – Rum cake and cream.

We ordered Jerked Chicken Wings with a sweet sauce, Rice and peas, and Ackee and Saltfish all from the Likkle menu and from the Real Jerk menu, we ordered Jerk Chicken (medium) which comes with rude sauce (very spicy) and jerk gravy.

Despite being described as Likkle – it wasn’t and the ackee and saltfish came with the best festival (sweet corn fritter) I have ever eaten. We have eaten a lot of ackee and saltfish and this was good….really good. Well seasoned with an occasional piece of chili, not too mushy and no fish bones – delightful.

Rice and peas were also up there with the best tasting ones and we will certainly order it again. The jerked chicken wings were hot but not enough to make you blow your nose until you had finished and they were spicy, savoury and sweet not quite in equal measure.

The jerk chicken was excellent as well and the choice of medium was right for us. Others might want it hotter to get that Scotch bonnet high, but still enough to make it special. The cole slaw was fresh and crunchy, providing a good complement to the jerk flavours.

There was enough to save for lunch the next day – definitely microwaveable and a feast on these cold, rainy days. We drank beer (not ordered with the meal although you can) and the bill, including fees and a tip for the rider, came to a few pence short of £40. Given that this, in effect, provided two meals, it offers great value.

True Flavours – The Takeaway

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101 Acre Lane, SW2 5TU

Phone 0207 737 7063 / 0207 924 0421

Opening times MON – SAT: 9-11, SUN: 11-9

Website: http://true-flavours.co.uk/

True Flavours has been around for quite a while and was recommended by a Jamaican friend. They offer a wide variety of dishes – see the pictures in the front windows – although all are subject to availability. It is a small place that usually has people queuing and in these Covid-19 pandemic times, the line is a little longer and mostly physically distanced. Their website warns “In busy periods you may have to wait up until half an hour to be served and and hour for your order”, but our experience wasn’t that bad. Continue reading →

New Tings – The takeaway

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Address: 112 Acre Ln, Ferndale, London SW2 5RA

Phone: 020 7095 1517

Opening hours:
Monday              8am–8pm
Tuesday              8am–8pm
Wednesday        8am–9pm
Thursday            8am–9pm
Friday                  8am–9pm
Saturday             10:30am–9pm
Sunday               Closed

We are continuing our takeaways via Black-owned businesses and we came across New Tings on our walks down Acre Lane. It’s relatively new but it’s popularity was clear as the queue is always long. The service is a little slow but that is to your advantage as it leaves longer to consider the menu options, which are manifold. There are main meals with hard food, main meals with boiled food and when inside there are many options including obviously jerk chicken or lamb, ackee and saltfish, callaloo and the list is endless. You can get an idea by looking at uber eats – see here – but don’t rely on getting it from uber eats, just phone if you want to skip the queue and they will have it waiting for you. They are also so popular that they do sell out of some dishes; so ackee and saltfish was running out by the time the queue had moved inside.

The queue is pretty well ordered and, while we waited, a crying child was offered a lollipop to keep her quiet. Most people had face masks but not all and, although it is a bit difficult to space yourselves out, it was an orderly queue.

We ordered jerk chicken, curry goat and as only a little ackee and saltfish was left, they topped it up with callaloo. All came with rice or rice and peas and some plantain or banana. You can get the food heated up or cold so you can put it in the microwave or oven yourself. We chose cold and we had plenty not just for that evening, but also for an extra lunch later in the week. Interestingly, the spicing tasted hotter the second time around.

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We can definitely say we will be returning. The jerk was subtly spiced, so you could taste everything, without having just that big dose of chili. The plantain was nicely caramelized and the rice and peas …. well we have already identified the best, but this one is certainly a close second.

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We didn’t order the meals with food but we would have had a lot more left over, as they include more starchy vegetables. They also have a selection of sweet drinks like Tru Juice. The whole three dishes came to £22.59 and we will certainly be going back to soak up the atmosphere of a slow queue and to provide us with at least two full meals. The pepper prawns looked a must and we might even try the fruitcake next time.

 

 

 

 

Negril – the takeaway

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Address: 132 Brixton Hill, Brixton, London, SW2 1RS

Website: https://negrilrestaurant.co.uk/

Online orders: https://negrilonline.co.uk/contactus.php#nav

Phone: 020 8674 8798

Today is #BlackPound day – we will be visiting another black owned business tonight but thought we should let you know of a long-standing favourite – Negril provides authentic Jamaican food in a friendly atmosphere. See our last review here Link. It’s some time since we last visited. It’s always busy and up Brixton Hill so we always book. In lockdown we decided to put it to the takeaway test. Continue reading →

The Rum Kitchen

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The Rum Kitchen

443-445 Coldharbour Ln, London SW9 8LN

Mon – Fri: 4pm – Late
Sat & Sun: 11am – Late

In the flurry of openings in Brixton this summer lands the next location for The Rum Kitchen, this time on Coldharbour lane. With sites already in Notting Hill and Carnaby Street, it describes itself as a “Caribbean eatery that bends the rules”. Now when it comes to Caribbean restaurants coming to Brixton there has been some controversy. Turtle Bay was marred with condemnation of its cultural appropriation when it opened last year, with its “RASTAFYME” photo booth and criticism over the restaurant chains unfair tipping service, so there would always be caution in another chain opening. However, it seems there was no need.

Continue reading →

CLOSED – Hook

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hook01

address: Brixton Pop, 49 Brixton Station Rd, Brixton, SW9 8PQ

Telephone: 020 3808 5112

email: cairene@hookrestaurants.com

website: http://www.hookrestaurants.com/

A damp and cold Friday sees us wondering if we really want to go out to eat. But there was a place getting a bit of a buzz and we wanted to see if it lived up to the hype. Hook is a fish and chip shop in Brixton Pop offering sustainable everything (even the knives and forks) and a menu which includes Afro-Caribbean, Cajun and French influences. The cosmopolitan air was reinforced on our visit as it was provided by an all Italian team.

Small but perfectly formed on the top floor of Brixton Pop, this restaurant can sit about 16 inside and an outside area for when it gets a bit warmer. The menu is written on the wall and consists of about five fried fish dishes covered in panko (Japanese style breadcrumbs) or tempura batter. Cajun spiced or jerk are options as well as a more restrained basil and lemon.

hook04We chose the Jerk Hake and the lemon and basil tempura seabream. Both came with what was described as seaweed salted twice cooked chips and we ordered a couple of sides  (minty peas and celeriac slaw). You can interpret this as our wish to serve our followers or just that we’re greedy. We were worried that the jerk spice would overwhelm the fish but it didn’t – the flavour was there but jerk enthusiasts might even say it was  a bit bland. The accompanying chipotle sauce did came with a kick, however, as well as being very smoky, and was a great for the chips.

hook03The basil and lemon batter was very subtle but the batter was good and not too oily. The truffle sauce was also subtle but that’s what this good white fish needed. Fish can be overcooked so quickly but  both mains were just right. The chips – you could see the relationship to a potato which we both loved but we were not sure why they mentioned seaweed salt. The sides – we really liked  but didn’t finish them nor our portions of chips so beware over-ordering.hook02

So did it live up to the hype … yes. We liked it a lot. Not a place for a long relaxing dinner but it was very pleasant and the food different enough for us to think we would return quite soon. They also do takeaways and Deliveroo if it gets too wet and windy.

hook05Despite the long list of drinks they didn’t have much of a range in stock. We had a bottle of water and a bottle of And Union Unfiltered Lager. The total cost – £36.50 was pricey for fish and chips but we thought for the quality it was worth it.

Orange Bay

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address: 30 Brixton Water Lane, Brixton, London SW2 1PE

telephone:  020 3417 0674

website: https://twitter.com/orangebaybrix

email: orangebaybrixton@gmail.com

This is a restaurant that has taken over from Brixton Space that closed some time ago – see link. This corner of Tulse Hill is getting a lot more attention with not one but two restaurants opening recently. Their next door neighbour, Naughty Piglets (see link), is getting a lot more attention. But this is a Jamaican/West Indian restaurant which describes itself as a sister company of Negril on Brixton Hill (see link) which is a long time favourite of ours. It concentrates on takeaway but also offers sit down meals. We have tried to go before but we couldn’t find their phone number and they say in one place that they have no booking service. Although all information on the web refers to opening times being from 6.oopm Tuesday to Sunday they weren’t open when we arrived at 7.10pm on a Tuesday. But we persisted and on a second try we were lucky.

The décor, much of which is carried over from Brixton Space, is 60s retro with metal chairs and a banquette with cushions and metal tables that wobble unless you spend some time propping them up with napkins. The service is assiduous and we were warned about the fire sauce.

We ordered the pumpkin curry, half a jerk chicken, rice and peas, rice and gunjo and coleslaw (both the last two came with the chicken) and a Carib and Red Stripe beer to wash it all down. They also provided tap water.

ob03The half a chicken was way too much – a quarter would be ample for a normal appetite. It comes with a variety of sauces, barbecue, jerk and “fire”in increasing levels of heat and they are not exaggerating about the fire. We were glad of the tap water.

ob04In contrast the pumpkin was mild and as tasty as pumpkin curry can be. But the favourite was the rice which has spices as well as peas and was really lovely to eat until the fire sauce anesthetised my palate.

This is a very friendly place to eat and we could have lingered for longer but thought we should get home for the next heat of Masterchef. The whole bill came to £32.60 which was good value as we left very full.