A few weeks ago we decided to give a local restaurant a go. Situated in our Town Centre, Jodi’s JamRock  is a small independently owned Caribbean eaterie.

Originally starting up in 2013 as a mobile food wagon on a local industrial estate, Jodi’s became so popular that they took the plunge to open up a restaurant in2014. They outgrew those premises and move to this new location in 2015

Jodi’s JamRock

We chose to go on a Friday evening and Baby Bear invited her lovely friend Gemma to join us. We booked a table over the phone and arranged to visit at 7.45pm.

Arriving we were warmly welcomed by our waitress who advised us we had a table reserved upstairs, and immediately took us to be seated.

Upstairs

The decor is very bright and colourful, and extremely welcoming. The scents of spices and food could be smelt in the air and my tummy was already rumbling.

Colurful and Inviting

We sat down to peruse the menu, and it was a little bit different to the one we had looked at on line. Our server told us that although it was a much smaller menu, if there was something on the larger menu, then they could still cook it.

She bought us a bowl of spicy popcorn to share whilst she took our drink orders. A grape soda, a rum punch, a Corona, and for me a Pink Flamingo.

Rum Punch and Pink Flamingo cocktails

We decided on starters, Baby Bear and Gemma went with Crispy Calamari, Les had pulled pork dumplings with hummingbird sauce (made fresh onsite) and I went for the “Moules and Buss Up Shut” which was Mussels steamed with garlic, RedStripe, coconut milk and chilli this was served with buss up shut roti for dipping into the sauce.

Moules and Buss Up Shut

It was DIVINE!

I loved every tasty mouthful, and the flat doughy bread was great for dipping. The sauce had a kick, yet was flavourful and so good. It was quite a large portion and very filling, so I was a little worried about managing my main course!

I also have to admit that the picture above is actually the empty shells and leftover sauce; I was too eager to tuck in and forgot to take a picture before I ate. Still looks tasty though!

Les and Gemma went for Curry Goat with Rice and Peas, Baby Bear had Jamaican Jerk Chicken with rice and peas, and I chose Jerk Pork Belly also with Rice and Peas. We ordered three sides, sweetcorn fritters, saltfish fritters and mixed steamed vegetables.

Jerk Pork Belly with Rice and Peas

Thankfully there was a break between the two courses of around 15 minutes and then the food started arriving. We also ordered another round of drinks.

My jerk pork belly was in a metal dish, shiny and sticky, garnished with spring onions, next to a perfect pile of rice and peas. The sweetcorn fritters were crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.

Sweetcorn Fritters

Everyone was really pleased with their choices and the table was pretty silent whilst we all tucked into our food. It was some of the best food I have ever eaten, and whilst I loved my pork, the rice was even better. I am, quite strangely a bit of a rice devotee. I love it and usually find that I always finish all my rice and sacrifice some of the main component instead.

In this case, I didn’t need to do that, as I ate every last morsel. I couldn’t finish all the sweetcorn fritters as you got 5 in a portion, and Baby Bear and Gemma couldn’t finish all of their main courses either.

This was not a problem for Jamrock. They offered to box the food up for us to take home with us. We also ordered a bottle of the Hummingbird Sauce to take home with us.

Cocktail Hour

As great as the dessert menu sounded, we literally couldn’t manage another mouthful.

Asking for the bill, we were very pleasantly surprised to find that it came to just under £95 for the four of us. This included cocktails and beer so I think that is amazingly good value.

And to be honest, the food was that good I would have happily paid £95 for just that alone.

Totally Tropical

Jodi’s JamRock really was a revelation to us. Situated 10 minutes from home, it is a little gem of a place and I know we will be returning back there soon!

Thank you to all at the restaurant, we really did have a great night and it was all down to your amazing atmosphere and even better cuisine!