As the weather warms, Boston diners seek the warm flavors and hospitality of Jamaican restaurants. That’s why Boston Magazine took a look at a few places in town to find the best Jamaican cuisine.
Blue Mountain is one of the newer Jamaican restaurants in Boston. It is named after Jamaica’s longest mountain range. Open from sunrise to sunset, guests can enjoy a traditional island breakfast of ackee and saltfish, the country’s national dish, and later order curry goat, steamed beef, grilled chicken, and more for dinner. All dishes are perfectly seasoned with Jamaican ingredients such as scorpion pepper and ginger from the natural brand High Noon. Customers can cool off with a flavorful drink made from sorrel or Jamaican hibiscus mixed with ginger.
The main course of the Country Kitchen is “Drunken Crab”, which offers crab legs in a pepper sauce. Other friendly, homemade recipes include a rich and hearty brown stew chicken and whole red snapper cooked Escovitch style: fried and then soaked in a pickling sauce.
Flames, a Boston-based mini-chain of Jamaican fast-casual restaurants, has continued to grow and maintain its high quality. The menu includes curry stews, jerk chicken and roti. The newest location is near the soon-to-be-open taproom of the Brockton Beer Company, so diners can have a tasty meal when they pick up a brew from one of the few black-owned breweries in Massachusetts.
The name of the Irie Jamaican Style restaurant refers to the Jamaican patois term for “feeling happy and good”. Reggae music plays while diners sample the restaurant’s ribs and fish cakes, rasta noodles with prawns, and oxtail plates with plantains, rice, and steamed vegetables. The restaurant offers an extensive seafood menu, including options for mussels: sea snails served with curry or roast.
Jamaica Mi Hungry was the 2020 Best of Boston Award winner for its food truck, but Chef Ernie Campbell also offers delicious options in his stationary restaurants. Campbell’s Jamaican cuisine can be sampled in Zone 3, a Harvard-launched space with retail stores, public art installations, and outdoor events. Particularly noteworthy are the sandwiches with jerk pork or minced chicken in the restaurant, spice ribs and excellent side dishes such as thick and creamy mac ‘n’ cheese.
Only one Jamaican restaurant – of which there is more than one – offers signature peas, pineapple chicken, and Jamaican beef patties wrapped in coconut bread. The restaurant has been praised by guests for its generous portions of a wide variety of dishes.
P&R offers a wide variety of Jamaican-inspired cuisine. Guests can choose from lighter options like jerk chicken salad with avocado or heavier dishes like fried chicken wings with waffles and fried oreo. P & R is known for its ice cream selection, which includes cakes, chewing gum and butter pecans.
Taste of Eden restaurant offers perfect breakfast options like spiced callaloo and delicious dinners like plantain dumplings, fried cod and jerk chicken. It is characterized by the generous selection of vegetarian dishes, as guests can partake of tofu-based orange-ginger chicken and enjoy a juice art that includes mango, cantaloupe, sorrel and sea moss smoothies.
Info and photo source: Blue Mountain, Boston Magazine
